A new report from The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) focuses on furthering the understanding of current practice and research priorities in teaching Writing. Key findings include: Similarities in schools between all key stages in terms of their approaches and/or programmes to teach Writing, and how the decisions on the approach to Writing are made and … Continue reading Understanding current practice and research priorities in teaching Writing
How do the last five years measure up on levelling up?
The IFS has issued a new report looking at the effectiveness of the Levelling Up strategy. It covers more than just education, but in the case of education it finds that The share of pupils in England meeting the expected standards at the end of primary school has fallen from 65% in 2018–19 to 60% … Continue reading How do the last five years measure up on levelling up?
Free breakfast clubs in schools
An article by the Institute for Fiscal Studies looks at the issue of school breakfast clubs and analyses Labour's promise to expand provision to all primary schools. Some of their conclusions are: breakfast clubs can be a cheap way to provide nutritional support to children; breakfast clubs have been shown to boost grades; breakfast clubs … Continue reading Free breakfast clubs in schools
The private schools debate is asking all the wrong questions
The Guardian's Eva Wiseman column observes that Private schools don’t put children first, they put everyone else last She goes on to argue that the key issue around this debate - which isn;t being mentioned - is that the children at state schools are suffering. She concludes by saying "I’m starting to feel ... increasingly … Continue reading The private schools debate is asking all the wrong questions
What do SEN parents want would-be MPs to know?
This aticle from BBC News (Essex) highlights parents' concerns that SEN does not figure highly enough on political parties' agendas. SEN is an increasingly serious issue in schools across the country - including Derbyshire - so this is a timely article. It usefully summarieses what each party is promising around SEN. You can read the … Continue reading What do SEN parents want would-be MPs to know?
Outcomes for pupils suspended in primary school
This interesting, but unsurprising, article from the Education Policy Institute found that suspended pupils left primary school having not met the expected standard in reading and maths, and in fact suspended pupils were, on average, approximately 10 months behind their not-suspended peers. You can read the full article on their website, here.
Problems with SEND provision
Several articles focus on the issues with SEND funding - here are a few of them: Schools Week has documented the growing crisis; BBC: Councils in England are forecasting a massive shortfall in budgets for SEND; The Guardian: Record 576,000 pupils have special needs support plan in England; The Independent: Children with special needs are … Continue reading Problems with SEND provision
The State of Governance in England’s Schools and Trusts
A new report from the NGA focuses on the State of Governance in England's Schools and Trusts. It draws upon the analysis of external reviews of governance (ERG) reports from the National Leaders of Governance (NLG) programme and NGA's wider sector intelligence. The report identifies eight common governance challenges and provides practical insights and resources … Continue reading The State of Governance in England’s Schools and Trusts
Recruitment and Retention in 2024
The Teacher Tapp and SchoolDash annual report on teacher recruitment and retention provides insights into the current state of the teaching profession in England. The report covers a number of topics: Primary School Recruitment; Secondary School Recruitment; Teacher Availability for September; Technician Posts; The Education Quality Challenge in Disadvantaged Schools; Perceptions of Teaching in Disadvantaged … Continue reading Recruitment and Retention in 2024
Political party manifestos and their impact on education
This handy article from The Key (subscription required) summarises what each of the parties is offering for education in their manifesto.
School counselling brings long-term economic benefit
A new report from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and Citizens UK reveals that the long-term benefit to the taxpayer of access to counselling in all secondary schools is eight times the cost of the investment. This rises to a 10-fold return on investment for counselling for primary school-age children. The research … Continue reading School counselling brings long-term economic benefit
Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
The Foundation for Education Development (FED) have released a toolkit to equip teachers, sustainability leads and their teams, with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to deliver their Climate Action Plans, which need to be in place by 2025. The toolkit is linked to the DfE's "Sustainability and climate change: a strategy for the … Continue reading Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
Reports on children’s writing and reading show worrying decreases
Writing The National Literacy Trust's Annual Literacy Survey of more than 76,000 UK children and young people revealed that, in 2024: Fewer than 3 in 10 (28.7%) 8 to 18-year-olds say they enjoy writing in their free time – the lowest level recorded by the charity since it first started asking children about their writing … Continue reading Reports on children’s writing and reading show worrying decreases
Move to home education biggest since pandemic
A BBC investigation has found the number of children moving to home education in the UK is at its highest level since the pandemic. Their article notes: Freedom of Information requests showed UK councils received at least 49,819 notifications in 2022-23 from families wanting to home educate a child. This is the highest level since … Continue reading Move to home education biggest since pandemic
The Alternative Big Listen
Ofsted's "Big Listen" initiative was reported her on 19 January 2024, and Prof Colin Richards and Frank Norris MBE believeb that it does not consider changes that many believe are essential to improve the inspection process for schools and other education settings. THey have launched The Alternative Big Listen and you can take part by … Continue reading The Alternative Big Listen
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