Education news
28 March
Teacher retention and recruitment
Why US schools have fallen in love with scripted lessons
Scripted lessons – good or bad? Of course it’s more nuanced than that
Over 5,000 Scottish primary teachers on temporary contracts
While in Scotland, a fifth of primary teachers are on temporary contracts – which is an improvement on last year but still worse than 2019
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/thousands-scottish-primary-teachers-temporary-contracts
Spring Statement: Teacher pay rise should top 3.7%, says NFER
Average earnings is forecast to be 3.7% in 2025-26, making DfE’s recommendation of a 2.8% pay rise for teachers look laughable
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/spring-statement-teacher-pay-rise-nfer
Funding
Restore £3.6bn ‘lost’ school capital funding, ASCL tells Treasury
It’s Spring Statement time. ASCL says government should make up some of the money lost over the last few years in school funding.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/restore-3-6bn-lost-school-capital-funding-ascl-tells-treasury/
Classes ‘shivering’ in winter and ‘overheated’ in summer
School buildings need a lot of love. Will the Chancellor oblige in her spring statement?
Union anger as spring statement snubs schools
Sadly, even though the Chancellor mentioned crumbling roofs (or rooves, take your pick), there was in fact no more money for schools in the spring statement
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/union-anger-as-spring-statement-snubs-schools/
Pensions
MATs told to seek DfEDepartment for Education - a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England approval for ‘contentious transactions’
New guidance to MATs seeks to clarify to Union Learning (and everyone else) what counts as ‘novel, contentious and repercussive’ transactions. Turns out their pension scheme is.
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/mats-told-seek-dfe-approval-contentious-transactions
MATMulti-academy trust - a group of schools working in collaboration, governed by a single set of members and directors rejects DfE intervention over teacher pension plan
Confrontation over United Learning’s plan to offer teachers an alternative pension scheme that provides them with more take-home pay.
Teachers in divorce ‘limbo’ take pension legal action
Teachers unable to get divorced because of delays getting their pensions valued are taking legal action against the government.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y08v0n2jyo
Ofsted
Report cards will fuel workload problems, heads warn OfstedThe Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills – a non-ministerial department responsible for inspecting and regulating services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills
School leaders say report cards will lead to more pointless work
https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/ofsted-inspection-changes-will-increase-teacher-workload
Two in three parents support Ofsted’s proposed report cards for schools – poll
Parents think colour codingIn qualitative research, coding involves breaking down data into component parts, which are given names. In quantitative research, codes are numbers that are assigned to data that are not inherently numerical (e.g. in a questionnaire the answer 'strongly agree' is assigned a 5) so that information can be statistically processed. will make it easier to understand what’s going on at school
Ofsted parents’ survey on report cards ‘misses the point’
But heads say simplifying the reporting is no good if the reporting is flawed
‘Join the PTA not the pile-on’, Oliver tells complaining parents
Ofsted says more transparency could defuse the increase in parent complaints – and report cards are the way to do this
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-join-the-pta-not-the-pile-on-oliver-tells-complaining-parents/
Equalities
The Guardian view on gender gaps in education: girls and boys both need attention
Boys have started to do better than girls in science again. Girls are more likely to go to university. Mothers are paid less in their lifetime than fathers. This gender stuff is complex.
‘I was raped at the age of 10’: sexual abuse and harassment reported at 1,664 UK primary schools
The website ‘Everyone’s Invited’ reports on some awful stories from primary school children of harassment, groping, inappropriate touching and rape
Boys as young as 11 ‘are idolising Andrew Tate’: Primary school teachers tell of their concern ‘misogynistic ideology’ surging in classrooms
Teachers say misogyny starts early
‘Really concerning’ rise in sexual violence among teens, minister tells Sky News
Jess Phillips says children need to learn about misogyny and healthy relationships
Behaviour
Some children vaping in class, say teachers
NASUWT poll shows pupils are ‘gathering in the toilets’ to get their nicotine fix
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y21210g1wo
Exclusion
Teenagers excluded from school ‘twice as likely’ to commit serious violence
Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within year.
Curriculum & qualifications
Harry Styles and Stormzy back Ed Sheeran’s call or UK to put £250m into music education
Ed Sheeran says we need more money for music education. Other famous people support that too.
https://www.itv.com/news/2025-03-23/ed-sheeran-calls-for-uk-to-put-250m-into-music-education
Department for EducationThe ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England confirms launch of natural history GCSE
Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years
Tech
Badenoch urges PM to ‘U-turn’ and ensure all schools enforce mobile phone ban
Most secondary schools already ban phones in some way or another. Starmer says we should be looking at content, which pupils can access anywhere, rather than policing schools
Banning us from social media is ‘neither practical nor effective’, UK teenagers say
UK youth parliament says tech firms need to step up to the plate, and protect social media users from violent and inappropriate content.
Politics
Nigel Farage will ‘go to war’ with union after teachers were told to ‘educate pupils who vote for racist Reform’ – as he clashes with GB News over its coverage of feud with his own MP
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has pledged the party will ‘go to war against the teachers’ unions’ after the country’s largest education union branded it ‘far-Right and racist’.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14526947/Nigel-Farage-teachers-union-racist-Reform.html
Reform UK will go to war with teaching unions, says Nigel Farage
Outburst comes after anti-racism campaigners disrupt event in South Yorkshire and are escorted out.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/mar/25/reform-uk-war-teaching-unions-nigel-farage
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