Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

New education centre at UCL launched

More than 120 educators helped to launch a new centre for post-14 education and work by the UCL Institution of Education last week. Held at the Institute of Education, attendees at the event heard how the centre aims to support improvement in post-14 education and “stimulate debate around the relationship between education, working life, and […]

Would you teach differently if there was a gun at your head?

Do our current teaching methods always achieve the goals we hope for – and if not, why not? It’s time to plan with the intention of securing long term retention I sighed as I looked through the GCSE mock exam scripts. I thought to myself: “It’s not my fault some struggled. What can you do? […]

The £3m School Transfer Market: Which academies trust got what, and for how much?

The Department for Education (DfE) has come under fire for paying some academy chains more than £500,000 to take over struggling schools – described by a teachers’ union as little more than bribery. New figures suggest the total bill for rebrokering could be as high as £13 million. The department was ordered by a court […]

‘Schools Week hasn’t done the maths on commas’

It isn’t unreasonable to expect an 11-year-old to use a comma as a thousands separator – this is a policy that has been made clear since the sample tests were published in July 2015 I am under no illusion that year 6 teachers have an extra challenge this year preparing for the new Key Stage […]

Half of schools fail to offer best teachers a 2% pay rise

More than half of schools have shunned the chance to give their best and most experienced teachers a two per cent pay rise, a survey has found. Nicky Morgan introduced the extra pay flexibility in September to give headteachers the freedom to reward staff already receiving the maximum pay award. But a survey of 111 […]

Durand Academy’s much-hyped free boarding school is in £476,000 deficit – after just one year

England’s first boarding free school has made a £476,000 loss after spending more than £15,000 per pupil, despite predicting it could run it for just over £2,000 per child. South London’s Durand Academy opened a satellite boarding free school in Sussex in September 2014. It was the first in the country not to charge parents […]

Why ‘audits’ are for teachers too

Improving classroom practice is a top priority for most school leaders, but how? Sophie Scott set out to look at a new trend for getting help from friends One of the dozen or so working groups set up by education secretary Nicky Morgan focuses on teachers’ professional development. The group has yet to report back […]

Science tests scores plummet for primary pupils

The proportion of pupils achieving expected standards in science has dropped by more than 20 percentage points since the national curriculum was updated, government figures showed last week. A report by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) published on its website last week showed that the proportion of pupils achieving level 4 or above in […]

One in 12 teachers denied salary rise under performance pay system

One in 12 teachers have been denied a salary increase since performance-related pay was introduced, with nearly 90 per cent of those saying they had no warning their pay would flatline. A survey of 10,000 teachers, published today, also found that nearly nine in 10 teachers denied an increase thought the decision was unfair. Teachers […]