Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

Educational psychologists forced to identify pupils’ needs ‘in one visit’, MPs told

Educational psychologists are being forced to identify the special educational needs of pupils “in one visit” due to lack of funding, resulting in children being given the wrong diagnoses and schools having to pick up the pieces. Dr Cath Lowther, educational psychologist, told the parliamentary education committee this morning that a “drive for efficiency” by […]

DfE launches consultation on plans to fund schools’ £830m pension contribution hike

The government has launched a consultation today on plans to provide extra funding to cover the estimated £830 million rise in pension contribution for state schools – although private schools will be left to foot their £110m increase. It was announced last year that the amount schools must contribute to staff pensions is to rise […]

Four in five heads contribute to their schools’ finances

Four in five headteachers contribute to their schools’ finances from their own pockets, and the amount they are contributing is rising, a survey has revealed. Out of 2,000 headteachers across 60 local authorities, 80 per cent admitted to giving money to support pupils in their schools, according to the survey by the Worth Less? school […]

Hinds to face education committee grilling over academy accountability and exclusions

Damian Hinds has been summoned to appear in front of MPs to answer questions about academy trust accountability, exclusions and the state of careers advice. The education secretary will be grilled by the powerful parliamentary education committee on Wednesday next week. The committee is “likely to want to ask about issues including multi-academy trusts and […]

Revealed: Only two groups bid for £4.8m languages centre cash

Only two groups put themselves forward to run the government’s new £4.8 million “centre for excellence” to boost the stagnating take-up in modern foreign languages. The University of York, announced yesterday as the successful bidder, will oversee the work of nine lead schools to raise the quality of language teaching, including in French, Spanish and […]

Heads enticed with conference tickets to attend ‘hosted meetings’

A major new education conference is offering free tickets and expenses of up to £750 in return for headteachers having two hours of meetings with event sponsors and partners such as Google. Learnit conference, backed by the organisers of the established BETT education technology show, said the offer – which included tickets worth £550 – […]

OGAT and isolation rooms: what the data shows

Opponents of isolation rooms claim they disproportionately punish the poorest and most vulnerable pupils. OGAT, one of the trusts under intense media scrutiny over isolation rooms, claims its strict behaviour policies are part of its “turnaround strategy” for the schools it takes over. Schools Week has data that sheds new light on those claims Some […]

Academics accused of ‘unconscious bias’ against grammar schools in controversial HEPI report

Academic researchers could be ignoring the benefits of grammar schools because they are politically biased against them and “out of sync” with the general public, much like experts in the Brexit debate, a controversial report has claimed. A report by Iain Mansfield, a former civil servant, published today by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) […]

University of York to run £4.8m languages ‘centre of excellence’

The University of York has been chosen to run the government’s new “centre for excellence” for modern foreign languages. The institution will be the country’s national language centre, and will coordinate work by schools to raise the quality of language teaching. The Department for Education announced last summer that £4.8 million would be spent on a language […]