Throughout my time as editor, I wrestled unsuccessfully with the problem of grafting Scottish pages onto an essentially English TES. Over the years, we increased the amount of Scottish material, both news and features, but not in a way that made reading the paper easy. Even I could not on some Fridays locate, for example, the further education page; so heaven help the readers.

The sheer bulk of the product must have been off-putting for teachers, already burdened with paperwork from Monday to Friday.

The editorial and commercial teams (and the new owners of the paper) have achieved what was previously impossible. The fresh accessibility of The TESS and its accompanying magazine will be welcomed by teachers looking for a weekly balanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Scottish education, rather than the incessant negativity of many daily and Sunday newspapers.

Willis Pickard

Editor, TESS1977-2001