Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

NUT commits to teacher pay strike ballot

The National Union of Teachers has committed to ballot its members for strike action next year if teachers aren’t granted a 5 per cent pay rise. The union – now a section of the larger National Education Union following an amalgamation with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers last year – voted in favour of […]

NUT conference 2018: 77% of primary teachers report SEND cuts

Schools are increasingly cutting support for SEND pupils, particularly at primary level, a union survey has found. Seventy-seven per cent of primary school teachers and 55 per cent of secondary teachers told the National Union of Teachers their school had cut SEND provision. Last year, just 38 per cent of primary teachers and 44 per […]

NUT union plans new uniform guidance for schools after Ofsted hijab row

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman “overstepped the mark” in her comments about pupils wearing the hijab, according to a leading teaching union, which plans to issue new guidance on sensitive uniform issues. The executive of the National Union of Teachers section of the National Education Union will this weekend seek to pass a motion condemning […]

Mental health charities call for more youth specialists to be trained

Schools struggle to get pupils seen by qualified mental health professionals because training for counsellors focuses too much on treating adults, warns the head of a children’s mental health charity. Patrick Johnson, the director of learning at Place2Be, told a meeting of headteachers, charities and academics in parliament last week that it was “no surprise” […]

Half of schools aren’t ready for GDPR data protection officer requirement

Half of schools are not yet ready to meet their legal duty to appoint a data protection officer, although the deadline for an appointment is fast approaching. New research by The Key, seen exclusively by Schools Week, asked headteachers who they planned to appoint to handle data when the new general data protection regulation – […]

Pupil absence fines down 5.4%

The number of fines issued to parents for unauthorised pupil absence has fallen by 5.4 per cent. 149,321 penalty notices were issued in 2016-17, down from 157,879 in 2015-16. The decrease reverses an upward trend seen since 2009-10. Of the fines issued in 2016-17, 102,301 (68.5 per cent) were paid within 28 days, 21,182 (14.2 […]

92 schools are waiting for a sponsor, and 4 other things we learned at education questions

MPs spent over an hour grilling the education secretary and his ministers in Parliament this afternoon. Damian Hinds answered questions alongside the schools minister Nick Gibb, the children’s minister Nadhim Zahawi, and others. Here’s what we learned. 1. 92 struggling schools are waiting for a sponsor… Asked for an update on the government’s academisation plan, […]

NUT spent £326k on general election campaign

The National Union of Teachers spent more than £326,000 on campaigning in the run-up to last year’s general election. Figures published by the electoral commission reveal the NUT declared campaign spending of £326,306 in the year to June 8 2017, which is the commission’s “regulated period” for last year’s election. Education, and in particular concerns […]

Train all teachers in attachment issues, says trauma expert

School staff should all be trained to deal with emotional trauma among children in care, according to an expert. New rules that require schools to appoint a specific member of staff to specialise in helping pupils in care are “insufficient”, said Tony Clifford (pictured below), who chairs the Attachment Research Community, who insisted that all […]