Need to know: Pay deal accepted, teacher strikes and robot marking

The government breathed a sigh of relief this week when school support-staff unions accepted a pay rise offer, but it is still facing the prospect of teachers forming picket lines this winter over their below-inflation salary increases.

Amid a warning that teachers will continue to leave the profession “in droves” without urgent government action, Matilda Martin investigated what kind of industrial action teachers are likely to take - and how school leaders can prepare for disruption.

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

News

• What would teacher strikes look like? 
  With teachers and school leaders voting on whether to take strike action over pay, Matilda Martin looks at what happened when teachers walked out in years gone by - and how things might be different this time around.
   
• “Urgent” action needed to stop teachers leaving, Keegan told 
  Schools desperately need “urgent solutions” to stop teachers leaving “in droves”, the NEU teaching union has warned education secretary Gillian Keegan, after launching its formal strike ballot over pay.
   
• School support staff accept pay rise 
  Unions representing school support staff have accepted a pay offer equating to a 10.5 per cent increase for the lowest-paid workers.
   
• Exclusive: Special schools warn over “critical” support staff cuts 
  Special-school leaders have warned that cuts to “critical” classroom support staff could lead to headteachers not being able to guarantee the safety of pupils and staff.
   
• Academy target at risk as trusts fight for “survival” 
  The government’s ambition for all schools to be part of a multi-academy trust by 2030 is in jeopardy, with funding pressures and recruitment problems forcing MATs to halt their expansion plans and focus on “survival”, say experts.
   
• New DfE drive to improve mental health in schools 
  The government has announced a fresh drive to deliver “a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing”.
   
• Catch-up funding “will go unspent” 
  Catch-up funding allocated to schools will have to be returned to the Treasury unless the National Tutoring Programme rules are changed so schools no longer have to subsidise sessions from their own budgets, minister Nick Gibb has been told.

Features

• Will a machine soon be doing your marking? 
  Artificial intelligence-powered feedback generators promise to cut teachers’ workload - but would staff really be happy to let a machine do their marking? Kate Parker investigates.
   
• Assaults on staff: how can schools reduce the risk? 
  The risk of violence against teachers is, unfortunately, something that all schools need to think carefully about. Here, one education law expert explains what schools can do to protect their staff.
   
• Five ways to help pupils tell the time 
  Many children struggle with learning to tell the time, especially pupils with SEND, so specialist Liz Hawker has some tips.
   
• Three ways to convince primary schools to join MATs 
  The government wants all schools to be part of a multi-academy trust but, so far, the proportion of primaries that have joined a MAT is far smaller than for secondaries. Former national schools commissioner Sir David Carter says these are the arguments to persuade them to join a trust.