In Short | Schools Week

Ofqual list: GCSEs and A Levels that WILL begin reform for 2017 – and those facing the chop

Ofqual, the qualifications regulator, has announced its final batch of GCSEs and A levels facing reform. Most ‘core’ subjects have already been reformed – eg English, maths, geography. (And a few other oddities). Today, the final decisions were announced for other subjects. If a subject you teach is under the ‘will NOT be reformed’ list, […]

Carter Review response: Munday and Beer to the rescue on initial teacher training

Meet Munday and Beer, the Department for Education’s answer to initial teacher training (ITT) concerns raised in the Carter Review. The DfE has appointed Comberton Academy Trust chief executive Stephen Munday to lead an independent expert group formed to develop a new ITT framework. It has also asked the Teaching Schools Council, led by Ashton on Mersey […]

Election 2015: Education policies of all parties so far

Political parties have yet to reveal their manifestos but they have been making pledges in speeches and newspaper articles. David Foster at the Commons Library has compiled promises made so far (see below for document). School funding – ‘flat cash’ per pupils New tests for primary school pupils Converting schools that ‘require improvement’ into […]

How the DfE will introduce curriculum and qualification change from now on

A finding of the government’s ‘Workload Challenge’ was that sudden changes to curriculum and performance measures caused undue stress and workload. In response, the government today published a shiny new ‘Protocol for changes to accountability, curriculum and qualifications‘. It says that from now on new qualification and curriculum changes should: – be introduced at the […]

Government response to education committee report on academies and free schools: the wills and won’ts

The Department for Education has published its response to the education committee’s report on academies and free schools. In many cases, the department claims it already has processes in place to meet the committee’s recommendations. But here’s a list of what the department says it is and isn’t going to do differently in response to […]

Total eclipse of the sun: Guidance for schools (with thanks to Jaffa Cakes)

Tomorrow morning there will be a total eclipse of the sun. In the UK, we will get a partial (up to 97 per cent) view of the sun blocked out. The further north you are, the more of an eclipse you will see. Total solar eclipses take place when the Earth, Moon and Sun are […]

The Schools Commissioner wants you to know how well academies are doing, and he’s written a helpful letter

The Schools Commissioner Frank Green has written a letter He’s pretty determined that you put it up in your school, or at least send it to your staff over the interweb. In it, he mostly says that academies are excellent (after he’s finished telling you how good his regional schools commissioners are). […]

5 recommendations from the Trojan Horse: Extremism in Schools Report

The Education Select Committee has today revealed its report into the ‘Trojan Horse’ investigations. It raises concerns that: – Too many agencies were involved in the investigations. There were five in total. – It is not clear why Ofsted initially rated some Birmingham schools as outstanding, but downgraded to inadequate on re-inspection. – Given no […]

Two new Ofsted board members announced

A political advisor at BP and a think tank director have been appointed as new non-executive board members at Ofsted. Former teacher John Hughes will join after retiring as group political advisor at oil giant BP later this month. James Kempton will also join the board for three years. He is director of social policy and education […]

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