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Expecting schools to solve huge issues like poverty and social mobility ignores the reality outside the classroom – and provides a convenient scapegoat for politicians, says Alasdair Macdonald

Education committee chair warns that a ‘very significant statistical increase in SEND in the early years ought to be ringing alarm bells’

Warning comes ahead of September deadline for schools to set out plans for ‘high-quality music curriculum’, including at least an hour a week of teaching

The Scottish government hit its overall interim target for getting more young people from disadvantaged areas into university – but three higher education institutions failed to satisfy individual targets

School leaders’ union urges DfE to reveal the criteria for its hardship fund, announced as part of the teacher pay deal

The pupil premium for disadvantaged children was originally calculated to correspond with the funding rate that students enjoyed in the independent sector – but now the premium falls far short of that, explains this former schools minister

The DfE has published findings from surveys it has carried out with thousands of school staff. Here is everything you need to know

DfE report shows how cost-of-living crisis led to some schools cutting staff numbers and turning heating down or off during the winter

The school inspection system is widely seen as broken – so, can it be fixed, or is Ofsted too far gone to save?

The suspension rate during the first full year following the Covid lockdowns was the highest recorded in government published figures

This week’s education news round-up includes reaction to the new teacher pay offer, the announcement of the government’s chosen candidate to take over at Ofsted and concerns over the accuracy of Sats marking

Whoever wins the next election will have some major challenges to fix – these are where their priorities should lie, says the Education Policy Institute’s associate director