Disengaged by default, linked to the idea of "pre-NEET", seemed to sum up elements of this discussion. Recent curricula, designed to be testable, result in a focus on "delivery", reducing engagement and interaction to formalised "stages" in a lesson, which can be observed and judged, eg, Ofsted.

The Gove curriculum killed off vocational pathways, swiping away funded careers advice, work experience & funded apprenticeships, plus academic requirements for apprenticeships was seismic. None of this is rocket science if we want more trades & less NEET. Get kids on those pathways from age 14

All of this. Our secondary system seems to have become about control.I’m 60 - we used to be told jump through the hoops and the rewards will come - and to some degree it did. But this is no longer true. By repeating that untrue mantra we are eroding their self esteem. Time for change.

So many responses to Alan Milburn's review of NEET young people missed the point, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Queen Camilla on the Buckingham Palace balcony, dressed as a shepherdess, waving a copy of the report shouting: “Let them eat cake!” johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2026/06/07/t...

The Government is supposed to be promoting inclusion and better provision for pupils with SEND, but the reality is that inclusive schools are still being punished and nothing persuades me things might change soon. share.google/2bb8vuUkAvff...

Alan Milburn asks, why are so many young people mentally fragile? He could start with the fact that too many state schools have become traumatising demoralisation zones for both children and staff. Why are OFSTED still in place, 3 years after this, for eg? yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/educati...

"It seems to me blindingly obvious that what we do is prioritise the pleasure before we get into learning." Well said Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who also talks sense on the importance of Early Years. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

I fear Labour people risk falling into an ecological fallacy visible from space when reacting to these results. Here is what is very clear in results so far: Labour are losing *seats* to Reform, but... Labour are losing *votes* to the Greens Greens split the vote, Ref comes thru middle

Nothing shows how little Reform UK care about Wales than this. Farage mocked after urging Powys voters to back Reform in ‘London elections’

A lovely walk today across Bodmin Moor to King Arthur's Hall, a curious structure around 10,000 years old. Nobody knows what it was for but everyone knows it had nothing whatsoever to do with King Arthur, which is obviously how it got its name.

The children are punished for wearing school uniform because school branded jumpers are "winter wear" and of course April is officially summer so it's never cold. 🤔 I do hope the BBC has got this story wrong. I don't want to believe any school would do this.

What a beautiful afternoon for a walk in the woods. The bluebells aren't yet at their peak, but they're close.

Trump filed for bankruptcy multiple times long before he ever ran for president, so why is anyone surprised now?

"True Christians... welcome the richness that other traditions bring to our society... those who seek political advantage from stoking hatred should hang their heads in shame." My blog post from last Sunday, about the current wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric. johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2026/03/22/p...

"There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking," Edward Flanagan. Pope Leo gives welcome recognition to someone who understood the power of early intervention to forestall problems later in life. search.app/T3X1Y

NEW BLOG: PRAYER IS NOT DOMINATION. Criticism of Muslims praying in public is racist and unchristian, stoking hatred and division, as the experience of refugees like my father and grandfather helps to explain. johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2026/03/22/p...

Apologies. I posted this before with the wrong screenshot. Outrage in The Telegraph over "Labour" building a cycle track in Plymouth is apparently led by people with 11 fingers on each hand...

The law of intended consequences.

Very nice man from South West Water came to the door super early this morning. Our meter needs replacing, it will take a few minutes, water off for "30 seconds max." Of course, I said. Go ahead, I said. So he did... Mrs C was in the shower. 😱

NEW BLOG: "...excluding large numbers of pupils is a deliberate policy of the Athena Trust and, let’s make no bones about it, this is damaging children: the poorest children and, disproportionately, those with special education needs (SEND)." johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t...

It's increasingly clear that America is being run for the personal gain and glorification of one man. It's a personality cult.

The DfE has acted on school exclusions for trivial reasons and served notice that internal exclusion must be "a short, structured intervention with meaningful learning." Some of us have argued for years that schools too quick to exclude harm pupils. johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/t...

Just making coffee. Sparks flew from the milk frother which then died. So I got the old one from the back of the cupboard... and stopped. Hang on! What have I become? Who owns a BACK UP milk frother? 😱

Frightening.

Company providing residential care for young people makes £157,000 profit for every youngster. (From Private Eye.)

Make it viral.

