Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

DfE considers bigger classroom role for trainee teacher mentors

The government is considering asking mentors to spend more time in the classroom with trainee and new teachers. The Department for Education is currently developing an “early-career framework” that will support new and trainee teachers, following its decision to lengthen the induction period new recruits go through. But ITT experts said mentors would not be […]

Are birthday cards to ex-pupils the solution to the teacher recruitment crisis?

Schools should send their former pupils birthday cards to encourage them to become teachers, according to the government’s teacher training tsar Sir Andrew Carter. Carter, the chief executive of the South Farnham School Educational Trust in Surrey and an adviser to the government on teacher training, told a Westminster Education Forum event today that schools should […]

Give schools an Ofsted rating for their careers advice, say MPs

Schools should be specifically rated by Ofsted on the quality of their careers advice to ensure pupils are getting all the information they need to become scientists and engineers, a committee of MPs has said. Inspectors already consider schools’ careers advice provision when making judgments, but MPs on the parliamentary public accounts committee want the watchdog […]

FFT Education Datalab: Almost 8,000 pupils disappeared from schools last year

Up to 8,000 pupils due to leave secondary school last year left before their exams and never reappeared in another school, according to FFT Education Datalab. Some of these pupils will have been “off-rolled” – made to leave without being recorded as excluded – as a way of boosting a school’s GCSE results, according to […]

Expand alternative provision to years 12 and 13, says education committee chair

High-quality alternative provision for vulnerable pupils in years 12 and 13 is too scarce and should be expanded, the chair of the education select committee has said. Robert Halfon told delegates at alternative provision academy trust TBAP’s annual conference that he was “shocked” by how little post-16 alternative provision there is in the country. In […]

Why every school needs to learn how to handle ‘conduct disorder’

Schools have ineffective behaviour management strategies because they want a “quick fix” to a common disorder but don’t understand the neurology behind it. Some teachers don’t know how to manage “conduct disorder” – a mental condition which causes disruptive and sometimes violent behaviour in pupils – because they don’t know how to identify and respond […]

First-choice secondary school offers fall again as ‘baby bulge’ moves

The proportion of pupils getting into their first-choice secondary school is still falling as the so-called “baby bulge” moves up from the primary phase. New data out today shows that 82 per cent of applicants to secondary school got into their first choice school this year, down from 84 per cent last year. This continues a […]

Schools in rich areas are more than twice as likely to be ‘outstanding’

Schools in the most affluent areas are more than twice as likely to be rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted as those in the most deprived. New data reveals the extent to which schools with richer intakes outperform others, and the inspectorate is now under pressure to demonstrate that schools are judged on performance rather than on […]

DfE seeks bids for £100,000 phonics roadshows contract

The government is seeking bids for a £100,000 contract to deliver “phonics roadshows” across the country, five months after the cash was first announced. The Department for Education has put out a tender for up to two providers to run 20 events, half in the north of England and half elsewhere in the country. This […]