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Sir Kevan, previously school standards adviser at the Department for Education, will ‘challenge and scrutinise’ ministers as lead non-executive director

DfE appoints an expert steering group to advise how National Professional Qualifications can be reformed

Exclusive findings reveal huge variety in schools’ approaches to tracking progress, with most leaders saying they will struggle without P8

Pupil absence fell slightly last term, government data shows, but headteachers’ leaders warn investment in support services is needed

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill was heavily scrutinised during a fractious debate in Parliament. Here’s everything you need to know

The last tranche of money given to MATs under the now-defunct Trust Capacity Fund has been revealed in new DfE figures

Former schools minister Nick Gibb has been knighted and ex-union leader Geoff Barton appointed CBE in New Year Honours list

Mary Bousted and Anne Longfield become Labour peers, while free speech campaigner and free-school founder Toby Young is made a peer by the Conservatives

Prime minister is warned that councils’ SEND spending deficits could result in ‘an avalanche’ of local authorities declaring effective bankruptcy

Primary school is taking legal advice in an attempt to stop the DfE pushing ahead with its forced academisation under a policy that the government is dropping in the new year

MPs will look at inclusion in mainstream schools, funding and alternatives to the EHCP system ‘without reducing support’

Teachers are ‘powerless’ to tackle the rise in disruptive behaviour in schools – they need to be given greater authority, says Tony Blair’s think tank