Forensic analysis of objective video evidence. This is how you serve readers searching for clarity.

"My heart leaps up when I behold a rainbow in the sky..." On the first day of the New Year, an auspicious sight on the Helford: according to The Bible, a sign of God's promise that things will get better.

‘The best and most successful schools have a coherence that flows from the implementation of their basic philosophy, it doesn’t come about by accident’ @johncosgrove.bsky.social in @raesnape.bsky.social The Headteacher’s Handbook

Short 🧵 2 cases from the Teaching Regulation Agency last Friday. First, HT ZZZ of [REDACTED], banned from teaching for malicious emails to staff and placing pupils at risk by illegal exclusions. With no explanation, his name, whereabouts and the date are all concealed. (continues)

The TRA names and shames those it finds guilty. "Teacher ZZZ" of "REDACTED" must feel very humiliated and the 19 people whose details HAVE been published so far this month must be full of admiration for the TRA's fairness. (Here's a blog I wrote earlier.) johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2024/08/18/t...

It's pouring with rain. There are 2 buckets catching drips from a leaky roof, just in front of the Reception desk at the GP surgery. "We'll have to be careful we don't kick the bucket while we're waiting," I joked to the woman in the queue in front of me. She didn't have a clue what I meant.

I do like this.

To be honest, there isn't much to laugh at in politics today so Michael Glasheen, who is apparently in charge of anti-terrorism at the FBI Comedy Club, deserves our thanks. He is hilarious.

In 2023 Ofsted rated Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy Outstanding in all areas. This week it suddenly discovers the "inflexible" behaviour policies, which it has encouraged and praised for years, harm children - as many of us have repeatedly pointed out. This dreadful organisation needs to go. NOW.

A simple 8 word headline to remind us all that, yes, The Spectator really is as bad as you might expect for a periodical once edited by Boris Johnson and now under the stewardship of a certain Michael Gove.

What a delightful headline to wake up to on a December morning.

Anne Longfield has been announced as chair of the Inquiry into Grooming Gangs. Far more important than the identity of the Chair is what happens with the inquiry's recommendations. Will they be ignored, as so often in the past? johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/01/26/i...

It depends on how one is measuring ‘success.’ Because this is what we are currently dealing with. Pat McFadden, SoS for Work and Pensions expressed concern over this state of affairs at the weekend. I would suggest the government put all the factors together and respond cohesively. #EduSky

Northern Ireland is a fantasy land, far far far away from the reality in which Kemi Badenoch inhabits

Friends of @wombat37.bsky.social unite! By quote reposting this, I’m hoping to make a virtual chain of people around Wombie. Full of love and happy memories of this great friend of ours, so he can feel us making a huge circle of love and care around him. Are you in? #CirleofLoveForWombie

If you want to know what's going really badly wrong with SEND (and much else in education) in England, just note that the Gove -Gibbs -Wilshaw -Spielman -Oliver falsehood that the "best" schools are those with the "best" academic outcomes has been accepted as fact by our media.

Congratulations to the fabulous Dorothy Lepkowska and welcome "SENDsationalfutures" a new magazine-website which launches this week with news, views and information about the SEND sector aimed at professionals and families. Check it out at: sendsationalfutures.com

All this froth and indignation about Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer "lying" ought to remind us of how the press unfailingly called out Boris Johnson's apparent inability to ever tell the truth. Strangely, I can't bring up those memories or recall the headlines. Can you?

‘Children with SEND just have to survive school.’ How have we got here, #EduSky? And what are we (urgently) going to do about it? All of these children featured should be able to have their needs met, and thrive in mainstream state education.

Today we’ll get latest net immigration figures - They’ll show immigration for work is plummeting. Why is this not part of the discussion on Rachel Reeves balancing her books & stalled growth? For every 100,000 drop in net immigration, the OBR adds £7bn to the deficit. #r4today

By far the best analysis I’ve seen.

Excellent, insightful article: thank you TES and @mmulholland.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Martyn Oliver says he wants school leaders "to feel comfortable and motivated... not anxious but energised" by this term's changes to Ofsted inspections. If that's really what he wants he should have brought in sensible, serious reforms... johncosgrove55.wordpress.com/2025/09/12/o...

I don’t like to say ‘I told them so,’ but I will, because it might help stop it all happening all over again. #CovidInquiry