We round up the latest employment news.
Teachers suffer hundreds of severe injuries at school each year
A Channel 4 news investigation has revealed that, each year, teachers are subjected to serious violence at their workplaces.
Data collected by the Health and Safety Executive indicates that:
- In the year to March 2023, 682 violence-related injuries to school staff took place – double the number seen a decade earlier
- Injuries to primary school teachers has trebled over the last 10 years, with more than half of the reports now coming from primary schools.
Serious injuries included fractures, loss of sight, and even amputations. The injuries were not always inflicted by pupils – some were caused by parents or other adults.
Separate figures obtained by Channel 4 news show that the most common age for a child to be suspended from school for physically assaulting an adult is six in England and Wales.
Government amends Schools Bill to clarify academy pay
The Department for Education (DfE) has published an amendment to its Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill clarifying the provisions relating to pay and conditions will work as follows:
- All state schools must follow the minimum pay bands set out in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD)
- Academies must have “regard” to the rest of the terms and conditions in that document, but they can vary from these “in the best interests of pupils and staff”
- Governing bodies of maintained schools have the right to set the pay and working conditions of school teachers, equivalent to the relevant powers of academies.
This will make the pay set out in the STPCD a floor, and extend freedoms over pay and conditions to local authority-maintained schools.
Consultation on new Ofsted scoring system
Ofsted has unveiled a series of proposals designed to address criticisms of its inspection process and rating system. These include introducing Ofsted ‘report cards’ and replacing single-word judgments with a five-point grading scale.
This new system will replace the overall effectiveness grade, with a detailed evaluation which looks at a range of areas. It will include a new top grade of "exemplary" to highlight exceptional practices.
These proposals are subject to a consultation open until Monday 28 April 2025. The final reforms are likely to be implemented from autumn 2025.
College implements permanent four-day working week
South Essex College Group (SECG) has implemented a four-day teaching week, following the success of an earlier pilot.
Initially, SECG tested the feasibility of a four-day teaching week by challenging curriculum heads to design student-friendly timetables. The pilot was successful and was rolled out across the college in 2022/3.
The college has made further adjustments. To address the challenges of a compressed schedule, SECG reduced the weekly teaching requirement from 24 to 23 hours in the following year. Fridays are now designated for marking, preparation, and administrative tasks, with structured team meetings and professional development sessions in the morning.
Staff feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and the four-day teaching week has become a part of SECG’s employer value proposition.
The initiative has also resulted in a 9% reduction in staff turnover and significant savings on utilities, amounting to approximately £600,000 annually. The compressed timetables have had negligible negative impact on students, who benefit from the flexibility to engage in part-time work and other responsibilities on Fridays.
SECG’s learner outcomes have improved significantly in 2023-24, surpassing national averages. The college also received a Grade 2 rating from Ofsted in October.
Government puts AI at the heart of its plans to modernise the education sector
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced plans to modernise the education sector through, what she is calling, “a digital revolution.”
The initiative includes:
- Providing training and guidance for teachers on using AI, developed by the Chiltern Learning Trust and the Chartered College of Teaching [this will be available by Spring 2025]
- Introducing assistive technology training for new teachers to support students with special educational needs and disabilities, aiming to improve their independence, confidence, and engagement.
The Department for Education will also launch a new service to help schools invest in the right technology.
Leading tech firms like Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon Web Services have committed to making AI tools for education safer by design, with a new framework setting out safety expectations for AI in classrooms.
Too many children aren’t ready to start school
A recent survey conducted by Kindred2 suggests that too many children aren’t ready to start school when they reach four or five.
The survey analysed responses from over 1,000 primary school staff and parents of children starting school in September 2024. It revealed a stark contrast between the perceptions of parents and school staff on what constitutes school readiness.
Impact on classrooms and staff:
- 80% of teachers said that pupils couldn’t sit still and this had a major or moderate impact on the rest of the class
- 66% of staff spent more time supporting children who aren’t ready for school than with the rest of the class
- 43% of teachers are considering leaving their roles due to the increased stress caused by this.
Challenges faced by schools:
- 44% of schools have dedicated “intervention staff” to support children who are not school-ready
- 50% of schools have had to allocate more resources to improve early language skills.
