BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ Programme, 7 May 2013

Debating with James Park, author of the Demos report, Detoxifying School Accountability, the merits of Ofsted school inspections.

BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ Programme, 25 August 2012

Debating with Tracy Hemming, Headteacher of Clacton Coastal Academy (Evan Davies in the chair), the claim that grades in English have been deliberately suppressed by exam boards under pressure from the government.

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BBC Radio London, 24 August 2012

Interviewed by Vanessa Feltz on BBC Radio London about schools’ concerns over this year’s GCSE results, particularly in English. Suggested that it would be wise for the government to respond to those concerns by appointing a senior respected figure to produce a rapid report on what has actually happened.

BBC Radio 5 Live, 23 August 2012

In an interview with Peter Allen put forward the idea that there needs to be a rapid independent review of this year’s GCSE results in English to respond to the concerns of schools, parents and pupils over the unexpectedly low pass rates.

BBC Radio 5 Live, 16 August 2012

Interview with Declan Curry on the incentives universities are using to attract well-qualified applicants.

BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ Programme, 16 August 2012

Interview with James Naughty previewing the release of A-level results.

Voice of Russia, 11 May 2012

Debating the claims of Lord Lucas, owner of The Good Schools Guide, that girls’ schools are becoming harder to defend and more of a minority thing. He said they needed to demonstrate that their pupils were aware of, and equipped to deal with, the world of men, marriage and career.

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Meridian – ITV News, 22nd March 2012

Alan Smithers questions the ever-increasing size of primary schools.

“It is a very big step to move from the comfort and security of the home to mixing in the social world of the school. Surely a better way forward would be more small schools close to people’s homes.”

Click here to see article based on broadcast.

Sky News, 26th June 2011

Alan Smithers says: “The difficulty I have is to see how the free schools and the academies and all the other types of schools are going to fit together into a coherent system.

“How are we going to be able to guarantee to parents that when their sons and daughters come up to school age there’s going to be a good place available for them, irrespective of who they are or where they live?”

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Talksport debate with George Galloway

Alan Smithers discusses with George Galloway the government’s proposal to train more teachers in the classroom, including former soldiers.

They go on to debate bad behaviour in schools and it’s causes.

Click here to listen, debate starts at 19 mins 30 seconds (ignore error notice).

BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Chris Howard, 22nd November 2010

The Education Secretary Michael Gove plans to get rid of assessment throughout GCSE courses and put much more emphasis on the exams taken at the end.

Professor Smithers and Chris Howard (National Association of Head Teachers) discuss the best ways of assessing children’s education.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Christine Blower, 15th November 2010

Should future teachers be trained directly in schools rather than at universities?

Professor Smithers and Christine Blower (National Union of Teachers) discuss the new scheme of putting graduates through an accelerated training programme and then straight into schools.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Barry Sheerman, 17th September 2010

Is too much emphasis placed on academic qualifications when deciding who would make a good teacher?

Professor Smithers and Labour MP Barry Sheerman discuss accepting those with a minimum of a second-class degree into the teacher profession.

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BBC Radio 4 debate on School Testing, 31st July 2010

Justin Rowlatt returns with a series of debates on topical issues, bringing together experts in a particular field with people living at the sharp end. He visits a primary school in South London to ask whether testing young children really helps them, or whether it subjects them to unnecessary stress. And is the point of SATS tests to benefit the children themselves or to give an indicator of school performance?

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Dr Lee Elliot Major, 2nd April 2010

Teachers’ unions will consider industrial action over Sat tests for 11 year-olds at their annual Easter conference. The three parties have outlined their education policies and the system’s failure to raise the standards of the bottom 10% of pupils.

Professor Smithers and Dr Lee Elliot Major (director of Research and Policy at Sutton Trust) discuss whether Sat exams should be abolished.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Sir Alan Jones, 1st September 2009

The number of vocational Diploma courses available to students in England has doubled from five to ten. The government wants the Diploma to become a core qualification in the education system, viewed to be as valid as A-levels and GCSEs.

Professor Smithers and Sir Alan Jones (chairman emeritus of Toyota in the UK) debate the need for the proposed Diplomas.

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BBC Radio 3 feature with Matthew Sweet, 23rd April 2009

Matthew Sweet chairs a round-table of teachers, academics, students and a former secretary of state for education in a programme dedicated to answering the question: What is the future of A levels – and are they really still fit for purpose?

The Advanced Level General Certificate was introduced in 1951 and soon became accepted as the educational gold standard, considered to be the top-drawer qualification comparable with the French Baccalaureate and the German Abitur. But in recent times that gold standard is seen by some as being tarnished, with more pupils than ever achieving the top grade.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Christine Blower, 10th April 2009

Teachers are threatening to boycott the national school tests Sats for seven and 11-year-olds in England.

Professor Smithers and Christine Blower (acting general secretary of the NUT) discuss what teachers believe is wrong with the tests.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Andrew Cave, 21st August 2008

According to Mike Creswell, of exam board AQA, GCSE exams have been increasingly designed to test children’s problem-solving abilities rather than their memories. Is the demise of learning by rote a bad thing?

Professor Smithers and Andrew Cave (Federation of Small Businesses) discuss whether thinking skills can be developed without knowledge.

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BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ discussion with Kathleen Tattersall, 18th July 2008

Kathleen Tattersall, the head of Ofqual, had said the quality of marking of this year’s Sats tests was as good as previous years – but now admits it could have been a premature judgement.

Christine Blower (National Union of Teachers) calls the row “a shambles”, while Professor Smithers explains the contract with ETS.

Click here to listen.

BBC Radio 4 feature with Jonathan Freedland, 9th April 2002

In this edition of The Long View, Jonathan Freedland explores the role of religion in the school curriculum.

One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin found his own village of Downe was torn apart over a row about the local school: would the local squire’s favouring of a secular curriculum win out over the vicar’s desire for more religious content, especially when government money depended on it?

The role of religion in our own schools has been highlighted by the debate over Emmanuel College, Gateshead, teaching creationism to its pupils along with evolution. What about children in our schools of faiths other than Christianity? Is it okay to teach the Bible so long as it’s not in a science lesson? Who decides what’s taught in our schools?

Click here to listen.