Writing
Since I started teaching (1985) I have written on aspects of English teaching for the Times Education Supplement. I now write on a broader range of issues for a wider range of publications, including school leadership, educational policy and behaviour management. Up until the end of 2017, I also posted thoughts, reflections and rants on my blog. These were mostly aimed at fellow teachers and students. That website is now frozen in cyber-aspic.
An attempt at an archive of published articles, including my monthly TES column, can be found here.
I've written academic pieces for journals like English in Education and The Use of English.
Increasingly I write for other publications too on various topics. Back in 1995 I won the Arts Critic category of the Independent on Sunday's "New Writers" contest with a cheap swipe at Delia Smith which won me a fax machine. St Delia: I ask your forgiveness. I wrote a piece about radio djs for The Independent, and I have also written about whole-school literacy for the The Guardian.
You can see all of these in the Features section.
The Barton Writing Archive ...
My articles from the past three years are collected here
To see a range of my articles on English, literacy and grammar, see here
To see my articles on becoming a headteacher for the now defunct Managing Schools Today, see here
To see more general 'features' writing, see here
To see some of the reviews I have written, again mostly for the TES, see here
To see samples of the range of articles I have written, see here
2021
Why this dereliction of duty stretches beyond the DfE my TES column (8th January 2021)
We need to see the evidence for mass testing – urgently my TES column (15 January 2021)
2020
'Ofsted's blunt labels make things worse for schools’ my TES column (10 January 2020)
'School funding: Clever sleight of hand or a mess?' my TES column (17 January 2020)
''Enough is enough – it's not all about exam results' my TES column (31 January 2020)
‘Is it time to abandon the anachronistic school blazer my TES column (7th February 2020 )
10 ways to make our accountability regime less bizarre my TES column (13th February 2020)
Schools have not, do not, and will not, 'squander' cash my TES column (21st February 2020)
Coronavirus: To close or not to close schools my TES column (28th February 2020)
If schools shut, ministers must suspend accountability my TES column (6th March 2020)
What does 'world-class education' actually mean? my TES column (13th March 2020)
'In our time of crisis, schools are showing leadership' my TES column (20th March 2020)
Teachers have risen to this challenge with assuredness my TES column (27th March 2020)
When schools return it will not be 'business as usual' my TES column (3rd April 2020)
Schools must start thinking about how to reopen my TES column (17th April 2020)
'Three cheers for the Ofsted chief - a voice of sense' my TES column (1st May 2020)
'We don't need battle cries but ice-cold logic' my TES column (8th May 2020)
'We can prepare to return while questioning the advice' my TES column (15th May 2020)
School reopening: 'I worry this mess isn’t an accident' my TES column (22nd May 2020)
School reopenings: Mental health must be a top priority my TES column (29th May 2020)
'The world we knew is over - let's focus on the future' my TES column (5th June 2020)
Government owes our pupils a plan – so where is it my TES column (12th June 2020)
Catch-up funding is great - but it's chaos again my TES column (19th June 2020)
Who will save schools from Covid confusion my TES column (26th June 2020)
'Where's Plan B in the government's reopening plans?' my TES column (3rd July 2020)
Teachers are being blamed for the government's failings my TES column (10th July 2020)
Where's the government's plan B for schools my TES column (17th July 2020)
Why it's so important schools and colleges collaborate my TES column (17th July 2020)
'I have never seen such a car-crash set of results' my TES column (13th August 2020)
'Many teachers feel bruised, deflated and frustrated' my TES column (20th August 2020)
