''Tes'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a weekly UK publication aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 1914, the supplement became a separate publication selling for one penny. ''TES'' focuses on school-related news and features. It covered higher education until the ''Times Higher Education Supplement'' (now ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'') was launched as a sister publication in 1971. Today its editor is

Jon Severs Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned". An edition for Wales, ''TES Cymru'', was also published between 2004 and 2011. The lack of content about Wales since its closure has been criticised by the Welsh Education Minister, Jeremy Miles. All are produced by London-based company TES Global, which has been owned by US investment firm

Providence Equity Partners Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity investme ...

LLC since 2018. The ''TES'' no longer has a connection with ''The Times'' newspaper. Times Higher Education was sold in 2018 and is now a separate business to Tes Global. ''TES'' is published weekly on Fridays, at a cover price of £3.50. Data from the National Readership Survey Jan–Dec 2012 suggested that the average yearly readership was around 362,000, of which around 90 percent of the readership were in the ABC1 category. In addition to the magazine, Tes runs a popular website featuring breaking education news and comment, teaching jobs, forums, and classroom resources that are uploaded by teachers.

History

The idea for a regular section on education in ''The Times'' was first proposed in 1905 by J E G de Montmorency, a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

and writer who later composed leader articles for ''The TES''. The first issue of the monthly educational supplement appeared on 6 September 1910, opening with a witty weather forecast for the UK's school systems.

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

had recently begun his reign, and the paper noted that "some great resettlement of the English school system seems likely to take place". Over its first decade, ''The TES'' established itself as a paper for teachers, though it was primarily aimed at those in private and

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s. However, it pressed for

education reform Education reform is the name given to the goal of changing public education. The meaning and education methods have changed through debates over what content or experiences result in an educated individual or an educated society. Historically, t ...

from its early years, calling in 1913 for "Secondary Education for All". In 1914, ''The TES'' became a stand-alone publication, noting on the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

that "every great war in the modern world has been followed by changes in education". Two years afterwards, while the war still raged, the paper began to be published weekly. ''The TES'' later explained that "the decision to change into a weekly periodical was taken to lend the support of ''The Times'' more effectively to the movement for reform in education which culminated in the Fisher Reform Act of 1918". Notable editors of ''The TES'' included George Sydney Freeman, who was editor for its first 28 years and Harold Dent, a progressive former schoolteacher who became acting editor in 1940. He put the newspaper together practically single-handedly during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. His editorials pressed for "total reform" of the education system, "based on a new conception of the place, status and function of education in a democratic State, not a patching and padding of the present system". This attitude chimed with the radical thinking then going on within the Board of Education. Mr. Dent had regular meetings with its president, Rab Butler, in the years building up to the

1944 Education Act Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...

. The readership of ''The TES'', once primarily private and grammar school teachers, broadened during the 20th century. During the 1970s, the paper became more supportive of

Comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is re ...

s, when it had once defended grammars. In the 1980s, it became increasingly concerned that political reforms might overload or restrict teachers, particularly the launch of the national curriculum and league tables with the

Education Reform Act 1988 The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England and Wales since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944. Provisions The main provisions of the Education Reform Act are as follows: ...

. Its then editor, Stuart Maclure, noted in 1985 that "the irony of the last 10 years, in which the politicians and industrialists have clamoured for reform and accused the educationists of blocking it, was not lost on anyone who cares to look back". When the newspaper reached its centenary in 2010, its former editor Gerard Kelly, wrote: “If there is one phenomenal, outstanding, amazing development of the past century in this country, it has to be that education has liberated women in a way that was never anticipated by the most liberal of reformers, even by those far-sighted individuals on ''The TES'' in 1910." In September 2011 Tes changed from a newspaper to being printed as a magazine.

Ownership

At its start, ''TES'' was owned, like its parent paper, by Lord Northcliffe. After his death in 1922, the newspapers were sold to the Astor family, and it was sold on again in 1966 to the Canadian newspaper tycoon Roy Thomson.

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

took ownership of the newspaper in 1979. Murdoch's

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

restructured its newspapers to set up 'Times Supplements Limited' and by 1999, this became 'TSL Education Ltd', which also published ''THE'' and '' Nursery World''. In October 2005, the group was sold to Exponent, a private equity group, who in turn sold it to Charterhouse in May 2007. ''TES'' online is run by the London-based 'TES Global', which claims to be "The largest network of teachers in the world", and has been owned by the US-based

global investment company since December 2018

Past staff and contributors

Staff journalists at ''TES'' have included

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

, who became editor of the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' and ''

''; novelist, literary historian, and biographer Valerie Grosvenor Myer; and

Timothy Mo Timothy Peter Mo (born 30December 1950) is a British Asian novelist. Born to a British mother and a Hong Kong father, Mo lived in Hong Kong until the age of 10, when he moved to Britain. Educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxfor ...

and

Frances Hill Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the ...

