DfE
The latest news and analysis on the Department for Education and the secretary of state for education, including new policy, legislation and appointments
Friday
8th May 2026
DfE to call on leaders to become RISE ‘partners’
New DfE-convened regional partnerships will be expected to provide ‘formalised oversight’ of progress against school improvement priorities
Schools face ‘impossible’ SEND support package plans, experts warn
‘Bizarre’ government proposals risk lumping together pupils with vastly different needs, and stripping out mental health support, leaders tell ÌÇÐÄVlog
Thursday
7th May 2026
Most school leaders say budget cuts are hitting pupil outcomes
Schools are increasingly being forced to make ‘trade-offs’ on staffing, class sizes and levels of support because of squeezed funding, report warns
Exclusive
Weak governance flagged as threat to MAT expansion
Less than half of governors think their school’s resources, including reserves, should be shared across their trust, finds National Governance Association
Exclusive
Saturday
2nd May 2026
NAHT backs industrial action ballot over teacher pay
Heads vote for union to consider all steps up to and including industrial action over any below-inflation three-year pay deal
Heads pave way for industrial action over new Ofsted framework
High-stakes accountability ‘just doesn’t work’, says Sinéad Mc Brearty, who chairs the NAHT advisory panel on the Ofsted framework
Friday
1st May 2026
Schools must not ‘carry the can’ for underfunded policies, NAHT warns
The rising costs that schools are facing could undermine the government’s White Paper plans, the NAHT’s general secretary tells the union’s annual conference
The complex story behind rising suspensions in primary schools
Suspensions have risen in primary schools but fallen in secondaries. Here, education leaders tell ÌÇÐÄVlog what they think is behind the contrasting trends
Exclusive
Ofsted is a ‘driver of misery’, says new NAHT president
Dave Woods will also tell the union’s annual conference that education staff are now ‘frontline fighters’ against ‘dark forces of hate’