Teacher shortages are a significant global problem disproportionally affecting "hardest-to-staff" schools and subjects. To better understand (inter)national policy responses to teacher shortages, this paper uses a Bacchian-inspired approach to critically examine proposals suggested as solutions in policy documents from England and…

This paper recounts the experiences of 24 primary and secondary teachers from a number of minoritised groups in the education system in England, using interview data collected for a project exploring the retention of minority teachers. The teachers' experiences of racism are discussed alongside other intersectional aspects of their identities --…

This Statistics Report is the first in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). This report is focused on the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) (and IGCSE/International GCSE)…

This Statistics Report is the second in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). This report is focused on the uptake of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects in England in 2019. The…

This report looks at the provision of GCSE subjects in England in 2021. Provision in a GCSE subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. This may not cover all of the actual 'provision' since schools might offer to provide a subject, but none of their students wants to study it. This…

This report is focused on the uptake of A level subjects in England in 2022. Uptake in an A level subject is defined as the number or percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 5 (who have entered for at least one AS or A level) taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE)…

This report looks at the provision of A level subjects in England in 2022. Provision in a subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE) "Find and compare schools in England" service.…

This report looks at the provision of GCSE subjects in England in 2022. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE) "Find and compare schools in England" service. The dataset consisted of Key Stage 4 (KS4) results in all subjects provided by each school in England. Other school…

A new film explores the UK's most radical state secondary school. XP school in Doncaster, a disadvantaged area of England, is putting kindness at the heart of its school culture, and reaping outstanding student engagement, attainment, attendance and behaviour. Its approach is in marked contrast to a recent tendency in UK schools to focus on tough…

This paper examines the influence of intense scrutiny from Ofsted on school leadership and policy enactment. Data was collected in a coastal area of deprivation, providing the setting for a detailed case study of school leadership in a state secondary school and a state primary school, both with recent or ongoing experience of intense scrutiny…

Attainment grouping is a prevalent yet controversial practice, used in most English schools and on the rise internationally, despite evidence that it is detrimental to the majority of pupils. In England, no data is routinely recorded regarding these practices, and most research on student outcomes depends on a simplistic dichotomy between pupils…

This Statistics Report is the third in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). The aim of the new series is to provide a continuation of the Statistics Reports that were previously produced using National…

This Statistics Report is the fourth in a new series produced by the Research Division at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, using publicly available school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE). The aim of the new series is to provide a continuation of the Statistics Reports that were previously produced using National…

Established in 1992, Ofsted is championed by government ministers as the guardian of educational standards in schools and colleges. Ofsted has never produced any research on the validity of its inspection judgements. Ofsted has no evidence, other than rising percentages of schools being awarded positive Ofsted grades, to support its assertion that…

Despite a lack of conclusive evidence connecting autonomous schools and academic success, school autonomy is regularly championed as being a way of not only improving schools but as a way of improving the quality of education in socially and economically deprived areas. This research builds on a recent paper published in "Irish Educational…