Need to know: SEND advisers, NTP bid and phonics

With many schools still closed for the Easter break, education news did not slow. Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi was told to withdraw “disgraceful” academisation statistics, while the government announced 13 £90k-a-day SEND advisers and a new £18 million National Tutoring Programme bid. We also looked at how phonics has become an education culture war.

Catch up on your must-read Tes news and features articles from the past week right here:

News

• DfE launches new £18m catch-up tutoring bid
  The Department for Education has launched an £18 million bid to find up to three providers to support the running of its flagship tutoring programme over the next two years.
   
• How much will your new SEND adviser be earning?
  The government has hired a team of 13 advisers - who have been given £90,000-a-year contracts - in a bid to improve standards in special educational needs and disability (SEND) services for children and young people in local areas where inspections have flagged serious concerns.
   
• Withdraw ‘disgraceful’ academy stats, Zahawi told
  The education secretary should withdraw “flawed” and “disgraceful” statistics used to back the government’s drive towards academisation, teachers’ leaders have warned.
   
• DfE raises new teacher targets to tackle expected leaver ‘rebound’
  The government has raised its new teacher target to more than 32,000 trainees next year because of an anticipated “rebound” in the numbers leaving the profession after the pandemic.
   
• Schools ‘desperate’ over exam invigilator shortage
  Schools are becoming “increasingly desperate” over Covid-related exam invigilator shortages, and are training staff to step in and oversee next month’s assessments, an exam officers’ body has warned. 

Features

• How to help Year 1s who are struggling with school
  As teachers report increased misbehaviour in key stage 1, experts share why this is happening and what teachers can do about it.
   
• Why education still has a diversity problem
  Despite positive advances in the diversity of initial teacher training, Dan Worth and Helen Lock find that unless more efforts are made to retain these teachers at the start of their careers and offer routes to leadership, it will be a wasted opportunity.
   
• Sats 2022: how to gain extra marks on the reading paper
  As schools prepare pupils to sit Sats, two Year 6 teachers share their advice when it comes to the reading paper…
   
• International teaching: the hidden issues you need to know
  In the second article in our series for those considering a career abroad, we look at some of the pitfalls that can exist, so you are fully informed about what to expect before you take the plunge.
   
• Why - and how - teachers need to support Year 7s with basic life skills
  With many Year 7s struggling to read an analogue clock, form relationships and tie their shoelaces, Laura May Rowlands explains how educators can help to plug these gaps.
   
• How phonics became an education culture war
  The use of phonics to teach early reading is one of the best-evidenced areas of education, yet debate persists over which method schools should adopt - and, at times, it can get pretty heated.