Highlights of the week ending 14 January
Robin Walker, the Schools Minister, was in front of the Education Committee this week covering a wide range of subjects. He made clear that the plan remains that exams will take place in the summer, but confirmed work was underway on contingencies (should the need arise). He also covered the education catch up programme, describing it as a “huge success” and that it is “making a difference".
Walker also announced significant changes to Modern Foreign Languages GCSEs, in a move to encourage greater take up. From 2024 students will study these reformed qualifications, which will place emphasis on the most common vocabulary used in conversations and writing, as well as grammar and pronunciation. Alongside this, Ofqual set out changes to the assessment of these GCSEs.
The Government published National Tutoring Programme data, which shows hundreds of thousands of students starting programmes – either with their school or with partner providers, like Pearson.
Finally, Nadhim Zahawi shared details that provide a snapshot of the numbers of former teachers returning to the classroom. Following a survey of agencies almost 600 have signed up (or expressed an interest) – however this does not give a full picture and this number is likely to be larger. This is in the face of an absence rate of 8.6% of teachers and school leaders (6 Jan figures).