����Vlog

In the week when we learned that the government’s refusal to increase funding for schools could lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, the effectiveness of a Department for Education-validated phonics scheme was questioned by a major research study and the parents of a child who died in tragic circumstances called for tougher regulation to ensure that pupils cannot access inappropriate online material at school.

Catch up on your must-read ����Vlog news and features articles from the past week right here:

News

• Tens of thousands of school jobs could be at risk��
  Around 50,000 jobs in the education sector could have to be cut by 2024 if the government insists on sticking to its current spending plans, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.
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• More school cuts risk a drop in standards, Truss warned��
  Twelve organisations, including school staff unions and parents’ groups, have written to prime minister Liz Truss and education secretary Kit Malthouse expressing their “alarm” at reports that the government is considering further “efficiencies” in public spending.
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• Phonics: DfE-approved scheme makes “only small” difference��
  A Department for Education-validated phonics programme only leads to a “small” improvement in reading and almost no progress in writing, compared with other phonics schemes, according to research by the Education Endowment Foundation.
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• Will the increase in teacher training bursaries be enough?��
  The DfE has increased teacher training bursaries across several subjects - but one sector leader warned that the move “only scratches the surface” of the recruitment crisis.
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• Revealed: the schools and trusts leading DfE school improvement plan��
  Seven academy trusts and schools have been awarded funding by the DfE as part of a scheme to support struggling schools.
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• School building space could be used for childcare, says commissioner
  Falling pupil numbers will open up “significantly underused” space in school buildings that could be used for early education and childcare, according to the children’s commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza.
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Features

• Frankie Thomas: The tragic pupil death all schools must learn from
  The parents of a child who died by suicide after accessing inappropriate material at school talk to ����Vlog about their campaign to��ensure that schools’ e-filtering and online monitoring systems are working properly.
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• How Oak National Academy tempted education’s chief “fixer”��into the spotlight
  John Roberts,��director of product and engineering at Oak National Academy, is the man that government departments and education organisations turn to for solutions to tech-related issues. So far he has managed to keep a low profile but that is about to change after the transformation of Oak into a national curriculum resources provider.
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• How a “stop week” could help you through the rest of term��
  A “stop week” in which teachers can ditch admin tasks helps to re-energise staff for the remainder of the term, explains this school leader.
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• Why we need to think differently about working memory
  Pupils need time to let their minds wander in order to make the most of their working memory, finds science writer Surendra Verma.

• Howard Gardner: Multiple intelligences, learning styles and me��
  Developmental psychologist Howard Gardner explains why learning styles “isn’t something I believe in”��and talks about a new theory that could be “the most important thing teachers teach their students”.

• Why the KS1 results show we’ve put policy before pupils��
  The key stage 1 Sats results tell us that the government, in its rush to restore “business as usual” in schools post-Covid, has ignored the needs of our youngest and most vulnerable pupils, writes Megan Dixon.