DfE | Schools Week

White Paper: QTS shake up masks recruitment struggles

On June 27, 2012, the world sat down to enjoy a spectacular Olympic opening ceremony. Everyone was watching. Well, everyone except the Department for Education (DfE), who had picked their moment to drop a bombshell: teachers would no longer be required to work towards qualified teacher status (QTS). Nearly four years on and the winds […]

I worked on the last DfE white paper – and couldn’t resolve this academy mess

A new DfE white paper? Let’s hope it solves the academy mess, writes Matt Hood Tony Blair came to power in 1997 on a promise of standards and not structures. Ten years’ experience of transforming the public realm changed his mind. He left office reflecting that when it comes to raising standards it turns […]

A former minister’s view: thoughts on the school-led system

Five areas need to be given priority if schools-led system is to become a reality English schools have a large measure of autonomy compared with many other countries. But this is qualified by some of the most important determinants of what happens in schools sitting with the Department for Education. The control of the curriculum, […]

National funding formula: We might benefit from the change but the government needs to be bolder

Southend High School for Boys is one of many schools that gets a “raw deal” under the current funding methodology. We welcome the long-awaited consultation. The Department for Education (DfE) proposals are broadly in line with what we expected, and in some cases feared! Of course, it is hard to assess the practical impact of […]

Does anyone know how many teachers we need?

There is a crisis in recruitment, not helped by low pay, the tangled and defragmented employment process and the Department of Education massaging the figures. And there’s no sign that this shortage will improve Teacher vacancies have rocketed, with more and more teachers employed without a degree in their subject and more and more leaving […]

The seven deadly sins of executive headship

Taking on the role requires a new set of skills. It’s easy to lose the personal touch you had before, but to move on you need to abandon what you previously held on to in order to grow and develop. Toby and Russell look at the perks and pitfalls of the role and how to […]

‘Schools Week hasn’t done the maths on commas’

It isn’t unreasonable to expect an 11-year-old to use a comma as a thousands separator – this is a policy that has been made clear since the sample tests were published in July 2015 I am under no illusion that year 6 teachers have an extra challenge this year preparing for the new Key Stage […]

The 3 ideas every teacher should bin in 2016

Most teachers will already have thought about what they’d like to achieve this new year. But what about the things they’d like to see the back of? During the festive season I thought about the teaching ideas posed by the Department for Education (DfE) that I’d like to see banished this year. Here are my […]

Government reveals 485 teachers on £65k+ as recruitment advert investigation continues

Hundreds of teachers are paid £65,000-a-year or more, the Department for Education has revealed as an investigation into complaints that it ‘misled’ the public in a recruitment advert continues. In transparency data re-released in the wake of at least 95 official complaints over its latest teacher recruitment advert, the government has confirmed 485 classroom teachers earned more […]