Bridget Phillipson has said she is ready to take on the unions in a battle over compulsory reading tests for 13-year-olds and more extracurricular activities for all children to prevent them becoming stuck in a doom loop of detachment from school. The education secretary said that teaching unions, who have argued the tests were unnecessary and distracting, should really think carefully about whether they could justify standing in the way of tackling the shocking outcomes that exist for many working-class children.
My husband and I both grew up in the same small town in Southern Illinois. I distinctly remember visiting relatives in the Chicago suburbs and dreaming of when I could live somewhere with so much to see and do. Though I did enjoy my childhood, growing up in the country and spending hours outside, I craved something different for my own children.
