education policy | Schools Week

Emma Mattinson-Hardy’s top blogs 3 October 2016

Party conference season is upon us and each political party is setting out its stall in how they think education should be run. Whether we agree with it or not, education is a political issue. With over 300 Labour stalls and 100 NUT stalls popping up to protest against May’s proposal to have more grammar […]

The mystery of the disappearing education secretary

As another party conference season ebbs away, this is usually the part where I write a column about the education secretary. For the past two years I spent the Conservative conference at fringe events stalking Nicky Morgan – turning up at the parties she was at, springing questions on her during debates – and taking […]

Payment by results: that would never happen now… or would it?

Zimmer-framed educationist that I am, I was delighted to discover Schools Week’s new column on the history of education. So delighted, in fact, that I promptly (foolishly?) proposed a contribution of my own on a subject that is close to my heart – and that of the illustrious 19th-century poet and (which is less well […]

Pupils who were not white British told to send in birthplace data

Schools are demanding copies of pupils’ passports, and asking parents to confirm if their children are asylum seekers or refugees amid confusion over a new legal duty requiring the collection of nationality data. Schools Week revealed in June that the Department for Education (DfE) had expanded the census details schools must collect from this month […]

Education ‘super-union’ talks move to final stages as NUT and ATL plan special conferences

Talks about the formation of a new education super-union with members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the National Union of Teachers will move into their final stages in November after both organisations voted to hold special conferences to debate the move. Delegates from both the NUT and ATL will now meet separately […]

Schools expected to provide 30 minutes of daily exercise for pupils under new government obesity strategy

The government has said primary schools should provide at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day for pupils under a new strategy to tackle child obesity. The Department of Health today published its “Childhood obesity: a plan for action” which includes a raft of implications for schools. The strategy states primaries should deliver 30 […]

Justine Greening linked to 63 schools closed by Uganda government

A firm running “low cost” private schools in Africa, financially backed by an investment scheme launched by Justine Greening while she was international development secretary, will close all its schools in Uganda for failing to meet basic education standards. The Ugandan government announced on Friday that the 63 schools run by the for-profit commercial private school chain Bridge […]

Government u-turn on early years foundation stage profile after baseline scrapped

The early years foundation stage profile, due to be scrapped as a mandatory assessment measure, will remain statutory for the next academic year, it has emerged today. An email from the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) sent to school staff today, weeks after they have broken up for the summer holidays, tells leaders that “having looked carefully” […]

DfE denies ‘achieving excellence areas’ policy has been delayed

The government has denied its ambitious plans to provide extra support for schools in struggling areas have been delayed while Theresa May considers whether to lift a ban on grammar schools. Achieving excellence areas was a key policy unveiled in the recent white paper that pledged to inject extra cash and support into priority areas identified as […]