Cerys Turner
Cerys Turner is a senior reporter at Tes magazine who tracks how education policy, school accountability and emerging technology shape the working lives of teachers and school leaders. Her coverage focuses on the decisions made by government, regulators and unions, and how those decisions translate into pressures and protections in classrooms and staffrooms. She combines daily news reporting with investigations into pay, conditions and the systems that govern schools.
Education policy and government leadership
Turner reports closely on changes in the leadership and structure of the Department for Education and its advisory bodies. She has profiled new ministerial teams at the department, explaining who the incoming ministers are and how their portfolios sit within the wider policy landscape. Her stories on the appointment of behaviour and attendance ambassadors and the first RISE advisers set out who has been chosen, what their remit is and what this means for schools. She follows internal workforce shifts on curriculum reform teams, highlighting high-profile departures and what they signal for the future of national curriculum policy. Across these pieces, she links personnel changes to their practical impact on schools, keeping the focus on consequences rather than personalities.
Ofsted and school accountability
Ofsted and the accountability framework for schools are a central strand of Turner’s beat.
She has covered the appointment of new board members at Ofsted, including senior figures from major academy trusts, and set out how these appointments reshape the watchdog’s governance. Her reporting on the forthcoming review of Ofsted’s response to the Ruth Perry case tracks how former leaders of the watchdog are being asked to examine its practices and culture.
She reports on headteachers’ criticism of what they describe as a “brutal” inspection framework, drawing out the specific aspects of inspections that leaders say are unsustainable. In these stories she consistently connects governance decisions and inspection policy to the lived experience of school staff under the current accountability regime.
Teacher workforce, pay and unions
Turner devotes significant attention to the teacher workforce, focusing on pay, conditions and union strategy. Her recent work includes breaking the news of the 2026 teacher pay award, explaining the details of the settlement and how it differs from union demands.
She has revealed plans for strike ballots by major education unions, setting out timelines, thresholds and the issues driving industrial action. Turner also investigates less-publicised aspects of teacher employment, such as why maternity pay in teaching leaves many staff at a disadvantage compared with other professions.
Across this coverage she treats unions as a central force in education, charting how their negotiations, ballots and campaigns intersect with government policy and school-level realities.
Artificial intelligence, edtech and the classroom
Artificial intelligence and education technology are another defining focus of Turner’s reporting. She follows the government’s expansion of AI use in schools, examining pilot programmes, guidance and the regulatory questions that arise when algorithms enter the classroom. Her broader coverage of AI and edtech looks at how new tools are marketed to schools, how they affect workload, and what safeguards exist for data and assessment. By pairing policy updates with classroom-level implications, she treats technology not as a standalone topic but as part of the wider system shaping teaching, learning and professional autonomy.
Leadership, honours and sector influence
Turner also reports on the people who hold influence across the school sector, from headteacher networks to multi-academy trust leaders.
She has covered changes in the leadership of groups such as the Headteachers’ Roundtable, explaining new co-chair appointments and what these shifts might mean for policy advocacy. Her coverage of New Year Honours for education figures, including trust chiefs and other leaders, charts which roles and contributions are being recognised at national level.
In profiling new Ofsted board members and other senior appointments, she returns to the question of how leadership choices shape the direction of school oversight and reform.
Before joining Tes magazine, Turner reported for The Sunday Times, Metro and The Big Issue, bringing a background in national and social affairs journalism into her education coverage. Her work now sits at the point where policy, regulation, professional conditions and technology meet, with a consistent focus on the consequences for teachers, leaders and the schools they run.
4 more education journalists.
Ajit Niranjan
Ajit Niranjan links climate science, policy and hard numbers to how extreme weather and environmental damage disrupt daily life, public services and industry. He is European environment correspondent at the Guardian. His beat includes violent heat, pollution, wildfires, air quality, EU green policy, corporate responsibility, energy transition, clean home heating, public health and long-term risks to landscapes and ecosystems. He examines how lobbying, supply chains and regulation shape environmental harm, from data centres and fish farms to fossil fuel industries. His reporting covers schools, hospitals, transport, homes and infrastructure as climate stress points. He previously reported on climate for DW News. He combines data, scientific research, eyewitness accounts and on-the-ground reporting. He also produces explainers, dossiers, factsheets and Q&As that translate complex technical debates into clear, precise language.
Albert Tait
Albert Tait is Education Editor at The Telegraph, leading coverage of schools and universities as institutions whose decisions have direct consequences for staff and students. He focuses on how regulators, senior leaders and governing bodies respond when safety, standards or integrity are under scrutiny, and how those responses affect classrooms and lecture halls. His work links school inspections and teacher safety to regulatory frameworks and conditions on the ground, and he reports on incidents such as knife attacks and “Code Red” alerts with attention to immediate impact and emergency protocols. He produces multi-part investigations into university governance, including extensive reporting on Cambridge’s handling of Jason Arday’s appointment and resignation. He also covers curriculum debates such as changes in how scientists view evolution and inheritance. He began at The Telegraph as a news reporter and previously covered community news at a local paper.
Beth Kennedy
Beth Kennedy is editor at The PIE News and stands out for reporting on how UK policy, institutional strategy and new delivery models reshape international education. Her beat covers UK study visa rules, international student flows, Home Office and UCAS data, alternative study pathways, language schools, and mergers and acquisitions across the sector. She reports on the practical effects of visa changes, scholarship schemes, online and transnational education, school closures, job losses and sector consolidation. Her work is direct and data-led, with clear explanations of complex systems and a focus on what policy and market shifts mean for universities, language schools and private training organisations. She has over a decade in specialist media, including years reporting for primary healthcare professionals before joining The PIE in 2024.
Callum Clark
Callum Clark is a multimedia journalist at STV News who covers education through the lens of university finances, restructuring and their impact on students, staff and local services. He focuses on stories where cost‑saving plans, job losses and service closures reshape community life, such as Dundee University’s nursery and botanic garden closures, and sets those decisions within wider restructuring efforts. His reporting is direct and fact driven, built on official documents, statements and precise figures that show both the scale of savings targets and monthly losses, and the number of posts at risk. Clark’s background in local news and public service coverage, including mental health service reforms and redundancy schemes, shapes a methodical style that tracks formal processes while keeping the lived experience of workers, families and service users in view.