Enough blustery promises – schools need real support my TES column (11th September 2020)
Face masks are just a distraction from what matters my TES column (28th August 2020)
Schools show the nation what good leadership looks like my TES column (4th September 2020)
Will students pay for the lack of a Plan B my TES column (18th September 2020)
'Schools are not able to go on like this indefinitely' my TES column (25th September 2020)
Please, stop this squalid game of blaming teachers my TES column (2nd October 2020)
Have lessons been learned from the exams fiasco? Well my TES column (9th October 2020)
Why isn't the government listening to teachers my TES column (16th October 2020)
'We're all weary from weariness...but there is hope' my TES column (23rd October 2020)
'We deserve clarity about GCSEs and A levels – now' my TES column (30th October 2020)
Face masks are a distraction from what really matters my TES column (6th November 2020)
Are we at the beginning – maybe – of the end of Covid my TES column (13th November 2020)
'There is a growing air of militancy in our schools' my TES column (27th November 2020)
Covid has shown us it's vital to push for exam reform my TES column (4th December 2020)
'The Inset plan is ham-fisted, tone deaf and demeaning my TES column (11th December 2020)
Why it's time for teachers to start saying 'no' my TES column (18th December 2020)
2019
'Teachers – are you looking after your wellbeing?’ my SecEd column (9 January 2019)
'What kind of education do we believe our children deserve?’: my TES blog (10 January 2019)
'Ofsted's new regime will split accountability in two': my TES blog (16 January 2019)
'GCSE performance tables have had their day. End of.': my TES blog (24 January 2019)
'The DfE's dismal statement on teachers' pay blew all the goodwill': my TES blog (1 February 2019)
'Let school leaders decide mobile phone policy': my TES blog (8 February 2019)
'School accountability: The tide is slowly turning’ my SecEd column (6 February 2019)
‘The climate strikes threaten the safety of our pupils’ my TES blog (15 February 2019)
‘How can we rejuvenate languages learning in Britain?’ my TES blog (1 March 2019)
‘We need a reality check about exclusions’ my TES blog (7 March 2019)
‘'The stories I hear of pupil poverty are getting worse' my TES blog (15 March 2019)
‘Seventy-five years ago this year ...' my ASCL Conference 2019 speech (16 March 2019)
‘'Don’t get angry about the LGBT row…'’ my TES blog (21 March 2019)
‘Don’t kill off BTECs just to bolster T levels’’ my TES blog (28 March 2019)
‘Ofsted changes could be a stepping stone' my TES blog (5 April 2019)
‘Leaders, we must be bold to save education' my TES blog (30 April 2019)
‘Our GCSE system and its devastating collateral damage' my SecEd column (9 May 2019)
‘School exclusions: Why high-quality alternative provision is crucial' my TES blog (10 May 2019)
‘We must take the heat out of the exam system' my TES blog (16 May 2019)
‘We must take this opportunity to consign EBacc to history' my TES blog (24 May 2019)
‘Schools need a lot more than £1bn, Mr Gove' my TES blog (7 June 2019)
‘Primaries must be required to talk about LGBT families' my TES blog (14 June 2019)
‘A-level leaks and our 'monstrous' exam system' my TES blog (20 June 2019)
‘What education can learn from the world of football' my TES blog (27 June 2019)
‘Why Brexit mustn't mean turning our back on languages' my TES blog (4 July 2019)
‘What would a world without Sats look like?' my TES blog (15 July 2019)
‘Education needs solutions, Mr Williamson' my TES blog (25 July 2019)
‘We must ratchet down the macho language of 'difficulty'' my TES blog (15 August 2019)
'GCSEs feel like a Kafkaesque nightmare’ my Tes column (22 August 2019)
''This large splash of cash does not reverse the cuts' my Tes column (30 August 2019)
'Uniforms shouldn't cost too much. Now define 'too much'’: my TES blog (5 September 2019)
'Why teachers need to speak up for 'the forgotten third': my TES blog (12 September 2019)
'Why abolishing private schools is ethically dubious': my TES blog (19 September 2019)
'Labour mustn't throw out the baby with the bath water': my TES blog (23 September 2019)
