DfE | Schools Week

NAO school finances report: Headteachers face £3 BILLION in cuts, and 10 other key findings

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published its report into school finances today. Schools Week has the key findings: (You can read our news story here) 1. Schools will have to cut £3 BILLION to meet cost pressures at worst level ‘since mid-1990s’ The NAO highlights that school budgets are being squeezed by pay rises, […]

DfE must ‘get its act together’ on school finances after spending watchdog condemns lack of leadership

The National Audit Office (NAO) has delivered a scathing verdict on the Department for Education’s (DfE) lack of leadership on school finances as deficits continue to balloon. The public spending watchdog, which has analysed evidence over the past eight months, criticised the DfE for requesting budget cuts from schools while “not knowing” why deficits are […]

Investigation: Who should we believe on data?

After months of covering stories on new rules requiring schools to collect information on pupils’ nationality and limits on researcher freedoms, new information came to light last week providing new perspective. Reporters John Dickens and Freddie Whittaker investigate. Two-day research embargo: where are we now? The government justified a new diktat ordering education academics […]

DfE hires grammar school critic as head of strategy and social mobility

The Department for Education has appointed Emran Mian, the director of the Social Market Foundation think tank and a critic of grammar schools, as its new head of strategy. Mian will take up the post of director of strategy and social mobility next year, filling a void left by the department’s former strategy boss Tom […]

Carter: £140m funding pot shows shift from ‘mass conversion to mass improvement’

Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner, has said the new £140 million strategic school improvement fund proves the government’s intentions have shifted from “mass conversion to mass improvement”. The Department for Education announced the pot of funding on Wednesday, which Carter explained today will go towards four targeted issues. Carter said the cash aims to create “less patchy” […]

Schools can get £5k for getting ‘returner teachers’ back into classrooms

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has launched another pilot to try to encourage qualified teachers back to the classroom – with the biggest financial rewards going to schools employing part-time or “flexible-working” returners. Last year, schools were offered a “support package” of £1,900 to aid qualified teachers not currently in the classroom […]

DfE insists it can spot bogus grammar survey responses

The government has insisted safeguards are in place to deal with bogus replies to its grammar school consultation after a campaigner successfully submitted a response from “Ebenezer Scrooge”. In a blog published by the Local Schools Network, schools campaigner Janet Downs said she used fake names to complete the government’s survey on new grammars. Schools […]

Drop in trainee teachers, and 4 other key findings from ITT data

The Department for Education has released provisional figures for the number of trainee teachers recruited for this academic year. With trainee places for some subjects half or less than half full, recruitment has remained below target in some key EBacc subjects, particularly computing. Design and technology had the lowest number of trainees overall, with nearly […]

Thanks? No thanks: Why only 1 teacher received a thank you letter from the education secretary

The government has written one thank-you letter to a retired teacher in the past four years, despite launching a campaign to reward their contribution. The Department for Education (DfE) unveiled a scheme in 2012 in which outgoing teachers who made an “exceptional contribution to education” could be nominated for a personal letter of thanks from […]