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News archive 3: 5-9 October
- 5-9 october In the news this week: the KS1 and KS2 assessment and reporting arrangements for 2016 have been published, Nicky Morgan has suggested schools should be able to move teachers into lower pay ranges, and David Cameron has announced that truancy fines will be deducted from the benefits of parents who don't pay them.
- Education secretary calls for more flexibility in teacher pay (9/10/2015) Nicky Morgan has suggested to the STRB that schools should be able to move teachers down from the upper pay range, and award additional payments to those who are performing well. She also recommends that teachers' pay rises remain capped at 1%.
- Parents of truants must pay fines, or have benefits cut (6/10/2015) Prime minister David Cameron has announced plans to deduct truancy fines from the child benefits of parents who fail to pay them. Currently, two fifths of fines go unpaid as LAs fail to take legal action against parents of persistent absentees.
- State schools prepare pupils better for "new economy" jobs, ucas chief claims (8/10/2015) The chief of Ucas has told private school heads that pupils need to be encouraged to consider more non-traditional subject options for higher education. Currently, a greater proportion of state school pupils go on to study "new economy subjects" such as biotechnology.
- "Urgent" action needed to ensure pupil premium effectiveness, say MPs The public accounts committee has released a report calling for action to ensure that pupil premium funding is allocated fairly and used effectively. Though MPs acknowledge the positive effect the funding has had, they claim a better understanding is needed of why some poorer pupils do better than others.