Nick Linford | Schools Week

Education bill 2016: Its 14 clauses and what they mean for schools and academies

The education and adoption bill passed its final stage in Parliament last night. Here is what each clause of the new legislation means for you and your school. Clause 1: Schools will be eligible for intervention if found to be “coasting”. The definition of coasting will come later, in a second piece of legislation, and […]

Morgan’s primary assessment video misses the point

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has released a video to explain the government’s plans for primary assessments. Brian Lightman has watched it, and has some thoughts. I watched Nicky Morgan’s video about the new primary assessments with great interest. It was helpful to receive a clear explanation of the government’s rationale in implementing these tests. The message of this video […]

Is having a go at northern schools part of Michael Wilshaw’s job description?

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw yesterday criticised schools in the north west – but was he within his remit to do so? I obsess about a few things. Clean and dry kitchen worktops, how to perfectly poach an egg (I’m a cling-film strategy guy and don’t mind split infinitives) and, more recently, brilliant job […]

Search for new Ofsted boss launched with £180k salary offer

The search to find the next head of Ofsted has begun, with a potential £180,000 salary for whoever succeeds Sir Michael Wilshaw. The 69-year-old former headteacher will vacate the role of Her Majesty’s chief inspector (HMCI) next January after five years, and the job description for his successor has been posted online by the government. […]

College of Teaching: Crowdfunding bid to release teachers to develop membership model fails

Plans to pay schools to release teachers to help develop the new College of Teaching have been abandoned after a crowdfunding campaign failed. A bid to raise £250,000 through pledges via the online crowdfunding tool Hubbub has been abandoned after it raised less than 10 per cent of its target with just two days to go until the […]

Education bill: Labour in last-ditch attempt to stop trusts fighting termination notices

Academy trusts should not have the right to fight termination notices issued to failing schools under new legislation, Labour MPs have said. The opposition will launch a last-ditch attempt to amend the government’s education and adoption bill when it is considered in the House of Commons for the final time this evening. As well as […]

Michael Wilshaw: Manchester and Liverpool pupils’ performance could kill northern powerhouse

School performance in Manchester and Liverpool could kill plans for a ‘northern powerhouse’, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw will warn today. Sir Michael will claim in a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) that pupil achievement in the two cities integral to plans for revitalising the north of England are “going into […]

A-level maths standards ‘not as good’ as the 1960s – but equal to 1990s

A-level maths standards have not fallen over the last 20 years but students’ answers are not as good as they were in the 1960s, a new study has shown. The report, called Fifty years of A-level mathematics: Have standards changed?, was based on studies of exam answers from 66 papers taken from 1964, 1968, 1996 […]

Pupils’ views sought for the first time as Ofqual looks at future of marking reviews and appeals

Pupils’ views are being specifically sought by Ofqual for the first time in the regulator’s history as it consults on the future of marking reviews and appeals. The watchdog will write to headteachers in 6,500 schools on Monday to ask for their help in recruiting pupils to take a short survey on marking, with a chance to win […]