'We should focus on what schools need, not what they are': my TES blog (27 September 2019)
'Teaching changed my life for the better in so many ways’ my TES column (4 October 2019)
'What are we trying to achieve with our exam system?’ my TES column (17 October 2019)
'In the dark days of this election, there is a light...’ my TES column (1 November 2019)
'Labour deserves credit on lifelong learning’ my TES column (15 November 2019)
'It may be time to ditch GCSEs and dust down Tomlinson’ my TES column (22 November 2019)
'Why the Conservatives are playing politics with Ofsted’ my TES column (22 November 2019)
'What must the new education secretary's priorities be?’ my TES column (13 December 2019)
'So ministers want transformative education policies...?’ my TES column (19 December 2019)
2018
'Creating a climate for learning: Five steps': my SecEd article on behaviour management (3 January 2018)
'In 2018, let's reclaim the career of teaching for what it can be': my New Year TES blog (4 January 2018)
''It’s time to ditch the old 'them and us' relationship between the profession and education ministers'': my TES blog (9 January 2018)
'Heads and teachers must model principled, appropriate and ethical online behaviour': my TES blog (18 January 2018)
'Three reasons why the secondary school league tables don't matter as much as you'd think': my TES blog (25 January 2018)
'We have to do more to hang on to our teachers': my SecEd article (31 January 2018)
'Not all the solutions to the retention crisis lie in that Westminster bunker': my TES blog (1 February 2018)
'Ofsted doesn't sack headteachers – but it is part of an unforgiving accountability system': my TES blog (8 February 2018)
'High-quality sport is a necessity and an entitlement in our schools': my TES blog (22 February 2018)
'Books must retain prominence in our children's lives - and that starts with parents reading to them': my TES blog (1 March 2018)
'The funding crisis threatens everything': Geoff Barton's five key lessons from a year at the helm of the ASCL': my TES blog (8 March 2018)
'We may face workload, funding and recruitment crises, but it’s time to break the cycle of gloom about teaching': my TES blog (15 March 2018)
'If nurses are going to get a 6.5 per cent pay rise, then surely it's time for teachers to get a similar salary hike': my TES blog (22 March 2018)
''Setting CEO salaries to one side, we should remember that many MATs contain very good people doing their very best': my TES blog (29 March 2018)
'The funding crisis is putting education standards at risk' my TES blog (19 April, 2018)
'Teachers should encourage students to speak up – and remember to do so themselves' my TES blog (26 April, 2018)
'Schools are not the silver bullet to fix all of society's problems' my TES blog (4 May, 2018)
'Is the new teacher career strategy a game-changer?’ my TES blog (10 May, 2018)
'Teachers, it's time for us to reclaim education' my TES blog (24 May, 2018)
'Never forget the human consequences of funding cuts' my TES blog (7 June, 2018)
'It’s not a game of two halves’ my SecEd column (13 June 2018)
'Make no mistake: expanding grammars is harmful' my TES blog (14 June, 2018)
'Behaviour sanctions are set by teachers, not politicians' my TES blog (21 June, 2018)
'It's self-defeating madness to deny teachers visas': my TES blog (28 June 2018)
'School performance data never, ever tells the full story': my TES blog (5 July 2018)
'Reasons to be cheerful about education': my TES blog (13 July 2018)
‘Next year we must reclaim education as ours’: my TES blog (20 July 2018)
‘Today's pay deal is another education policy scrabbled together’: my TES blog (24 July 2018)
'What exactly was the point of exam reforms?': my TES blog (16 August 2018)
'There's a difference between off-rolling and exclusions': my TES blog (9 September 2018)
'The political pendulum’ my SecEd column (19 September 2018)
'Why are we so obsessed with Ofsted?': my TES blog (13 September 2018)
'The impact of Brexit on education is immeasurable': my TES blog (27 September 2018)