Parental awareness and responsibility:
- 41% of parents hadn't heard about school readiness before their child joined reception
- 48% of parents believe they receive the right information about school readiness, while 79% of school staff think parents are well-informed.
Government relaxes early years qualification rules
In a bid to address the ongoing recruitment crisis in the early years sector, the government has said that it intends to relax the qualifications in early years workers need from September 2025.
The Department for Education (DfE) will introduce a new "experience-based" route for early years staff which will be available to providers rated “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted. This new route will waive the existing rule that requires at least one staff member in each early years age group to hold an approved level 3 qualification.
Relevant providers will be able to treat staff with at least one year’s experience in early years and who meet at least 50% of the criteria for level 3 as having a level 3 qualification. Managers will have to supervise these staff members for about 30 days before deciding whether they can treat someone as having a level 3 qualification.
The government says that this will be a temporary measure. It intends to replace it with a long-term assessment-based route for experienced staff to gain a full and relevant qualification. However, the timeline for this transition remains unclear.
New reforms target rogue higher education operators
The UK government has unveiled a series of stringent reforms aimed at curbing fraudulent activities within the higher education sector. The Department for Education has proposed measures to tighten controls on university franchising arrangements, which have been exploited by rogue operators, costing taxpayers £2 million in 2022/23.
Franchising, which allows universities to subcontract courses to external providers, has seen a significant increase in recent years, with over 130,000 students now studying through these arrangements. However, an investigation by the National Audit Office revealed that more than half of the 341 franchised institutions are unregistered with the Office for Students (OfS), leading to concerns about the quality and value of the courses offered.
Under the new proposals, delivery partners with 300 or more students will be required to register with the OfS to ensure their courses meet rigorous quality standards.
The reforms are part of a broader initiative to enhance the higher education sector’s contribution to the UK economy, which is valued at approximately £265 billion. The government plans to implement these changes from the spring next year, following a consultation period that ends on 4 April 2025.
The OfS will also publish student outcome data for all subcontracted partnerships annually to provide transparency and accountability.
UK and Ukraine launch schools partnership
The UK and Ukraine have launched the UK-Ukraine School Partnerships programme to boost education standards and break down barriers to opportunity. The recently announced initiative aims to foster cross-cultural understanding and enhance English language skills by connecting schools from both countries.
The programme will initially pair 50 schools from the UK with 50 schools from Ukraine for a year-long reading project.
Retraining scheme hasn’t spent the cash available to it
Boris Johnson’s flagship retraining scheme, Free Courses for Jobs, has faced significant underspending, with mayors returning £64 million of the allocated funds in the first three years. Launched in 2020, the scheme aimed to offer fully subsidised level 3 courses to adults with low qualifications or wages, as part of Johnson’s “lifetime skills guarantee.”
Experts attribute the low uptake to the narrow eligibility criteria, the cost-of-living crisis, and the rushed procurement process during the pandemic.
How to lead a successful MAT: insights from new research
A new report titled “A Constant Dance” explores the complexities of leading a values-driven multi-academy trust (MAT). The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Nottingham and examines how trust leaders balance shifting and competing priorities to provide a “whole education” for students and staff.
The research involved case studies of five trusts – Anglian, LiFE, Meridian, Pioneer, and White Woods – ranging in size from four to 30 schools. It focused on four key areas of organisational development:
- Sensemaking and leadership
- Structural integration
- Knowledge mobilisation and boundary spanning
- Navigating agency, autonomy, and prescription.
The report highlights that there's no single best way to lead a trust. It concludes that values-based leadership, which accepts that trusts will never be perfect due to the constantly changing environment, is essential. Trusts should aim to become reliably adaptive, focusing on common values, co-construction as a continuing process, and leadership skilled at articulating shared theories, language, and tools. This approach allows trusts to sustain, engage, and succeed despite the inherent complexities of their organisational structures.
Acas releases new guidance to promote neurodiversity in the workplace
Acas has published new advice to help employers create inclusive workplaces, raise awareness of neurodiversity and comply with their legal obligations.
Acas asked 1,650 line managers about the difficulties they encountered when supporting neurodivergent staff:
- 72% said cited employees not telling them they needed adjustments
- 45% reported a lack of organizational knowledge about neurodiversity
- 39% mentioned difficulties in having conversations about adjustments.
Read more – February 2025
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