Nick Linford | Schools Week

Heads can’t condone SATs boycott, but parent fines unlikely

Plans by parents to keep pupils away from primary schools on Tuesday in protest against the government’s testing regime can’t be condoned by headteachers, but are unlikely to lead to fines for parents, school leaders have said. Members of the National Association of Headteachers executive told journalists at the launch of the union’s annual conference […]

NAHT conference: Heads demand end to ‘chaotic and distracting’ testing regime

Schools cannot face another year of “chaotic and distracting” assessment changes, headteachers have warned as they prepare to gather to discuss the biggest issues facing the sector. The National Association of Headteachers annual conference will begin in Birmingham today, and problems with assessment are likely to dominate the agenda, along with concerns about pay and […]

League Tables – a Schools Week guide

Click here to download the guide Keeping ahead of performance requirements is one of the toughest, but most important, challenges for school leaders at all levels: middle, senior, executive and governance. The shift to measuring schools across 8 subjects, rather than 5, and looking at progress, rather than just the pass rate, is substantial. The […]

Morgan: Academy trusts without ‘strong track record’ can’t have more schools

Academy trusts that cannot demonstrate a “strong track record” in improving schools will not be allowed to take on more schools, Nicky Morgan has said in apparent contradiction to current policy. The education secretary made the commitment in front of the Commons education committee on Wednesday after being asked four times if she would heed […]

Textbooks should be here to stay, says exam expert

The best teachers are those who are “the most supportive of textbooks”, a leading exam expert has claimed after launching a new set of principles to improve how the books are developed. But his unequivocal praise has been questioned by teachers who believe textbooks date quickly and some subjects can be just as skilfully taught […]

Poor pupils twice as likely to have unqualified teachers

Poor pupils are twice as likely to have unqualified teachers as their richer peers, suggests research using data from the November 2014 workforce census. A report by the Social Market Foundation’s (SMF) committee on inequality in education found disadvantaged pupils were most likely to be taught by non-specialist, less experienced and unqualified teachers. The findings showed […]

Teachers fail to recognise ‘mild attention problems’

Children with mild attention problems are three months behind their peers when they leave primary school, according to a study. Academics from Durham and Nottingham universities looked at the attainment and behaviour of 46,369 children from across 1,812 primary schools and found that inattentive behaviours such as being distracted or forgetful were often missed by teachers. The […]

Punish schools for A-level dropouts, says skills minister

Schools should be punished if they sign students up to inappropriate A-level courses that they later abandon, according to skills minister Nick Boles. He made the comments in front of a parliamentary sub-committee on education, skills and the economy this morning. Boles said that among the school decision-making and behaviour drivers of Ofsted and accountability, there […]

Cameron: Legislation to force schools to become academies will be in Queen’s Speech

Legislation to force all state schools in England to become academies will be announced in the Queen’s Speech, David Cameron has confirmed. The prime minister told MPs in parliament this afternoon that “we are going to have academies for all, and it will be in the Queen’s Speech”. The announcement on May 18 is expected to include […]