A report by the Centre for High Performance last week revealed some academy trusts exclude pupils to change the profile of their intake and increase results. But under the government’s alternative provision (AP) reforms, schools will be held responsible for the achievement of pupils they exclude until they find a place at another mainstream school. If a pupil remains in AP, their grades will still be counted in the excluding school’s performance results. Read more
As an outcome of the workload survey conducted by the DfE last year, three reports were issued over Easter. Reducing teacher workload: Planning and teaching resources considers the role of planning in effective teaching and the difference in planning for accountability and helping pupil progress. Reducing teacher workload: marking suggests that marking should be meaningful, manageable and motivating. Reducing teacher workload: data management says that data collection should have a clear purpose and the process should be as efficient as possible.
Too many parents are underestimating their children’s ability to learn language, according to a report. A poll of parents by charity Save the Children revealed nearly half of those polled (47 per cent) had low expectations of their children’s ability to learn, reckoning they would know 100 words by their third birthday – just half the number recommended by the Government. Read more
Almost half of parents are either prepared to risk being fined, or already have been, for taking their children out of school during term time to go on holiday, a new survey has revealed. UK foreign exchange company World First polled 1,000 parents from across the UK to find 45 per cent would pay a £60 fine, while almost four percent admitted they have already paid the sum. Read more
White British pupils are falling behind students from other ethnic backgrounds by the time they reach their GCSEs because of a lack of support from their parents, a report has revealed. The research, by the CentreForum thinktank, suggests white British children are among the top three highest achieving groups at the age of five. But by the age of 16, the group’s performance slips to 13th in a table behind children of Chinese, Indian, Asian and black African heritage. Read more
If the future of England’s schools is to become part of larger academy chains, then the control of that future looks, at present, as though it will be largely white and very male. An Education Guardian analysis of the boards of England’s 10 largest chains, as listed on their websites, shows that three-quarters (81 out of 110) of these academy trustees are men, with some organisations overwhelmingly skewed towards male directors. Read more
The UK is lagging behind other rich countries on reducing inequalities between rich and poor children, a Unicef report says. The lack of progress means ambitions to eradicate child poverty are unlikely to be realised in coming years, it adds. One area of concern was the difference in the UK between wealthier and poorer children’s performance in reading, maths and science. Read more