'The DfE's position on funding cuts is robotically facile': my TES blog (4 October 2018)
'We must tell pupils how we tackle our anxieties': my TES blog (10 October 2018)
'As we arrive at half-term, 5 reasons to be cheerful': my TES blog (19 October 2018)
'Six tests Monday's Budget must meet for schools, teachers and students': my TES blog (26 October 2018)
'Five quick fixes to help teacher retention': my TES blog (2 November 2018)
'Society needs to decide the kind of education service it is prepared to pay for': my TES blog (9 November 2018)
‘More and more schools are battling grinding pupil poverty’: my TES blog (15 November 2018)
'Take the grind out of school’ my SecEd column (21 November 2018)
‘I bet Lord Agnew a bottle of Liebfraumilch that I can find savings in the DfE’: my TES blog (22 November 2018)
‘The DfE must rise to the challenge of the teacher recruitment crisis’: my TES blog (3 December 2018)
‘The university admissions system belongs to a different era': my TES blog (14 December 2018)
‘There IS reason to hope amid the gloom in education': my TES blog (20 December 2018)
2017
'You’ve got to try headship to know how good it can be': My TES blog (17 January 2017)
'John's Legacy Won't be Forgotten': My Bury Free Press column (22 January 2017)
'A Tribute to John Ottley': The eulogy I gave at John's funeral (24 January 2017)
'The self-absorbed, screen-bound snowflakes backing democracy': My TES piece (31 January 2017)
'Why I'll be staying here in Suffolk': My Bury Free Press column (17 February 2017)
'Why we must teach online respect': My EADT column (7 March 2017)
'Ministers can no longer ignore protests over the school funding crisis': My Guardian article (14 March 2017)
'Proud of the future; proud of the past': My final Bury Free Press column (31 March 2017)
'The good, the bad, and the woolly': My TES blog on the Labour 2017 manifesto (16 May 2017)
'Politicians remaking it up as they go along'': My TES blog on exam tinkering (29 March 2017)
'The good, the bad, and the woolly': My TES blog on the Labour 2017 manifesto (16 May 2017)
'The Tory manifesto is ill-suited to the nation's needs': My TES blog on the Conservative 2017 manifesto (18 May 2017)
'Amid uncertainty, teachers make the world reassuringly familiar': My TES blog after the Manchester bombing (23 May 2017)
'Now is the time for an ambitious vision of education': My Guardian article for the General Election (26 May 2017)
'As our country becomes more insular, so, it seems, does its curriculum’ My TES blog for A-level results day (17 August 2017)
'It's time to end education's political ping-pong match': My TES blog (6 September 2017)
'Why do we let Ofsted scare us so easily?': My TES weekly blog (14 September 2017)
'Taught Not Caught' by Nicky Morgan: My TES book review (15 September 2017)
'Why must we rub students noses in their GCSE disappointment?': My TES weekly blog (21 September 2017)
'As Labour outlines its vision for education, Angela Rayner should remember the importance of allowing teachers to teach': My TES Labour conference blog (25 September 2017)
''Show me a great school and I’ll show you a rich pulsing culture of the arts at its core'': My TES blog (28 September 2017)
'Her speech might have been short on detail, but Justine Greening does appear to want to work with the profession': My TES blog from the Conservative conference (1 October 2017)
''We owe it to our young people to make sure homelessness isn’t an invisible issue' My TES blog from Manchester (4 October 2017)
'Leadership in public service – including in schools – is too punitive and too unforgiving' My TES blog (11 October 2017)
''We must not let a mechanistic view of education push us to dismantle the very features in our schools that the rest of the world craves' My TES blog (18 October 2017)
''Today's lobby is about whether our government values education enough to fund it properly' My TES blog (24 October 2017)
'We need to change the story we tell about our profession – to the world and to ourselves' My TES blog (26 October 2017)
'We must reward great teachers – and stop pushing them out of the classroom' My TES blog (2 November 2017)
