Keeping up with the news can be difficult amidst busy schedules. That's why we've put together this short summary of 5 key education news stories from the past week. Here's a quick recap of the key developments in the sector to help you stay informed about what's new in the sector.

1. DfE rejects calls to scrap Ofsted's single-word judgements

The DfE argues that politicians and media would ‘draw own conclusions’ if Ofsted grades are scrapped, writes Freddie Whittaker.

The government has rejected calls from the Parliamentary Education Committee to scrap Ofsted's four overall effectiveness judgments.

In January, MPs urged the government to develop a more "nuanced" alternative to the current single-word judgements. However, last week, the DfE announced that “the government’s view is that there are significant benefits from having an Ofsted overall effectiveness grade”.

Calls for less frequent inspections were also rejected.

Multiple education leaders expressed their disappointment with the decision. ASLC leader Pepe Di’Iasio commented that the decision goes against "all the evidence that single-phrase judgements are the source of sky-high stress and anxiety, damaging the wellbeing of leaders and teachers, sapping morale and causing many people to leave the profession.”

Source: Politicians and media would ‘draw own conclusions’ if Ofsted grades scrapped – DfE (schoolsweek.co.uk)

2. Schools lose a quarter of lesson time to poor behaviour – DfE survey

Leaders warn of worsening issues and a growing impact on their wellbeing, writes Freddie Whittaker.

Data from the DfE's National Behaviour Survey, which asked school leaders, teachers and pupils for their views on behaviour, reveals that leaders and teachers reported losing an average of seven minutes per half hour of lesson time to misbehaviour.

This adds up to almost nine weeks if extrapolated across a school year.

Tom Bennett, the government’s lead behaviour advisor, called the data “sobering but not surprising to those of us working with schools nationally”.

Bennett, along with other industry experts, partially attributed the rise in behaviour incidents and the decline of school staff confidence in managing them to a lack of parental support and budget constraints.

Source: Schools lose a quarter of lesson time to poor behaviour – DfE survey (schoolsweek.co.uk)

If you'd like to learn even more about pupil behaviour and safety in schools, read our report - Behaviour and Safety: Key Trends and Challenges. It gathers the perspectives of 400,000 school staff, pupils and parents to illuminate eye-opening insights on behaviour management, classroom disruption, safety, and bullying.

3. Special schools: DfE considers reforming the £10K-per-place system

The government could take a ‘radical step’ of replacing the current system, which has seen special schools paid £10,000 per place since 2013, writes John Roberts.

At a conference last week, special-school leaders asked department officials if there was any plan to move away from a place-based funding system, stressing that the £10,000 figure used was now “woefully” short of what is needed.

Furthermore, the sum has not changed since it was introduced in 2013 - more than a decade ago.

Tom Goldman, deputy director of the DfE’s Funding Policy Unit, said the reason behind providing a set amount of funding for each place was to give “certainty to special schools” in a “quite variable and volatile” funding system “very much centred around individual children”.

However, he added that due to the lack of increase in funding over time, this certainty has been lost, and the government is now considering a more "radical" step of completely moving away from place-based funding.

He also noted the funding issue is only one of the wider special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) policy reforms the government is working on.

Source: Special schools: DfE considers reforming £10K-per-place system (Tes.com)

4. Cut summer break ‘to rescue Covid generation GCSEs

Researchers warn the lasting impact of the pandemic is likely to lead to poorer GCSE results well into the 2030s, writes TES.

Research funded by the Nuffield Foundation suggests children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic now face the “biggest” decline in GCSE outcomes in decades and an “unprecedented” widening of the socio-economic gap.

Here are some of the "low-cost" recommendations from the report, written by a number of academics across English universities:

1. Spreading school holidays more evenly across the year, especially "during the gruelling winter term”;

2. Introduce a national programme of university undergraduate tutors;

3. Delivering support to students to help boost their foundational cognitive and socio-emotional skills;

Source: Cut summer break ‘to rescue Covid generation GCSEs (TES.com)

5. Ofsted: Leaders must police AI's impact on outcomes

The watchdog will hold heads to account over the use of AI in their schools by staff and students, writes Cerys Turner.

Ofsted has recently published a new guidance document detailing its approach to the use of AI in schools.

The watchdog said it will not “directly inspect the quality of AI tools.” However, it does plan to review the way AI affects “areas of provision and outcomes such as safeguarding and the quality of education”. 

While Ofsted urged educators to critically evaluate artificial intelligence's suggestions, it has been transparent about using AI technology to predict which schools are “less than good.”

It added that while AI can "make the best use of data (particularly text) to generate new insights”, as well as increase efficiency, it will ensure that inspectors can "respond flexibly and empathetically to the concerns of the public or providers.”

Source: Ofsted: Leaders must police AI's impact on outcomes (TES.com)