Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Labour: More than 600,000 pupils taught by unqualified teachers

The government has been accused of failure over teacher recruitment and retention after it was revealed that more than 600,000 pupils in England are now taught by unqualified teachers. The number of teachers in state-funded English schools without QTS rose to 24,000 in 2016, a figure that has grown by 62 per cent since the […]

Change to EBacc measure breaks DfE’s own rules

The government’s plans to change the way schools are measured from 2018 appear to conflict with its own rules on accountability reform. On Wednesday, Justine Greening announced that schools will be measured in a new way from 2018 on the English Baccalaureate, a change which will affect pupils already midway through their GCSE courses. However, […]

Leaked list reveals winners of Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund

A collaboration between academy chain heavyweights to set up a higher education institution to train expert teachers has won funding in the first round of the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund, according to a leaked list of winners. The names of projects due to split the government’s teacher development funding pot have surfaced after a […]

Government presses on with non-graduate teaching apprenticeship

Ministers are pressing ahead with proposals for an apprenticeship that would allow non-graduate teaching assistants to become qualified teachers, even though access to conventional teacher training would still be restricted to those with university degrees. Anne Milton (pictured), the minister for skills, has confirmed that the government is “developing an appropriate degree apprenticeship” that will […]

Private schools rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted reach seven-year high

The proportion of private schools rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted has reached a seven-year high, official statistics reveal. New Ofsted figures on inspection outcomes of the 983 private schools in England which fall under the watchdog’s remit show that 13 per cent were rated ‘inadequate’ as of March 31 this year. This compares with 11 per […]

Smith review: Not enough capacity for maths to 18

Schools and colleges do not currently have the capacity to teach all pupils maths until they are 18, but could have within a decade, according to Adrian Smith’s long-awaited review of post-16 maths. Smith, who was commissioned last March to look into the feasibility of compulsory maths study for all pupils up to the age of […]

Heads told to expect end to ‘secure fit’ writing test model from 2017-18

Headteachers across England have been advised to anticipate an end to the current “secure fit” model for teacher assessments of writing from 2017-18, Schools Week has learned. The government has been consulting on plans to move to a “best fit” model, which would place more weight on the judgment of teachers. Under the current secure-fit […]

Overdue debts double, and 4 other interesting things from the EFA’s annual accounts

The Education Funding Agency has published its annual report and accounts. Here are some of the more interesting findings… 1. Overdue debts double in a year The value of overdue debts owed to the Education Funding Agency has more than doubled in a year, the agency’s annual accounts show. According to the documents, the EFA […]

Technical tweak means EBacc target is actually delayed by SEVEN years

A technical change to the government’s target for the proportion of pupils studying the EBacc subjects means that ministers are actually delaying their own ambitions for the measure by seven years. David Cameron’s government pledged in 2015 to have 90 per cent of pupils entered into GCSEs for the full slate of EBacc subjects by […]