Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Chartered teacher status going global with UAE partnership

The Chartered College of Teaching’s flagship CTeach programme is to be delivered overseas after the professional body partnered with a group of schools in the United Arab Emirates. Schools Week can reveal that a partnership between the UAE Research Schools Network and BSAK Leadership and Learning Academy is one of 11 providers selected by the […]

Ofsted illegal schools taskforce investigates more than 600 settings

Ofsted has now investigated more than 600 possible illegal schools, new figures show. In an update published this morning, the watchdog said its illegal schools taskforce had opened 618 investigations as of the end of last August, up from 521 in April 2019. The taskforce was assembled in 2016 to tackle growing concerns about the […]

SATs maladministration cases soar by a third

The number of cases of SATs maladministration investigated by the government increased by 32 per cent in 2018, new figures show. The Standards and Testing Agency, which presides over tests at key stages 1 and 2, investigated 793 cases across both stages in 2018, up from 599 in 2017 and 524 in 2016. The large […]

Williamson wants free school ‘revolution’ rolled-out across England

The education secretary has said he wants to see the free schools programme “spread much more widely” across England. Gavin Williamson told fellow MPs this afternoon that existing free schools had been “far too disproportionately” created in London and the south east of the country. I want to see this revolution in education delivery rolled-out, […]

‘I’m powerless to change things’ – another head to retire early because of Ofsted

An award-winning headteacher is to resign early after vowing never to face another Ofsted inspection, claiming the watchdog’s new regime has left her “powerless”. Lynne Fox, head at Bramhall High School in Stockport, was due to stand down next Easter, but has brought her retirement forward by a year after the school was again rated […]

DfE to develop ‘alternative arrangements’ in case UK leaves Erasmus+

The Department for Education is to develop its own “alternative arrangements” for international education exchanges in case the UK drops out of Erasmus+, Gavin Williamson has said. Speaking in the House of Commons, the education secretary said his department was “open” to future participation in the programme, but that arrangements for after Brexit would be […]

Teachers earn £3k less than in 2010, and 5 other EPI analysis findings

The Education Policy Institute has published analysis of teacher numbers and spending trends in England. Here are some of the most interesting findings. 1. Teachers are paid almost £3k less than in 2010 Between 2010 and 2017, the average salary paid to teachers in primary schools fell by £2,900 (or 7 per cent) in […]

TSC head defends ‘high bar’ as 3 in 4 teaching school hub bids rejected

Just one in four applicants to the government’s new teaching school hubs programme were approved, new figures show. Data released under the freedom of information act shows the government received 27 applications for the “test and learn” phase of its teaching school hubs, of which 25 were eligible. Ministers announced last week that six schools […]

‘Gross intellectual snobbery’ – former Ofsted strategy chief hits back at academy CEOs

Claims by leading academy bosses that Ofsted’s new inspection regime favours middle-class pupils have been dismissed as “nonsense” by the watchdog’s former strategy chief. Luke Tryl, who served as Ofsted’s director of corporate strategy until last May, defended Ofsted’s “long overdue” action to clamp down on “gaming” by academy trusts, and accused leaders Sir Dan […]