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• Government Trialling a £1k Sign-on Bonus to Encourage Early Years Worker Recruitment

  Sunday, February 4, 2024

  The Government want to deliver expanded  30 hours free childcare scheme for working parents from when their child is 9 months old until they start school, saving parents £6,500 a year. Over 100,000 parents of 2 year olds have registered their children on the system, benefiting from the first stage of the roll out that entitles them to 15 hours free childcare from April 2024.
  
  An extra £200 million has been invested in funding the sector since September 2023 and also promised over £400 million for 2024-25 to uplift hourly rates for the early year entitlements.

• Race Equality Week: 5-11 February 2024

  Saturday, February 3, 2024

  Race Equality Week is an annual UK-wide movement uniting organisations and individuals to address the barriers to workplace race equality.

• Headline EBacc Attainment Measure - Update

  Friday, February 2, 2024

  The DfE pauses plans to make changes to the headline EBacc attainment measure. In September 2023, the DfE announced to “move to a headline EBacc attainment measure that incentivises full EBacc”, with its approach to be confirmed early this year. However, in an update to its ‘Secondary accountability measures’ guidance that it is “pausing this work and the current EBacc Average Point Score will remain the headline EBacc attainment measure”.

• NFER Publishes Diversity Report

  Thursday, February 1, 2024

  The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) report on diversity identifies the barriers and promising approaches to support recruitment, retention and progression of people of colour within the teaching workforce.
  
  Findings include that people of colour are less likely to receive and accept an offer for ITT, teacher retention is lower for people of colour, and that in England there are currently no government targets, programmes or funding to improve ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce. Teachers of colour report being socially excluded, stereotyped, rejected for promotions or professional development, and experience overt racism.

• New Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework Updates

  Wednesday, January 31, 2024

  The DfE’s new Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which combines and updates the ITT core content framework and the ECF, comes into effect September 2025. Included are new and updated content on teachers supporting SEND pupils, early cognitive development and mental health and strategies to reduce mentor workload.

• RSHE Curriculum to Include Content on Smoking and Vaping

  Tuesday, January 30, 2024

  The DfE is looking at strengthening content in the RSHE curriculum around smoking and vaping, and will launch a public consultation on a revised version as soon as possible, following yesterday's government announcement to ban disposable vapes and crackdown on underage sales. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, stated "As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends at the moment is the rise in vaping among children, and so we must act before it becomes endemic.”

• Disposable Vape Ban and What it Means for Young People

  Monday, January 29, 2024

  The number of children vaping has tripled in the past 3 years and there is strong evidence to suggest that cheap and easy-to-use disposable vapes are partly to blame. Research shows that in 2023, around 69% of vapers aged 11-17 in Britain were using disposable vapes; in 2021 only 7.7% were using them. This is a worrying trend given the unknown long-term health impacts and the addictive nature of the nicotine in vapes.

• DfE’s Climate Change Strategy: Report on Progress

  Friday, January 26, 2024

  The DfE published an independent assessment of the progress made on its ‘Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy’. The report reflects the education system's sustainability and climate change and makes recommendations for the future. Recommendations include: making it a requirement to report on carbon management and other elements of sustainability education, and sustainability action in relevant regulatory frameworks.

• School Monitoring Handbook Update

  Thursday, January 25, 2024

  Following the updates Ofsted made to its inspection handbooks, changes have been made to its ‘School monitoring handbook’. Many changes reflect updates made to the inspection handbook and some changes include clarification on the definition for requiring special measures, and timing of early monitoring inspections. Also clarified are serious weaknesses monitoring inspections and the wording of the written report.

• Support for Families With Children With SEND

  Wednesday, January 24, 2024

  The DfE released a press statement that families in England who have children with SEND will soon receive further support with more short breaks, supported internship opportunities and better support for those with Down syndrome.