Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Osborne’s £10 million Mandarin teaching fund not ‘strategic’

A £10 million investment in expanding the teaching of Mandarin could be better invested in language assistants and online courses, claims the former head of languages at CILT The National Centre for Languages. George Osborne announced the £10 million funding in September, while on a trip to China, saying it would enable 5,000 more pupils […]

Pupils forced to switch school after free transport cut

Parents are considering transferring their children to a new school after a local authority tightened up rules around free transport to save costs – with a warning from the Local Government Association that more councils could follow suit. East Keswick parish council has lodged a complaint with Leeds city council after the latter’s decision to […]

Ofsted judging schools negatively for teacher shortages

Ofsted inspectors are judging schools on how well they are handling teacher shortages, with two schools rated as inadequate found to have too many vacancies. Joanna Hall, deputy director for schools at Ofsted, told the commons education committee last week that inspectors would start asking leaders about teacher shortages as part of inspections. But Schools […]

The end of average: How to succeed in a world that values sameness

I resisted this book because it oozed something of the self-help manual. But at the same time, I was drawn to it, precisely because its dust-jacket made a big, compelling promise – to help me to become the best me I possibly could. (Yes, I see the irony…) “The End of Average,” it pronounced. “How to succeed […]

Amanda Spielman named as new Ofsted chief inspector

Ofqual chair Amanda Spielman has been approved by the government as the next Ofsted chief inspector. A Department for Education (DfE) source confirmed that Number 10 had cleared her appointment. Ministers will now wait on agreement from the Commons education select committee before final appointment. In a press release Nicky Morgan said that Spielman was “the right […]

Do careers talks in schools improve pupils’ life chances?

What have you been working on? The impact of school-based careers talks, with people from outside school, on earnings at age 26. We analysed data from the British cohort study of 1970 – which covers 17,000 people – to work out whether they had an impact, and, if so, what type of interventions and at […]

My change of heart about coaching

After joining Schools Week as deputy editor, Cath Murray was sent to mingle with readers at a training event – and bring back her observations. I approached the “coaching” day for education professionals with trepidation. Faye Kilgour, our trainer and lead coach for Graydin, a professional development organisation, had signed her preliminary email, “With heart”. […]

The Life Project – book review

Cohort studies have taught us everything we know. Well, not quite, but working my way through Helen Pearson’s The Life Project, it started to feel that way. The relationship between smoking and low birth weight, between smoking and cancer, or even that pollutants you’re exposed to during childhood can cause serious diseases in later life […]

Academy conversion advice

Welcome to Schools Week’s agony aunt* column, for all your academisation woes. Whether you’ve already boarded the academisation train, are just browsing the brochure, or remain resolutely sceptical about the safety of high-speed rail, ping us your question and we’ll select our favourites to be answered by a specialist lawyer. Email agonyaunt@schoolsweek.co.uk, including the words ‘agony aunt’ […]