Policy
The latest news, analysis and advice on government policy and legislation. Find a breakdown of new documentation, case studies from leaders and comment from high-profile educators
Friday
30th Sep 2022
Prioritise diversity if ‘serious’ about teacher recruitment, DfE told
Heads, academies and teacher leaders urge ministers to prioritise and fund work to improve inclusion in schools ‘if it is serious about recruitment and retention’
Need to know: GCSE plans, teacher shortages, behaviour
Your roundup of 91¶¶Òõ’ most popular news and features articles from the past week, including the DfE and Ofqual’s plans for GCSE and A-level exams, the shortfall in teacher trainees and tips to tackle low-level disruption in your classroom
10 questions with... Carole Willis
NFER chief executive Carole Willis chats with 91¶¶Òõ about getting out of PE lessons and lunchtime discos at school, the importance of data, and why she would establish an Opportunity Task Force if she became education secretary
Oak boss: ‘Teachers must always decide what they teach’
Exclusive: Oak National Academy chief insists the newly created national curriculum resources provider will not threaten teachers’ autonomy
Allergies in schools: why more action is needed
As many as two in five children suffer from an allergy, putting schools on the front line if anything goes wrong. Yet awareness, training and government guidance in this area are sorely lacking, finds Hannah Fearn
Thursday
29th Sep 2022
Teacher training cold spot task force unveiled
The government says the new ITT steering group will work with the sector on ‘next steps’, after fears that its culling of providers would lead to regional ‘cold spots’
Labour’s free breakfast plan sounds tasty - but is hard to digest
A proposal to offer free breakfast clubs in primary schools may sound like an easy policy win but, as this primary head outlines, the devil is in the details
Tuesday
27th Sep 2022
Bids for new schools in Wales will form ‘blueprint’ for future
Welsh government will fund two new schools that must be low on energy and water consumption
Labour pledges fully funded breakfast clubs in all primary schools
Policy to be funded by reinstating 45 per cent income tax bracket, shadow education secretary to announce
Oak is ‘a betrayal’ of teachers, warns union leader
Union boss issues scathing attack on relaunched Oak National Academy, calling it a ‘vanity project’ that will worsen teacher shortages