, who both became novelists. The newspaper's columnists have included

Ted Wragg Professor Edward Conrad Wragg (26 June 1938 – 10 November 2005) known as Ted Wragg, was a British educationalist and academic known for his advocacy of the cause of education and opposition to political interference in the field. He was Prof ...

Caitlin Moran Catherine Elizabeth Moran (; born 5 April 1975) is an English journalist, author, and broadcaster at '' The Times'', where she writes three columns a week: one for the Saturday Magazine, a TV review column, and the satirical Friday column "Cele ...

and Libby Purves. The pop singer Daniel Bedingfield was employed to work on the newspaper's website. External contributors have included

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...

, who contributed comment articles to the Scottish edition of ''TES'' as a young lecturer in 1979. A competition for writing by pupils in 1980 was won by

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

, then eight years old.

Editors

* 1910–1938: George Sydney Freeman * 1938–1940:

Donald McLachlan Donald Harvey McLachlan (25 September 1908 – 10 January 1971) was a Scottish journalist and author who was the founding editor of ''The Sunday Telegraph''. Education and career Born in Islington, McLachlan was educated at the City of London ...

* 1940–1952:

Harold Dent Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts ...

* 1952–1969: Walter James * 1969–1989: Stuart Maclure * 1989–1997: Patricia Rowan * 1997–2000: Caroline St John-Brooks * 2000–2005: Bob Doe * 2005–2007: Judith Judd * 2007: Wendy Berliner (acting) * 2008: Karen Dempsey * 2008–2013: Gerard Kelly * 2013–2020: Ann Mroz * 2021–present:

Jon Severs Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

. It was revamped after the newspaper's relaunch in 2007 and is now split into distinct sections, including 'School Solutions', 'Jobs', 'Teaching resources' and 'School portal'. ''Jobs'' is home to all the vacancies listed in the ''TES'' magazine and is updated daily. 'School solutions' includes various software products that Tes offers to schools and teachers. Over 13 million educators are members of the site and use it regularly. The ''Resources'' section is a platform for teachers to share original classroom resources, including lesson plans,

PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired Powe ...

presentations, interactive whiteboard resources, worksheets, and activities. As of May 2017, there have been over 1 billion downloads of classroom resources from the Tes platform. In February 2015, TES Global launched an open marketplace, which allowed teachers to buy and sell teaching resources. The ''TES'' portal is now home to "the world's largest online community of teachers", with more than 13 million registered users. In 2012, PPA (Professional Publishers Association) awarded the ''TES'' website the digital product of the year for the 3rd year in a row and ''TES'' magazine was named Business Magazine of 2012.

Software and services offered

In 2015, Tes bought Hibernia College UK, at the time the largest provider of subject knowledge enhancement courses in England. This later became Tes Institute, which offers routes into teaching as well as safeguarding and training courses for teachers. Tes products include Class Charts, a classroom seating plan and behaviour management tool, and Provision Map, software that schools used to manage special educational needs. These products were produced by Edukey, before that company was bought by Tes in 2016. They had previously won the best company award at the 2009

Bett Bett or The Bett Show (formerly known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show) is a global series of education shows organised by Hyve Group marketing information technology in education. The flagship show is located in the UK ...

Awards. In 2019, Tes purchased Australian school timetabling business Edval. Edval was named as a top education service provider in Australia in 2021. In 2021, Tes bought Glasgow based SchoolCloud, the company behind software that runs parents’ evening software used by over 8,000 schools. A BBC report on the software suggested that Covid restrictions were leading more schools to run virtual parents' evenings using SchoolCloud software.

Awards

First held in 2009, The ''TES'' Schools Awards are held annually to celebrate achievements by schools in the UK. Categories include a school of the year for primary, secondary, special needs, and early years, as well as healthy school of the year and creative school of the year. Since 2012, Tes has also hosted the Independent School Awards and since 2016 the FE Awards, aimed at the further education sector.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1910 establishments in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom Education magazines Education in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1910 Newspaper supplements Sunday magazines Magazines published in London