Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

What is going on with teacher training?

Teacher training is a hot topic. Teaching unions, headteachers and academics keep saying the profession is facing a crisis; yet the government is confident the figures do not suggest a problem. Schools Week looks at this year’s trainees to uncover the true picture. The number of recruits in postgraduate teacher training dropped this year: down from […]

Teacher trainee limits leave applicants out in the cold

Chaotic, shambolic and unethical – three words used to describe the government’s newly imposed cap on university teacher training courses. In the past week, higher education institutions (HEIs) have been banned from recruiting trainee PE teachers for next year. Recruitment for history teachers was expected to halt yesterday. The move has left many prospective teachers […]

Sixth form colleges allowed to become academies

Sixth-form colleges will be able to become academies and join multi-academy trusts under plans announced on Wednesday. Following a long-running battle to exempt the institutions from paying VAT, George Osborne confirmed on Wednesday that they would be given the opportunity to change legal status, and avoid the tax, as part of an ongoing restructure of […]

Don’t rush national schools funding formula, warn unions

Academies will lose tens of thousands of pounds and support services in council-maintained schools will dwindle as the government cuts almost 75 per cent of the education services grant (ESG). George Osborne said on Wednesday that the ESG would be targeted for £600 million of efficiency savings and that councils’ roles in “running” schools would […]

Data Demands: Are management information systems a help or a hindrance?

Management information systems (MIS) were introduced in the 1980s to save teachers time. But as the government demands to know more about each child, teachers say data entry has become burdensome and a source of stress. MIS providers, meanwhile, say it’s not data, but poor pupil behaviour that’s taking its toll. In the second of […]

Skills Show 2015 sees record number of visitors — up 44 pc

Record numbers of young people, teachers and parents visited the Skills Show in Birmingham last week, with figures for Saturday showing a 44 per cent rise on last year. A total of 78,324 people visited the show over the three days, with 20,597 of those on the Saturday, according to figures released today by organisers […]

Graham Stuart, former chair of the education select committee

Graham Stuart’s continued interest in education is glaringly obvious. Tucked away in the corner of a whiteboard on his parliamentary office wall are the words: “sampling assessment of student desk book”. He gurns when I point it out. “Erm . . . I remain interested in how best to assess and deliver accountability for schools, […]

Schools Week staff scoop awards

Schools Week walked away with four prizes at this year’s CIPR Education Journalism awards. It was a clean sweep in the best newcomer category, which John Dickens won for his work uncovering a breach in admission rules at Grey Coat Hospital, the secondary school that David Cameron and Michael Gove have chosen for their daughters. […]