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DfE leaves security planning up to schools despite concern over new guidance

School leaders are “best-placed” to make decisions about their own security policies, the government has said, dismissing concerns its new safety guidance is not prescriptive enough. The Department for Education has today published its final security guidance – almost a year after it launched a consultation on draft advice, warning that “no school can afford to […]

OCR becomes second exam board to breach re-mark rules

OCR will pay schools nearly £15,000 in compensation after becoming the second exam board to breach rules over exam re-marks – but the organisation has avoided a fine. Ofqual, the exams regulator, has revealed that OCR failed to ensure reviews of marking were not conducted by the original marker, or by someone without a personal […]

Revealed: The DfE’s six new character education benchmarks

A new set of “benchmarks” for schools to rate their character education against has been published by the Department for Education. New guidance urges schools to consider “what kind of school are we?” and assess things like their curriculum and the value they place on volunteering. Plans for the benchmarks, similar to those on careers […]

iGCSE top grades easier to achieve, government study finds

Pupils who study international GCSEs are more likely to get top grades, but often underperform in their A-levels, a government study has found. The Department for Education compared the performance at key stage 4 and 5 of pupils studying normal GCSEs and those studying iGCSEs. It found pupils achieved “higher grades than expected” in English […]

Revealed: The subjects that qualify for extra post-16 funding

School sixth forms and colleges will get a share of an additional £55 million in funding next year, but only for pupils taking certain A-levels. The Department for Education has confirmed it is ring-fencing part of the extra £400 million allocated to sixth forms and colleges for 2020-21 to pay for the teaching of “expensive […]

London mayor Sadiq Khan announces £4.7m to ‘cut school exclusions’

A taskforce set up by the mayor of London Sadiq Khan will spend £4.7 million to cut school exclusions in the capital, it has been announced. London’s violence reduction unit will spend the money on a series of programmes to “tackle school exclusions” and support vulnerable young people through education. I have been clear that […]

DfE reverts to backing sole supplier for Teach First

The Department for Education appears to have abandoned any potential split in Teach First’s contract between several suppliers. Last year the government floated the idea of using “new funding mechanisms” for its high-potential initial teacher training programme and delivering the programme through “collaboration between a number of suppliers”. But pre-tender documents for the next round […]

DfE rushes out new ITT framework ahead of election

The Department for Education has unexpectedly published its new framework for initial teacher training, months earlier than planned. Last month, DfE policy adviser Rachel Hayward told the National Association of School Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) annual conference that the ITT framework wouldn’t be published until the spring. ITT providers said this left them with only […]

Pupils with top vocational qualifications earn more, study finds

Pupils with the most prestigious vocational qualifications earn more later in life than those with top A-levels, a new study has found. Analysis by the Department for Education found that pupils who achieved level 3 qualifications in subjects like economics or engineering had higher average earnings six years later than those who got A-levels in […]