Weekly round-up: Joint strikes and Ofsted legal challenge

Catch up on all your must-read Tes education news and analysis from the past seven days right here:

• Heads and teachers to plan for joint strikes 
  The general secretaries of all four major education unions have revealed they are set to draw up coordinated school leader and teacher strike action plans, as each prepares to ballot members over strike action this term.
   
• Strikes: Unions launch High Court battle over use of cover staff 
  Two teaching unions have joined a coalition of unions taking part in a High Court battle with the government over new laws allowing agency workers to cover for those on strike.
   
• Strikes: More than half of schools at least partly closed
  Most schools across England were fully or partly closed as teachers walked out on strike on Tuesday, according to data from the Department for Education.
   
• NAHT boss: Pay dispute is ‘a battle for the heart and soul of education’ 
  In his speech at the NAHT schools leaders’ union’s annual conference, general secretary Paul Whiteman called on the government to “come back to the table” to negotiate after the rejection of its pay offer.
   
• Ofsted crisis: Heads back call to halt inspector work
  The NAHT school leaders’ union has urged its members not to work as Ofsted inspectors until its pay dispute with the government is resolved following an emotional speech at its conference by the late headteacher Ruth Perry’s sister, who urged them to “hand in their badges”.
   
• Ofsted: Ex-inspector crowdfunds £40K for legal challenge 
  A former Ofsted inspector has become the public face for a group of school leaders who have raised more than £40,000 to mount a High Court challenge to the watchdog’s inspection regime.
   
• Coronation: DfE to spend £350K on wildflower seeds
  The Department for Education will spend more than £350,000 sending 200,000 packets of wildflower seeds to primary schools to help them mark the coronation of King Charles III.
   
• Revealed: Tes Schools Awards 2023 shortlist
  The shortlist for the Tes Schools Awards 2023 has been announced, celebrating the work of school leaders, teachers and school staff across the UK’s schools for the 15th year. Read the list in full here.
   
• Teacher training: NIoT warning over revamped curriculum 
  A key part of the government’s new teacher training curriculum could lead to the “potential overburdening of schools and mentors” and put more pressure on trainees, the National Institute of Teaching has warned.
   
• Rise in teacher trainees taking second jobs
  An increasing number of trainee teachers are being forced to take on part-time jobs alongside their course to make ends meet, with some working late shifts in supermarkets and pubs after a full day in school, Tes has learned.
   
• Schools face longer wait for mental health support
  The government has quietly extended its own deadline for putting 400 specialist mental health support teams into hundreds of schools across England by the end of April.
   
• Labour pledges to plug ‘alarming’ subject teacher gaps
  Labour has told headteachers that, if elected, it will ensure that students are taught by specialist teachers in each subject, after analysis by the party revealed “alarming gaps” in expert teaching.
   
• Why I want all primary schools to have a library 
  Conservative MP Alexander Stafford writes for Tes explaining why he’s calling for funding to be given to primary schools to ensure that all children benefit from the power of reading.