Here's another summary of 5 key news stories from last week to help you stay informed about what's new in the education sector.
We hope you find this insightful!
1. Meet the ministers: Portfolios of Starmer’s DfE lineup confirmed
The new government has finally confirmed which ministers are responsible for what at the DfE, nearly three weeks after Labour won the general election, writes Billy Camden.
As previously reported, Catherine McKinnell is schools minister with an expanded brief also covering SEND and AP.
Stephen Morgan is the minister for early education, with a raft of school policies such as breakfast clubs, free school meals, sustainability, and the use of AI in education also included in his brief.
Janet Daby is the minister for children and families, with a brief more focused on children’s social care and less on education than the role under the Conservative government.
Baroness Jacqui Smith, the former home secretary and schools minister, is the minister for skills and will lead all the DfE’s work in the House of Lords.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson holds cabinet-level responsibility for the women and equalities brief, with Anneliese Dodds also serving as minister for the portfolio. She is also a minister at the Foreign Office.
If you'd like to have another look at all the policies Labour has in store for education, read our recent blog.
Source: Meet the ministers: Portfolios of Starmer’s DfE lineup confirmed (schoolsweek.co.uk)
2. Teacher shortages: DfE considers review of profession
The new government is weighing up a review of the teaching profession to look at flexible working and pay and conditions, writes Matilda Martin.
The new government is looking at proposals to launch a fresh review of the teaching profession to address standards and pay.
It would likely look at the support schools and trusts provide for their employees, including flexible working and pay and conditions, if it gets the green light from ministers.
The DfE is currently seeking advice on what such a review might look like and drawing up proposed terms of reference.
The government will consider including teacher standards and pathways through a teacher’s career in the review. Additionally, the review could consider professional development and how the DfE could deliver a related entitlement.
As one of Labour's key education promises was to hire 6,500 new teachers, the sector is still waiting for more details on how it plans to achieve this goal.
Source: Teacher shortages: DfE considers review of profession (Tes.com)
Our Staff Retention report found that 1 in 2 teachers consider resignation frequently, while senior leaders show a comparatively lower risk of resignation.
3. DfE can’t show ‘value for money’ of £9.2bn disadvantage spend
Spending watchdog finds 'limited evidence' of how well almost half of funding to narrow attainment gap is used, writes Jack Dyson.
The National Audit Office said in a report published last week that DfE had “limited evidence” on how well almost half of its disadvantage funding (£9.2 billion a year) is spent.
The findings are based on an assessment of the department under the management of the previous Conservative government.
The report warned that "more than 90%" of the £9.2 billion spent to support disadvantaged children’s attainment is not ringfenced, meaning "schools can choose how to spend this money".
The DfE also "has little understanding of whether schools spend the funding they receive [and] whether they spend it for the intended purposes".
While one of the DfE’s strategic priorities is “to reduce the disadvantage attainment gap”, it does not have targets “for how much it wants to reduce it by, and by when”. Despite that, officials told the NAO they planned to further develop their “evidence base for some interventions”.
Source: DfE can’t show ‘value for money’ of £9.2bn disadvantage spend (schoolsweek.co.uk)
4. English schools to phase out ‘cruel’ behaviour rules as Labour plans major education changes
The Labour government will look at phasing out strict behaviour regimes in England and shift its focus on how to include the most vulnerable pupils, writes Anna Fazackerley.
Education leaders close to the new government say ministers are planning to change the inspection regime so that all schools are judged on whether they are properly representative of their local community.
The government is also aiming to stop schools from telling parents that their child with SEN would be better off at another school or being repeatedly suspended because they aren’t meeting strict behaviour rules.
Anne Longfield, the former children’s commissioner whose Centre for Young Lives has been working with the Labour education team, said: "Looking at the data and talking to young people, it is clear that a large group of kids have been made to feel school isn’t for them and that has to change."
Pupil behaviour and safety in schools are complex topics that require analysis from multiple perspectives. If you'd like to learn more about them, we recently published a thorough report on the key trends and challenges surrounding pupil behaviour.
5. Absence still high despite drive to boost attendance
Pupil absence has remained stubbornly high this year despite the previous government’s efforts to bring attendance back to pre-pandemic levels, writes Matilda Martin & Cerys Turner.
DfE data, published last week, shows Absence rates have remained stubbornly high despite the previous government’s campaign to boost attendance back to pre-pandemic levels.
The data shows that overall absence was 7.1% across all schools this year.
Although this rate is slightly lower than last year (7.4%), the overall absence rate continues to exceed the level in 2018-19 (4.7%), the last full academic year before Covid.
Former schools minister Damian Hinds previously said the Conservative government aimed to get overall absence below 5 per cent via an awareness campaign aimed at tackling parents’ more cautious approach to illness in the wake of the pandemic.
The new Labour government has said that its planned breakfast clubs policy could cut 450,000 days of school absence among pupils. Labour also plans to employ AI to spot absence trends.
Source: Absence still high despite drive to boost attendance (Tes.com)
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