Freddie Whittaker

About

Freddie Whittaker is deputy editor and political editor at national education newspaper Schools Week. He covers Westminster and Whitehall issues for the newspaper as well as a number of other policy areas within the education sphere, as well as deputising for the editor and helping to manage the newspaper's website. Freddie has been writing for newspapers since he was 15, and got his first full-time job in a newsroom shortly after completing his A levels in 2008. He trained on the job with the Gloucester Citizen, gaining NCTJ qualifications with Wolverhampton City FE College, and also wrote for the Gloucestershire Echo and Western Daily Press. He joined the Oxford Mail as political reporter in 2012, leading the daily newspaper's coverage of local councils and MPs for the area. Freddie joined FE Week as a senior reporter in early 2014, and also began to write for its sister title Schools Week following its launch in September 2014. He moved to the Schools Week team full time in August 2015, and became the paper’s political reporter in January 2016. In August 2017, he was appointed as Schools Week's chief reporter. In January 2022 he was appointed as the newspaper's deputy editor. He continues to cover the politics beat, and also contributes to breaking news and investigations. He also contributes regularly to the New Statesman, and appears regularly on the radio and television to comment on education issues. He also has public speaking experience, having chaired the Schools and Academies Show and other live and online events.