• New ‘flagship’ study to solve why teachers leave

    A new five-year study of 15,000 teachers will assess why staff drop out of the profession, the impact of Covid-19 and changing working conditions. The Department for Education says the longitudinal study will serve as its “flagship workforce research vehicle” and “fill key evidence gaps on a long-term basis”. In particular, the study will help…

    15.00 Sep. 18th, 2020 | News

  • School rebuilding programme 'will disappoint more than it pleases', warns DfE director

    A top civil servant has warned that the government “will be disappointing more people than we please” during the early years of its new school rebuilding programme. Rory Kennedy, the DfE’s director of capital, told a Westminster Education Forum webinar this morning that his experience working on Labour’s flagship “building schools for the future” project…

    13.20 Sep. 15th, 2020 | News

  • It's official: DfE doesn't know how many schools have covid cases

    The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in schools, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The return to school has been disrupted with reports hundreds of schools have sent children home after suspected covid-19 cases, or a struggle to get those with symptoms tested. An…

    10.36 Sep. 15th, 2020 | News

  • High-profile trusts win share of £1.5m 'exemplary leadership' fund

    Four of England’s most high-profile academy trusts have won the first tranche of a £1.5 million government contract to deliver “exemplary leadership” training. Schools Week revealed earlier this year that the Department for Education was developing the leadership programme”, which will see ‘outstanding’ schools designing training programmes to replicate their success. However, the government was…

    14.59 Sep. 14th, 2020 | News

  • TV star and celeb GP hired for 'back-to-school' promo

    Ministers have come under fire for paying a television presenter up to an estimated £15,000 for social media posts promoting the government’s back-to-school campaign. Kirsty Gallacher used her Twitter and Instagram accounts to “reassure parents on the changes and safety measures in place at schools”. There’s a point where you wonder whether the government is…

    10.00 Sep. 11th, 2020 | News

  • Pupil numbers set to fall 5.2% over the next decade, DfE predicts

    The number of pupils in state-funded schools is expected to drop by 5.2 per cent over the next decade, new statistics show. Pupil projection data published by the Department for Education today states the overall population of state schools is expected to decrease by 408,000 to about 7.3 million by 2030. The figures show that…

    10.56 Jul. 16th, 2020 | News

  • DfE spends £££s spinning Covid response

    The government has spent tens of thousands of pounds in an attempt to present its response to the impact of coronavirus on education in a positive light. The Department for Education diverted an external PR agency promoting teaching vacancies to highlight its efforts to boost remote learning. It reallocated about 10 per cent of a…

    13.00 Jul. 10th, 2020 | News

  • DfE appoints Nick Timothy as non-executive director

    Nick Timothy, a former New Schools Network director who served as chief of staff to prime minister Theresa May, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the Department for Education. Announcing the appointment, a DfE spokesperson said Timothy would bring “a range of experience that will support our work as we continue to develop…

    11.56 Apr. 16th, 2020 | News

  • Barred: Teachers in challenging schools shut out of DfE schemes over EBacc rates

    Teachers in the most challenging schools are being barred from shaping policy or sharing their expertise as government limits access to its schemes based on EBacc entry rates. Analysis by Schools Week has found at least five Department for Education initiatives where a quota of pupils entered into the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was part of…

    5.00 Mar. 6th, 2020 | News

  • Who's who? Your guide to the new ministerial line-up at the DfE

    The remits of the new ministerial team at the Department for Education have been confirmed following Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reshuffle. For schools, the new line-up mostly represents business as usual. Gavin Williamson remains as education secretary, and Nick Gibb, the schools minister, is still in the role having survived his latest of many reshuffles. Here…

    18.28 Feb. 26th, 2020 | News

  • DfE property firm's boss got £30k bonus, despite missed value-for-money target

    The boss of the Department for Education’s property company received a £30,000 bonus last year, despite the organisation missing one of its key targets. Accounts for LocatED, a company set up by the government to find land for new free schools, show Lara Newman received a bonus payment of between £30,000 and £35,000 in 2018-19,…

    9.49 Feb. 11th, 2020 | News