'Off-rolling is unethical, inappropriate and beyond repugnant – the consequences are devastating' My TES blog (8 November 2017)
‘'We are the "word-rich" and it’s up to us to help empower the "word-poor"’ My TES blog (16 November 2017)
‘Deciding against major investment in schools points to an uninspiring vision of post-Brexit Britain’ My TES blog (23 November 2017)
‘The public has faith in teachers – teachers must have faith in themselves’ My TES blog (30 November 2017)
'I salute the teachers, TAs and librarians who inspire a love of reading in children for whom books are alien' My TES blog (7 December 2017)
'Could the government’s quiet and understated social mobility plan prove to be a game-changer?' My TES blog (14 December 2017)
'If our schools aren’t joyful, then society should feel scuppered' My TES blog (21 December 2017)
2016
'New Year 2016': Article for National Education Trust (4 January 2016)
'2016: A Momentous Year Ahead': My Bury Free Press column (15 January 2016)
'Parents must do better': My East Anglian Daily Times column (22 January 2016)
'I don't see lines of people queuing up to be headteachers': My TES column (28 January 2016)
'Whatever politicians decide, we can still make a difference in the classroom': My EADT column (17 February 2016)
'Give teachers the freedom to inspire': My Bury Free Press column (23 February 2016)
'Nicky Morgan must give up the soundbites': My TES blog (4 March 2016)
''I will be the last person in England dragged kicking and screaming to be an academy head'': My TES blog on forced academisation (16 March 2016)
'So the Education Secretary knows better than parents': My TES blog (17 March 2016)
'Preparing citizens of the future': My Bury Free Press column (20 March 2016)
'Wittgenstein before university? Come off it': My THES comment (foot of article) (14 April 2016)
'Forced academisation? I Don't think so': My Bury Free Press column (17 April 2016)
'Grammar knowledge should encourage a love of language': My EADT column (19 May 2016)
'On term-time holidays': My Bury Free Press column (21 May 2016)
'On the appointment of a new Ofsted boss': My Times Educational Supplement blog (10 June 2016)
'The heroes going out in style': My Bury Free Press column (17 June 2016)
'We may not be in Europe, but Europe is in us and in our school': My TES Referendum piece (24 June 2016)
Welcome to Amanda Spielman as Ofsted's new chief: My TES blog (7 July 2016)
"Our revels now are ended": my farewell to Hardwick Middle School: My EADT column (13 July 2016)
'I hope the new Education Secretary will lob the White Paper into the nearest bin': My TES blog (14 July 2016)
'The end of an era heralds a new age': My Bury Free Press column (15 July 2016)
'New grammar schools will be a test of whether system leadership means anything ': My TES blog (10 August 2016)
'How to tell your exam day story': My TES article (16 August 2016)
'Opening new grammar schools is not the answer': My EADT monthly column (17 August 2016)
'Let's ignore the naysayers & celebrate success': My TES GCSE results day blog (25 August 2016)
'This daft new grammar school idea: let's just say no': My Bury Free Press column (17 September 2016)
'Shanghai: a culture of unstoppable aspiration': My Bury Free Press column (24 October 2016)
'Seeing through the prevailing gloom': My Bury Free Press column (18 November 2016)
'The Nativity-per-view financial crisis in schools': My Guardian piece (30 November 2016)
'Fair funding shouldn't mean taking money away from children in one area to give to another': My TES blog (15 December 2016)
'My simple wish for Christmas': My Bury Free Press column (16 December 2016)
2015
'I back Suffolk County Council over its ‘RAG’ ratings': My East Anglian Daily Times (24 December 2015)
'Students need to see our anger and our love': My Bury Free Press column on the Paris atrocities (22 November 2015)
'Why my link with Eton College will improve me as a state headteacher': My East Anglian Daily Times column (20 November 2015)
'Grammar schools should stay in the past': My East Anglian Daily Times column (21 October 2015)
