A career in journalism can take you to some extraordinary places. My highlights include interviewing Sir Richard Branson 40,000 feet above the Atlantic on Virgin’s first flight to Miami, sitting in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the Saudi desert with Prince Charles and Princess Diana and driving across the Equator in a battered old Land Rover. Last week was another example of the eclectic nature of journalism. After ...keep reading
I’ve worked as a freelance education journalist for years, interviewing heads and teachers, eating rather a lot of school dinners and writing about the inspiring work schools are doing. I got into it in the first place because I spent a year or so teaching at an FE college myself and quickly realised that it’s one of the hardest and most demanding jobs there is. Ten years later, having seen hundreds of teachers ...keep reading
I’m a bit puzzled by the news that people over the age of 50 are changing O levels to GCSEs on their CVs in a bid to be considered for job vacancies. They are also, according to The Sunday Times, deleting their early job history in a bid to appear younger than they actually are. The thing that baffles me is that O levels were actually phased out in 1987, ...keep reading
WOW – and wow. Every once in a while you hear a voice that stops you in your tracks and makes you think. That’s exactly what happened to me yesterday when I heard Malala Yousafzai give a speech at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Malala, as the whole world knows, is the courageous Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 after speaking out about girls’ ...keep reading
When I’m not reviewing books, writing novels or blogging, I have a day job as an education journalist. My children have never been keen on me being clued up about key stage 3, phonics and schemes of work, but they’ve had to put up with it. And it’s endlessly fascinating. One week I’m writing about apprenticeships, the next I’m interviewing the head master of Eton (one of the most impressive ...keep reading
September is the month of new school uniform, sharpened pencils, and melancholy that the long summer holidays are over for another year. With my son starting year 13 tomorrow, his last year of school, I’m feeling extra nostalgic. It seems no time at all since his very first day, when he was a small boy with white-blond hair, a uniform that was far too big for him and a wide ...keep reading