What do we mean by transferable skills? In the workplace, it’s the ability to apply knowledge from previous experience to a new context. And it is often touted as an invaluable quality in an employee. But do we give it enough attention in education?

Humans are wired for storytelling. A compelling story can be a comfort or an inspiration; raising our sights, stirring our emotions. So, as children return to school tomorrow, they deserve a better story than the one being told with the big, fat, gloomy title of “lost generation”.

We were told this summer that it was a “mutant algorithm” that had caused the anguish of the exam fiasco. Covid may have exposed the failings, but in truth, something more profound is going on, and it has been brewing for years: we have a mutant exam system.