DfE

Despite Ofsted welcoming findings from an independent evaluation of its inspections, heads’ leaders question Sir Martyn Oliver’s claim that the watchdog is ‘on the right track’

Amid fierce criticism of its school inspections, Ofsted has been asked by education secretary Lucy Powell to go ‘back to the drawing board’. John Roberts assesses whether it can find a path out of this crisis

Wide disadvantage gap has not shifted but the proportion of pupils with SEND meeting the phonics standard reaches new high

NEU calls for tests to be scrapped after survey highlights teachers’ fears that they will narrow the curriculum and crank up workload pressure

ASCL’s senior members are meeting this week to decide how to take ‘more assertive action’ over inspection concerns

Andrew O’Neill, who was appointed school policy and delivery adviser under previous education secretary Bridget Phillipson, brings an early end to his secondment

More than 46,000 students took A-level economics this year but the subject has had fewer than 100 new specialist teachers since 2019. The government needs to make this staff shortage a priority, argues academic Sonia Strnad

Complex issues are being ‘laced with political bias’ in classrooms, says shadow education secretary, as the Conservatives set out plan to introduce mandatory training for teachers on impartiality

EEF trial of primary teachers using Oak National Academy’s AI assistant finds newer teachers more likely to create lesson plans with it than experienced colleagues

Shadow education secretary warns against ‘upheaval’ of the school system under Labour’s plan for new technical education courses from age 14

The schools watchdog says it is continuing to develop a ‘renewed inspection framework’ for these providers, which have not been inspected since November 2025

School leaders say employers are withdrawing from offering placements amid uncertainty over the impact of new safeguarding changes