John Bald: The effective teaching of multiplication tables is long overdue

Does the National Education Union want teenagers to count on their fingers? That’s the consequence if one severs mathematics education from its base in arithmetic.

John Bald: Schools are still failing to exclude bullies

The perpetrators of school violence and disruption inflict more harm on the education of other pupils, and to the morale of teachers, than they do on themselves.

John Bald: It is becoming harder for Leftist academics to attack phonics

Teaching children to spell is not an act of cruelty – they have a large smiles on their faces when they get something right.

More good school places for pupils. Back to the future with Hinds.

His first major interview returns policy to the spirit of May’s original education ideas, with new faith schools and expanded selective ones as part of the mix.

Mark Lehain: The times tables reform. Not a giant leap – but one of so many small steps for the better.

A fairer funding formula, better behaviour, fluency in numeracy and literacy, a richer National Curriculum, better exams: these appeal to voters’ innate common sense.

After his success on reading, Gibb gets his way on times tables

The Schools Minister has been a near-constant presence at the forefront of educational reform. It’s good that Hinds is listening to him.

Robert Halfon: Three big Conservative achievements. Better schools, more apprenticeships – and help for lower paid people.

Of course, mistakes are made, and governments get things wrong – but there is also a duty to make sure that the good gets out into the public sphere too.

Gove is our panel’s Minister of the Year

He sweeps home with over half the vote against an expert enthusiast, a dedicated reformer – and a hero of a terror attack on Westminster.

Robert Halfon: Our schools are the best ever – now let’s build on that success, and deliver more social justice

High educational standards are essential, but the most disadvantaged children also need help with workplace skills and social capital.

John Bald: The alternative to phonics is guessing – which does not work

Not only can we teach our children to read but we can also defeat illiteracy in our prisons.

Nadhim Zahawi: How one man’s passion for phonics is helping an entire generation

Nick Gibb changed the National Curriculum to require schools explicitly to teach reading using the method. The results have been outstanding.

Raab and Stewart. Our survey’s top Ministerial choices for Cabinet promotion.

Jo Johnson is third. Then Greg Hands and Matt Hancock. But those who lead the results may be no less likely to go up than those who trail them.

More children are learning to read under the Conservatives

The improvement has been dramatic – and is a vindication for the emphasis placed on phonics by Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister.

The Conservative MPs most likely next to make the Cabinet are those you may not have heard of

The Mercers, Tugendhats and Cleverlys get a lot of media coverage. However, most promotions come from the ranks of the toiling Ministers of State.

Norman to Transport. Rolling reshuffle list of junior appointments.

A summary of the news from the junior ranks to date. Announcements of appointments yet to conclude.