A Day in the Life of an Education Policy Officer

9.00am: Strong coffee and a quick scan of the newspapers online to see if there are any interesting articles
9.15am: Contact an MP’s researcher to ask whether the MP would be willing to ask the Schools Minister our questions.
9,45am: Agonise over whether to go croissant hunting. A phone call from a colleague in Scotland puts a stop to this. We talk about a primary school that has trained its pupils to inspect the school. I agree to send my colleague some information on the school so that we can decide whether we would like to visit it.
10.00am: Revise the education policy update, so that it will be ready to send to teams across the UK in a few days.
10.15am: Chat to a colleague who works in Bradford about some workshops we are planning to hold with young people.
11.00am: Speak to a colleague in Wales about joining them in Cardiff for an event.
12.00pm: Yey! Lunch. Except the pasta from last night has lost its sparkle. It looks slightly ill. I decide to lay it in its final resting place…the bin.
12.30pm: Continue working on a proposal for a big piece of research across the UK that will look at how well education is delivering for the poorest children.
16.30pm: Plan part of our education manifesto so that it will be ready for the next General Election, coming in the next 18 months.
18.00pm: Another day finishes as it began…raining. Curse my umbrella with its broken body and head with some colleagues to play pool…badly.