A levels

The politics of exam results

8 August 2023 1:49 am

August always means an anxious wait for results days, but this year pupils will be feeling particularly apprehensive. England’s exams…

How to burst the grade inflation bubble

14 August 2021 9:00 am

The Tories regard a return to rigorously marked exams as one of their big achievements in education. In 2010, the…

The real losers of the A-levels fiasco

22 August 2020 9:00 am

Three years ago I was contacted by an official at the Department for Education to see if I was interested…

The next education crisis

22 August 2020 9:00 am

Many institutions face the fight of their lives

When did English A-level become a science?

24 August 2019 9:00 am

Now that my youngest has got her A-level grades, I’m finally free to say just how much I have loathed…

Hard lessons

26 August 2017 9:00 am

George Tomlinson, the post-war education secretary, declared that politicians should leave exams to the teachers because ‘the minister knows nowt…

Varsity blues

19 August 2017 9:00 am

A vast cohort of bright young things have secured their university places with A-level success this week. But things are…

How to build a school

5 September 2015 9:00 am

Lessons from the first year of our specialist maths school

What happens when they’ve climbed the ladder?

The lessons of exam results season

29 August 2015 9:00 am

Every year without fail, as the trees start thinking about losing their leaves, the papers are full of the same…

The Spectator’s Notes

17 May 2014 9:00 am

David Cameron is said to want a woman to be chairman of the BBC Trust, now that Chris Patten has…