'This "Merchant" mesmerised me': My Bury Free Press column (18 September 2015)
'Warning on technology in schools': My East Anglian column (16 September 2015)
'Suffolk to Shanghai': My Cambridge Assessment blog (16 September 2015)
'Here's hoping you have a great year': My National Education Trust article (31 August 2015)
'Ofsted expects? Forget it': My TES column (26 August 2015)
'Great results are down to great teachers': My Bury Free Press column (21 August 2015)
'The magic of getting lost in a good book': My Bury Free Press article (17 July 2015)
'We must learn from international school partners': My East Anglian Daily Times article (15 July 2015)
'How to remain calm when managing staff goodbyes': My TES article (5 July 2015)
'Across the divide: my day at Bedales School': My TES article (19 June 2015)
'Ofsted: When the Disappeared wrote back': My TES blog (8 June 2015)
'Coasting Schools strategy will make things worse': My EADT column (20 May 2015)
'A rich seedbed for great thinkers': My Bury Free Press column (17 May 2015)'Let's reclaim state education': My TES blog (1 May 2015)
'This is a story about Ofsted': My TES blog (27 April 2015)
'Trust teachers to focus on teaching': My Bury Free Press column (17 April 2015)
'Politicians need to be optimistic for the future of schools': My East Anglian Daily Times column (15 April 2015)
'I'm searching for another word': My Bury Free Press column (27 March 2015)
'The Barton Crematorium': My EADT column on free schools (19 March 2015)
'The Ins & Outs of Selective Schools': My chapter in the Civitas book (Page 290ff, March 2015)
'Free schools are a vanity project': My TES blog (9 March 2015)
'Let’s question the role of education ministers': My EADT article (23 February 2015)
'Learning lessons from days gone by': My Bury Free Press article (22 February 2015)
'We need to make sure it's the experts - teachers - who claim their college': My TES blog (4 February 2015)
'Why democracy matters in schools': My Bury Free Press column (16 January 2015)
'Can a book really be as exciting as an iPad?': My EADT column (21 January 2015)
'Could we please have an end to scatter-gun reforms in 2015': My TES blog (5 January 2015)
2014
'Why I'll be checking my emails this Christmas': My TES blog (23 December 2014)
'The hope of Christmas needs to shine a little brighter': My Bury Free Press column (21 December 2014)
'Schools are full of joy at Christmas': My East Anglian Daily Times column (18 December 2014)
On 'Wilshaw's pessimism': My TES blog (11 December 2014)
'A ritual born out of controversy': My Bury Free Press column (22 November 2014)
'The scapegoating of school leaders': My East Anglian Daily Times column (20 November 2014)
'My Manifesto': My TES column (31 October 2014)
'Celebrating a Bigger Partnership' My Bury Free column (17 October 2014)
'Sir Michael is too quick to criticise': My Bury Free Press column (22 September, 2014)
'The French have a term for it': My National Education Trust blog on the new school year (1 September, 2014)
'Keep your cool during difficult conversations': My TES article for the 'Leadership' section (15 August, 2014)
'I’d be surprised if there were no surprises': My TES blog on A-level results (14 August, 2014)
'We're now in the post-Gove era': My Bury Free Press column (18 July, 2014)
'Going back to my roots': My EADT column (16 July, 2014)
'Gove, the great reformer, mistook change for improvement' My TES blog (15 July, 2014)
'Is it fair to fine parents for taking children out of school?': EADT debate (25 June, 2014)
'We don't have a river for rowing': a comment on the caricaturing of state school sport My TES blog (23 June, 2014)
'So what is Britishness?': My Bury Free Press column (20 June, 2014)
'Gove & the Trojan Horse': My EADT column (18 June, 2014)
'Ofqual whistle-blowing?: we owe it to our students to do so.'' My TES piece on Ofqual's call for evidence over unfair practice (6 June, 2014)
'The Rules of Rejection' My TES piece on debriefing unsuccessful interview candidates (16 May, 2014)
'The Power of Words' My Bury Free Press column on vocabulary (16 May, 2014)
