Whether you\u2019re a seasoned writer or feel the need to express your view for the first time, there\u2019s a place for you in Schools Week.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of advice here, but don\u2019t be daunted. Our editors will support you to get the best out of your article.<\/p>\n
The best starting point is to read lots of Schools Week op-eds. (Subscribe here and you\u2019ll have the editor\u2019s picks delivered to your inbox every Thursday).<\/p>\n
First things first: Opinion is free but overt product sales pitches are not. (Click here\u00a0for our competitive advertising packages. Our sponsored articles have excellent sector reach, in part because they are honest about their true aim.)<\/p>\n
We will seldom allow even a mention of a specific product or service in an article (even free ones), as this would constitute interference in a market.<\/p>\n
Our readers will come to you if they find your article insightful and useful, so let your Schools Week byline do the heavy lifting on this front.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, we won\u2019t accept a piece that has been published elsewhere first.<\/p>\n
If you or your organisation wish to re-publish your Schools Week article elsewhere after it’s been published with us, we will typically agree to that provided there is a link back to the original on our website.\u00a0Please check with us first.<\/p>\n
We typically publish a maximum of six op-eds each week. Most are published first in our weekly edition, which is only available to subscribers. They then typically become available to the wider public 48 hours after publication.<\/p>\n
We commission many of our opeds ourselves, but we love to be surprised by an original and\/or unexpected take. Having said that, we receive a great many pitches so yours needs to stand out to make the cut.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
When you write for us, you\u2019re writing for a core readership of school and school system leaders. They read Schools Week to find a challenge to their thinking and practice, or support in its implementation \u2013 ideally both.<\/p>\n
They span every type of provision and every leadership position within them, so no article is too niche.<\/p>\n
The key is to keep your audience in mind, acknowledge the specific challenges they face, and also consider how you can make your key message relevant to our wider readership.<\/p>\n
We welcome pitches on (almost) everything from accountability to zero tolerance, and we never turn down an article because of the position it adopts, provided it\u2019s well-founded and presented with professional courtesy.<\/p>\n
We will usually decline articles that are direct responses to other articles. The ‘comment’ facility on our website is a great way to pursue the conversation, and we also publish a weekly ‘letters to the editor’ feature, so please feel free to send a comment for consideration there.<\/p>\n
The only subject we don\u2019t publish articles about is mainstream pedagogy. We trust our readers to be informed enough to make their own choices on that front. However, we will consider articles that can assist with inclusive classroom practice. These will typically appear in our solutions column.<\/p>\n
We also have five \u2018leader\u2019 columns covering key areas \u2013 inclusion, research, legal, business and boardroom (for school governance). These appear regularly and we particularly welcome pitches on those issues.<\/p>\n
Your pitch can be a brief outline or a first draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you pitch your idea, search our website to see what\u2019s already been written about its theme to ensure your angle brings something new to the table.<\/p>\n
We love reaction pieces, so approach us with your insight and expertise as soon as you can following significant news affecting the sector \u2013 especially news we may not have covered (which does happen).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Promoting diverse voices<\/p>\n
Schools Week is committed to being a platform for everyone in the sector. Staff and pupils come from all backgrounds and we want to showcase that diversity on our pages.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a group or organisation, when deciding who should write a piece, please consider authors from under-represented groups. Shockingly given the make-up of the sector, this includes women in leadership.<\/p>\n
This also includes specific positions.<\/p>\n
We love to hear from a headteacher or a CEO, but they may not always be the best person to address an issue.<\/p>\n
Why not offer a platform to your SENCo, your safeguarding lead, or your assistant headteacher for curriculum? This can be a brilliant professional development opportunity for your talented and ambitious staff.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not an academic journal. Your article should read as though you\u2019re having a lively and insightful discussion with friends over dinner. This makes for a good read and ensures your points are\u00a0accessible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unless offered a (very) rare \u2018long read\u2019, our\u00a0word count\u00a0is 750. If you go over, we will edit it down. If we make significant changes, we will run these by you before publishing.<\/p>\n
To make our Friday edition, your\u00a0deadline\u00a0is typically Monday. That gives us the time to work together on edits.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be alarmed or offended if we send you a list of these to consider. We do this for every article, whether it comes from the school secretary or the education secretary.<\/p>\n
Start your article with a line or two that grab the reader\u2019s attention and set the scene for the rest of the piece. Good ways to do this are to make the stakes clear or to ask a challenging question.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re writing about a topic we\u2019ve covered, please\u00a0include a link\u00a0to a news story or another opinion piece.<\/p>\n
If you reference some research, please do that by adding hyperlinks, not a list of references or bibliographies.\u00a0(Remember, not a journal.)<\/p>\n
By all means, use AI to help you structure your thoughts or rephrase a sentence or two. However, the essence of a good op-ed lies in its\u00a0authenticity, which even the best AI tools can only mimic. We will send it back if it lacks that.<\/p>\n
And lastly, our sector is littered with jargon. Please do your best to avoid it.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t worry too much about this side of things. Our sub-editors can put this right as they set your article for publication. However, here are some of the bigger points to note.<\/p>\n
As well as jargon, our sector is uniquely prone to adopting acronyms. Spell these out when you use them for the first time. (Yes, even DfE. And no, not SATs or GCSEs.)<\/p>\n
For consistency, we format most things in lower case. Use this for curriculum subjects other than individual languages (eg, maths, biology and French), policies (eg. the schools bill and behaviour hubs) and job titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organisations, acronyms and certain qualifications (eg Ofsted, GCSE, A-level) can be upper case.<\/p>\n