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20 April 2026

Author: Freddie Whittaker

How can we get schools to offer more ITT placements?

The government wants schools more involved in initial teacher training, but how can we encourage them to offer more placements, asks Jack Worth. The initial teacher training (ITT) market review articulates a clear desire for a greater role for schools in ITT, including greater alignment between the ITT curriculum and what is done in schools, […]

Revealed: How £250 pay rise for lower-paid teachers will work

The government has confirmed how pay rises for the lowest-paid teachers in England will work next year. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last year that public sector workers earning more than £24,000 a year would have their pay frozen in 2021-22. However, those earning under £24,000 would receive an uplift of at least £250, the government […]

Over 1 million children miss school because of Covid

More than a million children were absent from school last week because of Covid, new government data suggests. Department for Education attendance survey data shows around 1,050,500 pupils, or 14.3 per cent of the total pupil population were absent from state schools because of the virus last Thursday, up 25 per cent from 839,100, or […]

Vulnerable teenagers to be offered Covid vaccine, but routine jabs ruled out for now

The NHS is to offer a Covid vaccine to vulnerable teenagers at “greatest risk” from the virus, but the government has ruled out routine vaccinations of all children for now. Health secretary Sajid Javid said today he had accepted the recommendation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine be offered […]

Secondary school league tables to return in 2021-22

Secondary school league tables will be brought back next academic year after being suspended for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has said. But primary schools will not see their test results published in national league tables for another year. The Department for Education has today confirmed school and college accountability arrangements […]

Schools need government funding approval if more than 5% of year 13s repeat year

Schools will need to seek authorisation from the government if they want funding for more than 5 per cent of their year 13 pupils to repeat a year from September. In its education recovery package unveiled last month, the government pledged funding to give some current students the option to repeat their final year of […]

School rebuilding programme: Second set of 50 schools named

The government has named 50 schools chosen in the second round of its school rebuilding programme. Ministers pledged last year to rebuild 500 schools over the next decade, and in February announced the names of the first 50 schools which will share £1 billion in capital funding. Now the second set of 50 schools have […]

Exams 2021: AQA to return 26% of fees paid by schools

Exam board AQA has confirmed it will once again return just 26 per cent of entry fees paid this year after saving £45 million. In a statement today the board said it was returning all of the money it saved to schools “because, as we’ve always said, we’d never want to benefit financially from the […]