Nick Linford | Schools Week

School heavyweights join board as CentreForum becomes Education Policy Institute

A prominent think tank set up by the Liberal Democrats will abandon its political links and focus exclusively on education following a landmark name change and the recruitment of three top trustees from across the sector. CentreForum, which has existed in its current guise since the mid-2000s, has today become the Education Policy Institute in […]

Publish performance data for schools commissioners, says Sir David Carter

Performance data for the eight regional schools commissioners should be published “in the spirit of transparency”, Sir David Carter has said. The national schools commissioner told MPs this morning that he didn’t see why information on how the regional commissioners fared against their key performance indicators wouldn’t be published by the government when the updated […]

No legal duty for schools to deal with sexism

Schools will not be given a new legal duty to identify and deal with sexism because it is “not a safeguarding issue”, the government has said, despite claims that it is is often to blame for problems like sexting and sexual bullying. Several witnesses to an ongoing inquiry by the parliamentary women and equalities committee […]

Strike ballots in 7 schools after academy chain SPTA ditches creative subjects and cuts jobs

A curriculum restructure at seven secondary schools in Yorkshire and the Humber will lead to more than 88 jobs cuts as creative subjects are ditched in favour of a more academic focus, the National Union of Teachers has warned. The union will ballot staff at seven schools – De Warenne Academy, Ash Hill Academy and Don […]

ARK Chair, union general secretary and 7 academy leaders get gongs in Queen’s Birthday Honours

Academy trust leaders have again topped the Queen’s birthday honours list, with ARK chair Paul Marshall (above, centre) and Twyford church schools trust head Alice Hudson (below, right) in line for a knighthood and damehood respectively. Of the 18 people with links to the school sector to receive knighthoods, damehoods, CBEs and OBEs in the […]

And the Queen’s Birthday Honours Sweepstake winner is….

No one! Sadly, the hot-take edupolicy nerds asked to lay the initial bets from which we devised the honours list didn’t pick a single winner. (Yes, yes, punishment is forthcoming). Still never fear we decided to pick two winners from among the sweepstake at random using an old-fashioned raffle method. Hence, the winners of the […]

£1 billion spent on teacher bursaries – but no one knows if they work, says spending watchdog

Almost £1 billion will have been spent on bursaries for new teachers by next year, but their effectiveness has not been properly evaluated, the National Audit Office has warned. Mark Parrett, audit manager at the government spending watchdog, told the House of Commons education committee this morning that his organisation’s request for better evaluation of […]

Teachers are ‘victim-blaming’ and need sexism training, MPs told

Teachers are “victim-blaming” pupils and often dismiss sexual harassment as “horseplay” because they lack the training and skills necessary to identify problems, MPs have been told. The House of Commons women and equalities committee heard this morning from six witnesses at the first hearing of its inquiry into sexual harassment and violence in schools. During […]

Wilshaw: Education in East Midlands ‘distinctly second-division’

The East Midlands is the “worst-performing region in the country”, where education for thousands of pupils is “distinctly second-division”, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said, after Ofsted bosses wrote to academy trusts and councils in Northamptonshire to criticise school standards. Wilshaw said national politicians and policymakers should “worry more about what is happening north of the […]