DfE | Schools Week

DfE to test and ‘quality-mark’ education apps

The Department for Education plans to assess and “quality-mark” smartphone and tablet education apps for younger pupils. Officials will also consider extending the assessment to apps for older children if the process is a success. But experts in educational technology say that the scheme’s success will hinge on whether teachers with experience of learning with […]

Update us annually on school mental health plan progress, MPs tell ministers

MPs want annual updates from the government on its plan to introduce new mental health support teams to work with schools. The recommendation, from the parliamentary public accounts committee, follows an admission from the government that the new teams of clinicians may not reach every school in England for a decade. Proposals for the new […]

WCAT broke funding rules a year before its collapse, DfE review finds

The doomed Wakefield City Academy Trust broke government funding rules 16 times in 2016, according to a review of the chain’s finances. A review of financial management and governance at WCAT details a string of failures at the ailing trust, which announced last year it was walking away from all of its schools. The report […]

Data helps us intervene early, says academy trust

Trusts are concerned that a new government diktat to pull back from data collection will stop them making rapid interventions for struggling pupils. The Department for Education this week pledged to cut out unnecessary workload so teachers could “devote their energies to teaching”. It followed several recommendations in a Workload Advisory Group report, which were […]

DfE releases guide to partnerships with universities and private schools

The Department for Education has published guidance and case studies aimed at encouraging more partnerships between state schools, universities and the independent school sector. The documents include a guide to setting up partnerships and how to write a “memorandum of understanding” outlining the terms of a common plan of action. They also feature examples of […]

DfE to shell out £10m for 200 ‘external experts’

The Department for Education will spend £10 million on 200 “external experts” to advise it on policy areas including safeguarding, free schools and the curriculum. A tender document published this week reveals that the department is searching for organisations to run a “register of external experts” made up of “individuals who have expertise and experience […]

The NHS has a ten-year funding plan, so why doesn’t education?

Next year’s spending review will be a golden opportunity for the government to set out a strategic direction for education and skills spending, and to ensure a system fit for the 21st century, says Robert Halfon Our National Health Service is rightly lauded, but it is not the only sector that impacts the lives of […]

Alleged illegal school boss claims he was following DfE guidance

The director of a west London learning centre accused of running an illegal school has claimed he was following Department for Education guidance when he decided not to register his institution. Nacerdine Talbi, 47, the sole director of the Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre in Ealing, west London, told Westminster Magistrates court today that he believed he […]

The DfE’s repeated misuse of statistics is embarrassing

The Department for Education needs to start using statistics properly, or much of its evidence will simply be dismissed as untrustworthy, says Hetan Shah “I am writing to raise with you serious concerns about the DfE’s presentation and use of statistics”, starts the letter from Sir David Norgrove, chair of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), to […]