The TES: ‘Indispensable for any one who cares about education’

As we turn 100, the paper has never been in better health, according to some of our best-known readers

10th September 2010, 1:00am

SIR TIM BRIGHOUSE, Former London schools commissioner and chief education officer for Birmingham and Oxfordshire

As someone who has read The TES for 50 years, I am astonished to learn of its centenary - I thought it much older! When, as at present, it has an editor who is not afraid to express trenchant opinion, it has stimulated debate about the issues that matter to all in education so that they feel encouraged themselves to challenge apparently received wisdom.

So I think it is in exceptionally good health now. It has boasted some incredibly good writers over the years - provocative, thoughtful and well informed about practice and policy. And who would ever have thought that the great Ted Wragg could be emulated on the back page? Yet that is exactly what Mike Kent has achieved. Both, along with many others - the current crop are especially talented - show the value of providing a platform for practising teachers, heads and researchers who can write accessibly.

MICHAEL GOVE, Education Secretary

Congratulations on your century. The TES is an indispensable read for anyone who cares about education and my Fridays wouldn’t be complete without reading it cover to cover. It has never been in better health or better edited and, just as when it was launched, a radical reforming Government is generating plenty of copy for its army of understandably loyal readers.

ED BALLS, Labour’s education spokesman and former education secretary

The TES is a great resource for everyone in education and all those dedicated to giving young people the best start in life. As secretary of state it was essential reading every week. There have been huge changes in education over the past 100 years and The TES has documented and debated every one of them. Today we have the best generation of teachers this country has ever seen and hundreds of thousands of them use the online resources The TES provides.

A hundred years ago when the paper was founded, the compulsory education age was just 13, and in the decade that followed legislation was passed to raise the school leaving age to 18. But it took another 90 years for the Labour government to move to make that plan a reality. I sincerely hope that, with the support of The TES, we can press ahead and finally deliver this historic reform.

SARAH TEATHER, Children and families minister and former Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman

The TES takes pride of place in my office - it is the best way to stay abreast of what is happening in education. Even if you only have time to scan it, it is really important to do so because it tells you what is important and what is coming up next week. It is an advanced look at what is happening.

DAME KELLY HOLMES, TES Schools Awards judge, double Olympic gold medalist and founder of the DKH Legacy Trust

Happy 100th anniversary. I’m sure The TES was writing about school sport a century ago and it is amazing to think that, back then, the modern Olympics was still relatively new. I hope it will continue to look at ways teachers can inspire their pupils to become active and fulfill their potential - on the sports field and off. Here’s to the next 100 years.

MICK WATERS, Professor of education and president of the Curriculum Foundation

The TES really is an indicator of the life of teachers. You realise you are becoming a professional when you start reading it from the front. You know it is time for new horizons when you start at the back. You realise you are really busy when it sits unopened for a week. You are glad to see it at times of crisis when you need something to prop up the projector. You recognise you are under pressure when you search the pages for a quote to throw at inspectors. You think life is empty if you open it in August. You know you are getting old when you see the price and remember what it cost when you first bought it.

JILLY COOPER, Novelist

A massive happy birthday to The TES. When I was writing Wicked! it became my bible. It has such beautiful reporting and it manages to make the most obscure subjects interesting. You could get 100 novels out of every issue. It stands up for teachers and captures the passion of the profession. I recently came across a Havelock Ellis quote that may sum up the past 100 years in education: “What we call `progress’ is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.” I only wish more people realised what a wonderful publication The TES is.