Headlines from the world of education and schools work:
- Head of NSPCC says doing less could achieve more: Andrew Flanagan, the chief executive of the children’s charity says it should focus on policy, not take over where state services are lacking
- Truancy laws caught 12,000 parents last year: Nearly 12,000 parents were prosecuted and 25 given prison sentences because of their children’s truancy from school last year, figures show.
- Headteachers vote for strike action over pensions: Thousands of schools likely to close after NAHT members vote to strike for first time in union’s 114-year history over the government’s public sector pension plans.
- Ealing Abbey monks lose control of school following child sex abuse: Lord Carlile, author of a report into sexual abuse at St Benedict’s school in Ealing, says he hopes to set a template for monastic schools by changing the system of governance.
- Tuition fees protest passes off peacefully: Few incidents reported as police appear to outnumber students and activists marching in protest against fee increases.
- Children failed by ‘flawed’ maths lessons, warns examiner: Too many children leave school unable to add, subtract and divide after being put off by “flawed” maths lessons, according to a leading examiner
- How to choose between A-levels and IB: To choose between A-levels and International Baccalaureate, ask whether you are a specialist or an all-rounder.
- Schoolchildren ‘must learn the meaning behind the poppy’: Young people need to make sense for themselves of the significance of what happened in 1914-1918 and what it really means to wear a poppy, says James Priory, Headmaster of Portsmouth Grammar School.
- New teachers ‘struggle to communicate subject knowledge’: Children risk being left with a poor understanding of key subjects because of failures in the way teachers are trained, according to a leading headmistress.
- Heads ‘shun female teachers after childbirth’: Old-fashioned head teachers are shunning experienced women who want to work part time after childbirth in favour of newly qualified staff, the civil servant in charge of teacher training has warned.
