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20 April 2026

Author: Freddie Whittaker

Ofqual chair Roger Taylor to stand down

The chair of exams regulator Ofqual is to stand down at the end of the year. Roger Taylor, who has been a member of the organisation’s board since 2012 and its chair since 2016, will be replaced by academy trust leader Ian Bauckham on an interim basis pending a “fair and open” competition to find […]

DfE reports gender pay gap increase

The gender pay gap at the Department for Education has increased by 5.7 percentage points in favour of men. As of March 2020, men on average earned 7.9 per cent more than women at the Department, compared with 2.2 per cent the year before, according to a new report. The gender pay gap was previously […]

Attendance gap between local authority areas has widened, new data shows

Attendance in state secondary schools still varies massively across England, according to the first regional data published by the government in two months. In fact, the gap between the areas with the highest and lowest attendance rates for secondary schools as of last week had actually widened to 40 percentage points, up from 33 percentage […]

Children’s commissioner candidate grilled over exclusions at her academy trust

Dame Rachel de Souza has claimed her experience of “putting right” issues with off-rolling, exclusions and SEND support in her academy trust make her a good candidate to be the next children’s commissioner. de Souza, who is the government’s preferred candidate for the role, was questioned by the education committee this morning about what chair […]

Williamson orders Greenwich council to withdraw early closure request

A London council which urged schools in its area to move to online learning this week has been ordered to withdraw its instructions by the education secretary, in the first use of emergency coronavirus powers granted earlier this year. Gavin Williamson has issued a “temporary continuity direction” under the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020 ordering the […]

Government ‘will consider’ using legal powers to keep Greenwich schools open

A minister has said the government “will consider” using its powers under emergency Coronavirus legislation to keep Greenwich schools open, after the London borough asked leaders to move to remote education for the rest of the week. In a letter to Greenwich headteachers, seen by Schools Week, Gibb said he was “deeply disappointed and concerned” by […]

What does the latest attendance data tell us about the scale of the Covid problem?

The government must make better data available and provide more catch-up funding to stop pupils falling further behind, writes Natalie Perera. The question over how we support recovery of the education system post-Covid looms large for policy-makers, researchers and those on the front line. The reality is that we are all trying to find solutions […]

Williamson told education committee to keep exam meeting details secret

A Parliamentary committee was asked to keep details of meetings about this summer’s exams fiasco secret in return for “summaries” of key documents, it has emerged. In September, the education select committee requested all correspondence and minutes of meetings held between the Department for Education and Ofqual about the summer exams. It also asked for […]