DfE | Schools Week

Restraint in school – what the law says

You hope you will never have to use restraint, but if your duty of care leaves you with little choice: know your school procedure and record everything The latest school shooting in the US and stories of children being locked in classrooms in the UK have once again highlighted the issue of restraint and how […]

What has happened to the teacher workload groups?

Few teachers answered the series of questions in the DfE’s workload challenge on “unnecessary and unproductive tasks”. But apathy is no excuse for the government putting the challenge on the backburner — which will probably mean another wasted year until anything is done. Why are we still waiting? The 43,855 responses to the Department for […]

Promises, promises, promises…

After the election results, the government now needs to make good on its election promises. With the recent election outcome, we can now only hope Nicky Morgan keeps to the promises made in the Department for Education’s (DfE) Workload Challenge report published in February. Reading back over the details this half-term, I have decided to […]

Small is not always beautiful

One governing body is challenging “statutory guidance” on governing body size. It wants to reflect its large and diverse community so, come September, there will be 12 co-opted governors on board . . . As governors of a community school proud of its status as a strategic resource for the local authority, we have just fulfilled our […]

General Election 2015: “The challenges of the Conservative education plan should not be underestimated”

The Conservatives will control the Department for Education, after today’s outcome of the general election which saw the party gain a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Professor Chris Husbands, director of the Institute of Education, gives his view on what to expect. No-one foresaw the scale of the Conservative victory – it exceeded […]

Testing DfE Transparency – How easy is it to see the Register of Interests?

Were the Dead Sea Scrolls any easier to discover, I wonder? My setting was the more mundane headquarters of the Department for Education in Westminster, rather than caves in the Middle East, but at times the documents seemed just as elusive. Two weeks ago – under orders from the editor – I was tasked with […]

If we want to teach ‘British values’ then we need to do this….

How do we know what British values even are? And how should we teach them? Expert Matt Hood explores the answer. Before you read on, open a browser and google ‘British values.’ After a couple of links to the department for education you will see link after link of different school websites where you’ll find […]

You’d be forgiven for thinking workload was a marginal issue

The Department for Education last week published the results of its Workload Challenge. It may have been launched with much fanfare, but the department’s reaction is little more than a damp squib According to education secretary Nicky Morgan, the aim of the Workload Challenge was to provide teachers with an opportunity to tell her about […]

Schools Week editorials

Edition eight editorial New DfE building to include gym and art collection When Nicky Morgan said spare money should be spent in schools, she was right. Given we have reported on schools with malfunctioning generators and temporary premises there are plenty of places that need it. Though the government may save money with the move, it […]