In the summer of 2023 I joined The Herald as a wide-ranging education writer, so most of my recent work will be found on their website.
Since 2015 I have written extensively for a range of other publications including The Ferret, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Record, TES Scotland, OpenDemocracy and more. My work includes investigations, analysis, commentary, interviews and features, covering a range of topics such as education policymaking, government transparency, housing, democracy and climate change.
Education
Anti-abortion group has carried out dozens of school visits in Scotland
SQA under pressure for refusing to reveal reasoning behind failed exam appeals
Scottish Government accused of slow progress on digital access for pupils
Pupils sitting ‘exams in disguise’ accuse SQA of ‘shambolic’ mismanagement
Poorest schools 4 times more likely to have grades altered to fail
Poorer pupils ‘more likely to fail Highers than get an A’
School children in ‘remote’ areas do worse than elsewhere
Revealed: the private schools that buy in exam help from government body
Parents forced to pay nursery bills up to £3000 because councils refuse funding
Revealed: the gender gaps in Scotland’s schools
Transparency
‘Sensitive’ Scottish Government documents cast new light on FOI culture
Relief as opposition parties move to restore information rights
NHS board gave different Covid-19 isolation advice to Glasgow
Health minister wanted to stop FOI during Covid-19
Scottish Ministers refuse to release Prince Charles lobbying letters
Prince Charles admits he lobbed Alex Salmond over Teach First
Communities
Fewer than half of Scottish Government’s pledged rural homes built
“Nothing’s affordable” – buying a home now just a dream on Arran
‘Left behind and ignored’ – the derelict buildings blighting Glasgow’s communities
‘An awful way to welcome visitors’: Dumfries and Galloways’ derelict buildings
The North Coast 500 is beautiful – but do locals love it?
Travelling in the tyre-tracks of Edwin Muir (extract from A Scottish Journey: Personal Impressions of Modern Scotland)
International
“Catalonia does not surrender” – Three nights with the citizens of Girona
Scottish Ministers can stop nuclear waste dump, say advisers
Gaffe reveals why Sturgeon refused to meet with Aboriginal nuclear waste protestor
Fighting forest fires and climate change on La Gomera
In the heart of an ancient forest, Lady Florence’s island legacy lives on
Feel the Bern: on the trail of the Bernie Sanders campaign in NYC
Opinion / analysis
Keep social conservatism out of sex ed
2022 exam results: why the figures are so shocking
Why all of us should care about the Dundee teacher strike
Thoughts on the ‘National Discussion on Education’
The school starting age (extract from Class Rules: the Truth about Scottish Schools)
The fight to revive Rosyth’s link to the continent is a light in the Brexit gloom
Holyrood’s organ donation vote labelled a scandal
Miscellaneous
Rising star Katharine O’Donnelly sees fame spread from Isle of Arran to pizza box in Brazil
The Abandoned War Graves: Will We Remember Them?
Celtic Connections: a unique tribute to John Martyn and Martyn Bennett
Book review: Is There a Pigeon in the Room? My Life in Schools by Cameron Wyllie
James McEnaney 