Skip to content
12 April 2026

Become a member today for unlimited access to Schools Week

Enjoy full features, members-only content, and fewer ads—so you can stay ahead of UK education.
subscribe

In Short

EFA lifts The Education Fellowship’s Financial Notice to Improve

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has lifted a financial notice to improve (FNTi) from academy sponsor The Education Fellowship. Johnson Kane, chief executive of the fellowship, said “We are all very pleased to have confirmation that the financial notice to improve has been lifted.” The FNTi was imposed in April 2014 because of significant weaknesses […]

Labour Education Pledges: the complete list

Labour announced its education manifesto today. Here’s the full list of pledges: – All secondary school and college pupils will get guaranteed face-to-face advice from trained careers advisers, beginning at the age of 11. – Integrated advice will ensure teenagers learn about high quality apprenticeships and technical degrees as well as traditional academic routes into […]

Teacher banned indefinitely for changing pupils’ SATs papers

A teacher has been banned from teaching indefinitely after changing pupils’ key stage two exam papers. Ian Guffick also asked pupils to change their own exam sheets at Mitton Manor Primary School, in Tewkesbury. Mr Guffick admitted changing pupils’ answers, but said he did it to make them more legible. A report, released today, said […]

Teacher Union Conference Round-up: What happened at ATL2015?

ATL held their conference on  Monday, March 30, to Wednesday, April 1 in Liverpool. Here’s what happened.   What were the main issues?   1. Teacher workload:   Workload was a main issue on the conference agenda. General secretary Dr Mary Bousted used her keynote speech to raise concerns about the workload challenges which are […]

Teacher Union Conference Round-Up: What happened at NUT 2015?

NUT Conference took place between Friday, April 3, and Tuesday, April 7 in Harrogate. Here’s what happened.   What Were the Main Issues?   1. Funding Crisis:   The big austerity squeeze and a struggle to balance the books amid looming pay and pension hikes were top of the NUT’s agenda. Christine Blower, general secretary, […]

Teacher Union Conference Round-Up: What happened at NASUWT 2015?

NASUWT conference took place between Friday, April 3, and Monday, April 6 in Cardiff. Here’s what happened.   What were the main issues?   1. Mental health: Top of the union’s agenda were “frightening and disturbing” figures which laid bare the impact of escalating stress on mental health. More than two thirds of teachers said […]

The state of the union – ATL’s Dr Mary Bousted targets education’s top leaders

Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Dr Mary Bousted certainly didn’t pull her punches when she addressed her union’s annual conference this morning. Here, we look at the full list of people and organisations who earned her ire. Michael Gove The former education secretary got a whopping 20 mentions during Dr Bousted’s speech (Kudos […]

Breaking: Firm chosen for new national reference tests with first exams set for March 2017

A firm has been selected to develop and introduce the new national reference tests – with the first pupils set to take the exams in March 2017. Ofqual announced today that the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) will deliver the tests, designed to anchor all GCSE standards. Ofqual is now working with organisations representing schools and […]