John Dickens | Schools Week

Eight universities ignore Hinds’ plea to ditch strings-attached offers

Eight universities have seemingly refused to stop issuing strings-attached unconditional offers despite a plea from the education secretary. Last month, Damian Hinds wrote to 23 universities known to make so-called “conditional unconditional” offers, whereby an institution initially requires pupils to meet certain entry criteria to gain a place, but drops those conditions once a pupil […]

Two more specialist maths schools announced

Two more specialist maths schools have got government go-ahead – bringing the total number of approved schools for 16 to 19-year-olds to six. The University of Surrey will open a school with GEP Academies, with Lancaster University partnering with Cardinal Newman College. The selective schools are for pupils who have a “particular aptitude and promise […]

Non-EBacc subjects being taught after-school, during tutor time or on ‘intensive’ days, DfE study finds

Schools have achieved high EBacc entry rates by using “more creative ways” to teach non-EBacc subjects, such as after-school sessions, in tutor time, or cramming them into “intensive” days. Research commissioned by the Department for Education found schools entering more than 80 per cent of pupils into the EBacc had mostly done so by making […]

School ‘unaffected’ by college insolvency

A college facing insolvency has assured parents and teachers a school on its site will not be affected, but discussions are ongoing about a £1 million debt. Hadlow College, in Kent, will be the first institution taken through a new insolvency regime for colleges, Schools Week’s sister paper FE Week revealed today. The regime came […]

28% rise in teachers calling emotional support helpline

The number of education staff calling a counselling helpline for emotional support has risen by over a quarter to a new record high. Counsellors at the Education Support Partnership dealt with 9,615 cases between April last year and March this year – a 28 per cent rise on the 7,507 calls dealt with in 2016-17. […]

Sir Kevan Collins to step down as EEF chief executive

Sir Kevan Collins will step down as chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation later this year. Collins, who has led the organisation for eight years, will remain in post until August, before moving to a part-time role to support a new chief executive. Sir Peter Lampl, EEF chairman, said: “Under Kevan’s leadership, the EEF […]

Robin Conway’s top blogs of the week 6 May 2019

Research leads . . . what is all the fuss about? @MissLLewis https://missunderstandingeducation.school.blog/ The case for research in education is clearly and effectively laid out here. However @MissLLewis makes a powerful argument reflecting on the experience of poor-quality CPD and the risks of professionals acting in certain ways “just because” they believe themselves to be […]

The Policy Debate

Who should make policy, politicians or educationists? We invited Jonathan Simons, director at Public First, and Amanda Goodall, senior lecturer in management, Cass Business School, to discuss … Who should make policy, politicians or educationists? Jonathan Simons: I guess the not very helpful answer is, in some instances, both. Making education policy is about balancing […]

Developing pupils’ vocabulary is about more than words

In their 2017 report Early Language Development: needs, provision, and intervention for preschool children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, James Law et al wrote: “A child’s ability to put words together may be a better predictor of later abilities than the number of words they know.” The implication is that if we want to enhance a […]