'Doing God' My EADT column on religion and atheism (May, 2014)
'It's a very special anniversary' My Bury Free Press column on Shakespeare (18 April, 2014)
'Is behaviour in schools really getting worse?' My EADT column on behaviour (16 April, 2014)
'Could this please be the last bit of radical reform to qualifications – just for a decade or so?' My TES blog on GCSE reform (4 April, 2014)
'Gove's magic deserts him' My TES blog on the ASCL keynotes (21 March, 2014)
'Day in, day out, we’re doing our best:' My Bury Free Press column (21 March, 2014)
'On the Policy Exchange Proposal for Ofsted' My East Anglian column (19 March, 2014)
'School is about more than exams' My Bury Free Press column (21 February 2014)
'Should schools have a longer school day?' My EADT debate article (19 February 2014)
'Giving Ofsted a dressing down' My EADT column (19 February 2014)
'Seldon's proposal reinforces a myth' My TES blog (21 January 2014)
'Our War Heroes Deserve Better' My Bury Free Press column (17 January 2014)
'Tortoise out of the Box' My EADT column (15 January 2014)
'New Year Philistinism' My TES New Year Blog (3 January 2014)
2013
'Suffolk Mission' My Bury Free Press column (20 December 2013)
'Ofsted Cheer' My EADT column (18 December 2013)
'On not being top of the PISA pops' Guardian article (3 December 2013)
'There are inspectors and inspectors' East Anglian Daily Times article (20 November 2013)
'The Shyness of Teachers' Bury Free Press article (15 November 2013)
'What I'd really welcome at GCSE' TES blog (1 November 2013)
'Take Note of our Great Schools' My Bury Free Press column (18 October 2013)
'A Matter of Life or Death' My TES review of 'I Am Malala' (18 October 2013)
'Leo Remembered' My EADT column (16 October 2013)
'The Magic of Suffolk' My Bury Free Press column (20 September 2013)'I'll let you in on a secret' TES column (13 September 2013)
'Bringing the world into your school' Article for TES Leadership (30 August 2013)
'View from the Top: Richard Parker's 'The Reality of School Leadership' My review for the TES (23 August 2013)
'A-levels 2013': My column for the Bury Free Press (16 August 2013)
'Englishness': My column for the East Anglian Daily Times (16 August 2013)
'A-level blog': My blog for the TES (15 August 2013)
'Summer Heat': My column for the Bury Free Press (19 July 2013)
'Teaching Matters': My column for the East Anglian Daily Times (17 July 2013)
'Don't believe the curriculum hype' Article for The Guardian (8 July 2013)
'Payment by Numbers' My latest column (Bury Free Press) (29 June 2013)
'Supporting staff through trying times': TES Leadership column (TES) (21 June 2013)
'Toys out of the Pram': East Anglian Daily Times column (TES) (19 June 2013)
'What makes a good teacher?': TES column (TES) (11 June 2013)
'Testing Times for Grammar': My latest column for the Bury Free Press (BFP) (17 May 2013)
'Knowing Stuff': My latest column for the EADT (EADT) (15 May 2013)
'Withitness' is all you need: My latest column (TES) (3 May 2013)
TES Leadership: 'Take charge in your first few weeks': My column (TES) (3 May 2013)
'Saluting Edmund Coote': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (20 March 2013)
'On Character': My latest column (Bury Free Press) (15 March 2013)'Ofsted - who do you think you are?': My latest column (TES) (22 February 2013)
'Role-Models': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (20 February 2013)
'Reading is for everyone': My article for World Book Day (TES) (15 February 2013)
'In Praise of Roy Samson': My latest column (Bury Free Press) (18 January 2013)
'A Monster is Hatched': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (16 January 2013)
'This Too Shall Pass': New year blog (National Education Trust) (January 2013)
Pieces for Managing Schools Today and the Teachit website are starting to be included on the Features page.
Barton on grammar ...
For three years Professor Dick Hudson and I wrote a weekly "Writer's Toolkit". Here's a selection. For the most up-to-date collection of these articles (grouped by publication date), see his website
Writer's Toolkit articles (with Dick Hudson):