Weekly round-up: Teacher shortages and DfE strike plans

Catch up on all your must-read Tes news and analysis right here:

• 300% rise in teacher training applicants from overseas
  The number of international candidates applying to initial teacher training providers has rocketed, but experts warn this will have little impact on teacher shortages.
• ‘ITT reforms haven’t been catastrophic - but fears remain’
  Although changes to the teacher training market have not led to the huge loss of capacity that some predicted, the system still faces major challenges, says the National Foundation for Educational Research’s Jack Worth.
• Specialist GCSE science teachers ‘unrealistic’, say ITT providers
  Getting a sufficient supply of specialist science teachers for GCSE students is not “realistic” in the “near future”, a leader in school-based teacher training has warned.
• ITT: DfE maths bursary plan ‘cut teacher numbers’
  A plan to increase the number of maths teachers by staggering the financial incentives for new teachers actually led to a reduction of staff in the system, analysis suggests.
• Revealed: DfE plan to keep most pupils in school during strikes
  The Department for Education has suggested there is a strong case for around three in four pupils to continue receiving education in schools during strikes as part of its plan to limit the impact of teacher industrial action.
• Teacher strike changes: what the DfE has said
  Headteachers are “best placed” to determine the staffing needed to maintain “minimum service levels” in schools during a strike, the DfE said as it launched a consultation on its proposals this week.
• New strike rules will spark High Court battle, heads warn
  The government’s plan to impose minimum service levels on schools during teacher strikes is likely to end up being challenged in the High Court, a headteachers’ leader has warned.
• Academies body takes legal advice over DfE strike plan
  The national body representing multi-academy trusts, the Confederation of School Trusts, has taken legal advice over government plans to impose minimum service levels in schools, warning that it risks putting employers in “direct conflict with staff”.
• EYFS: Around two-thirds of pupils at good level
  The proportion of pupils aged 4 and 5 judged to have reached expected levels of learning at the end of Reception continues to remain low compared with before the pandemic.
• Catherine McKinnell on Labour’s plans for education
  In an exclusive interview - her first as shadow schools minister - Catherine McKinnell explains why Labour can’t “fix everything overnight” and how she wants to return “the joy of teaching” to schools.
• ‘Nearly half’ of support staff looking for better-paid work
  Despite school support staff struggling financially in the cost-of-living crisis, they are still using their own money to buy food and uniforms for pupils, research shows.
• Ruth Perry inquest: Inspectors trained to ‘reduce stress’, says Ofsted director
  Ofsted inspectors are trained to manage inspections in a way that “reduces stress” on schools, a director at the watchdog has told the inquest into the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
• Exclusive: Schools ‘face new financial crisis’
  Schools are set to be hit by increasing costs next year, leaving them facing a new “impending financial crisis”, school business leaders have warned.
• What Labour’s CPD offer to teachers should look like
  With Labour promising to deliver a “teacher training entitlement” if it wins power, Loic Menzies, of Sheffield Institute of Education, suggests three ways to make this CPD as effective as possible.