Author: Freddie Whittaker

Confidence in GCSEs as a good preparation for work among headteachers slumped last year, according to a new survey which also reveals widespread confusion about the new grading system. Ofqual has published its annual report on the perceptions of A-levels, GCSEs and other qualifications, which is based on a survey of heads, teachers and others […]

Funding for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities has been slashed by more than a sixth, according to new analysis by a leading think tank. IPPR North found the amount of funding available for pupils with the most complex needs has reduced by 17 per cent across England since 2015. The north is the […]

All teaching job adverts should offer applicants the chance to explore flexible working options, the education secretary has said. Damian Hinds told the Schools and Academies Show at London’s Excel centre today that the teaching profession “can’t afford” to continue to have a lower incidence of flexible working options like job shares or part time […]

School budgets for next year are “not generous”, the Department for Education’s head of funding has admitted. Tom Goldman, deputy director for the DfE’s funding policy unit, told the Schools and Academies Show in London this morning that budgets for 2019-20 will leave schools “with real pressures to face”, as he acknowledged some schools would […]

Parents who fail to register their children as home-educated could face prosecution or a fine under new proposals set out by the government. In a consultation on a new compulsory register of all home-schooled pupils, published today, the Department for Education revealed it plans to use existing school attendance orders to enforce the new requirements. […]

Not one ‘outstanding’ school reinspected under a clampdown by Ofsted has retained its top rating. In December, the government told the watchdog to step up its interventions of so-called “exempt” schools so that poor standards of safeguarding could be picked up. Schools Week understands the changes were introduced in January. In the latest data, which […]

Following Theresa May’s announcement that she will quit as prime minister before the next stage of Brexit negotiations, speculation has been rife about who will succeed her. Here, Schools Week looks at the favourites to take the reins and what they might mean for education. All odds correct at the time of going to press, […]

More than three quarters of ‘outstanding’ schools reinspected by Ofsted in the last four months of last year failed to keep their grade, new figures show. The watchdog has today published its first analysis of the performance of previously-‘outstanding’ schools since it stepped up inspections last year. Between September and December 2018, 23 per cent […]

Councils have become “wary” of intervening with “powerful” academy trust CEOs over exclusions because they have been “marginalised” in their oversight of schools, the former head of Ofsted has said. Sir Michael Wilshaw, who served as chief inspector between 2012 and 2016, told MPs today that local authorities should have a beefed-up duty to monitor […]