General
Tuesday
Ofsted inclusion plans lack focus on school admissions, MPs told
Leaders have to work ‘against the tide’ of the accountability system to promote a whole-school approach to inclusion, MPs also warned
Sir Hamid Patel appointed interim chair of Ofsted
The Star Academies chief will serve until the summer when a permanent appointment is expected to be made
Worsening speech and language skills make teaching more difficult, study finds
Nearly half of primary teachers say more pupils are struggling to communicate at the expected level for their age
Monday
Teacher pension contributions to increase next month
The government has today laid a statutory instrument before Parliament that will make changes to contributions from 1 April
Gender gap in Year 9 maths at its widest
There is an ‘urgent need’ to find out why the gender gap in maths has re-emerged, says DfE report analysing findings from Timss international research
Private school teachers taking second jobs to make ends meet
Poll by NEU teaching union also reveals that recruitment has been frozen as a result of VAT on independent school fees
Saturday
Number of Scottish schools sharing a headteacher triples
Conservatives argue that in most cases shared headships are ‘detrimental to schools and pupils’
Headteachers’ gender pay gap ‘has widened to a chasm’
On International Women’s Day, new data reveals that the gender pay gap for some school leaders is at its worst for 13 years
Friday
Foundation Apprenticeships offer ‘something for everyone’
More than £100 million funding to support Modern and Foundation Apprenticeships in 2025-26 has been confirmed by Scotland’s education secretary
Government doing ‘too little, too slowly’ on mobile phones, MPs told
Ministers under fire over ‘watered-down’ second version of the Safer Phones Bill, which no longer includes consideration of a statutory mobile phone ban in schools
Religious observance proposals ‘lack clarity’, say education directors
Proposed changes to the law would effectively entitle children to opt out of learning about religion – not just practising it, says ADES
Why SEMH support is schools’ biggest challenge
Pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs have been found to fare the worst in terms of getting SEND support. Why is this, and what can schools do with constrained resources?
