The Conservatives pledged its latest education policy last month – vowing not to let teachers into the profession with degrees of less than a 2:2. Conservative leader David Cameron said the Tories would be “brazenly elitist” when it came to admissions to the profession, in a similar way to countries such as Finland and South Korea. While some have pointed out that less than four per cent of teachers currently working in the UK actually have a third class degree, The Times Educational Supplement claims that one in six maths and ICT teachers working today would fail to make it into the classroom under the reforms proposed by the Conservatives. With some subjects seriously undersubscribed, would Cameron’s policy actually make the situation in the UK worse. Or is it about time that standards were raised?

Happy New Year to all our readers! We look forward to seeing you at this month’s BETT show.

The government’s pre-Budget report was released last month and gives us an idea of the thinking as regarding school funding going forward. Given the ongoing recession, I believe we can be overall quite pleased that Labour has pledged to continue to support schools with an annual increase of around 0.7 per cent through to 2013. There is also good news to be found for those families earning less than £16,190 a year. Their children will now be eligible for free school meals. This pledge should affect half a million children and will go some way to addressing the related problems of child poverty and obesity.

This month, Jill Berry, President of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) told delegates that teenage girls should be taught to be realistic about combining a career and motherhood. She said that female students face too much pressure to become the “perfect woman” and that they should accept that not working or having a part-time career is just as good an option as being a “have it all” career mum.

With all due respect to Ms Berry, I think she is missing the point. Most women don’t go to work because they want to be “perfect” – they go to work because one salary is not enough to pay the bills. Given half a chance, a lot of the mothers I know would love to stay at home with their children or work part-time – but only a lucky few are able to achieve this.

In the last month, the Cambridge Primary Review was published. It is the biggest report on primary schools for over 40 years, weighing in at over 600 pages and based on over 1,000 submissions from 14 authors, the findings from 28 surveys, 66 research consultants and an advisory committee. It concludes that if children start school too young it could put them off education for life. It suggests that the UK follow the continental model, which often sees children start school at six years of age. Just days after the Review was published, the government announced its plans to ensure that all children have a place at Primary school aged 4. But who is right? Should children be allowed more time to develop through play - or should they get on and learn? We welcome your views - do take part in our poll on the website.

Ed Balls has announced plans for a social networking site for parents to be hosted by the people behind successful Netmums. He said, "We need to find innovative ways of involving parents in schools, particularly in secondary schools.

"I like to think of it as a 'virtual school gate' - where parents can chat to each other online, find out what is happening in the schools and pass on useful information to each other."

Welcome to our new-look Education Today. We have overhauled the layout and structure of the magazine and hope that it will reflect the many aspects of school life encountered by education professionals on a daily basis.

As the nation heads back to school after another frankly disappointing British summer, we are faced with the disturbing news that the number of 11-year-olds passing Sats in English has fallen for the first time since the exam was introduced in 1995.

If young people are going to succeed in an increasingly competitive world, it's critical that we help them to thrive while they are at school in a way that suits their interests and needs.  The 14-19 reforms, including the Diploma, have been designed to give every young person the chance to achieve this success. 

Over a number of years I have been in the privileged position in my role as an Education adviser for Inclusion, and more recently as a freelance education consultant, to witness first hand good and outstanding practice in the Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes, existing within early years settings, schools, academies and pupil referral units throughout the UK. 

Sir Jim Rose's revamp of the primary school curriculum, launched in early May, was the perfect opportunity to give schools more flexibility over what they teach. Instead, what we have is jumbled collection of ideas that will have little impact on the numbers of children who leave primary school without even the most basic skills.

Currently the DCSF estimates that £120 million is spent a year by UK schools on recruitment advertising and associated costs; in my opinion, this is £100 million too much.