John Bald: It’s time to boost the Further Education sector

It is funded at a lower level than schools, and yet is expected to put right much that has gone wrong. Technical courses need higher esteem.

Graham Jones: In West Berkshire, we will not shirk hard decisions for the sake of mushy populism

Despite our budget being cut, we have achieved bold reforms with libraries, children’s services, broadband roll out and business rates retention. We are open for business.

James Hockney: Too often it’s not the bullies being excluded from school – but the victims

Where children are scared to go to school, their parents are being threatened with truancy action and given the option to home educate.

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: Teachers are still groaning over the time they have to waste producing fake data

Conservative policies to date have done little to improve the situation, and have sometimes made it worse. These bureaucratic impositions must be lifted.

Kevin Davis: Don’t let Kingston return to the dark days of Lib Dem rule

Previously the parks were neglected and the roads full of potholes. The Conservatives have started to turn the borough around.

John Bald: Why is the Government wasting £100 million on a Quango that backs mixed ability teaching?

Free schools and academies have found that setting improves standards. It’s time to stop giving huge public funds to academics who disregard this evidence.

Sean Anstee: If you live in Trafford you will pay less than anywhere else in the north west

As Labour councils around us abolish libraries, we’re building new ones. We are working flat out to win the local elections. Our message is: “Keep moving forward.”

John Bald: Mixed ability teaching has come very close to killing the learning of foreign languages

Tougher exams are not to blame. Too often children’s time for the first three years of secondary school is wasted.

Alistair Thompson: Stick to the day job, Ofsted – and drop this power grab. You don’t need it to stop Islamist extremists.

This latest scheme could drag sports clubs, the Scouts and Guides and even the TA, Royal Naval Reserves and cadets into its net.

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.

John Bald: How to stop the nonsense in teacher training

Give trainee teachers much more experience of working with individual children, so that they learn to focus on the person in front of them, and not on what someone else tells them to do.

John Bald: The Government should stop wasting teachers’ time

Pointless paperwork, excessively detailed planning, and over-marking need to be addressed by Justine Greening.

John Bald: Michaela offers great lessons – for the rest of us as well as its pupils

The Ofsted report is a vindication for the approach of Katharine Birbalsingh.

John Bald: Building an education service that works for everyone

There are too many examination papers – cutting the number would save money and stress.