Thursday
School system ‘failing by design’ to prepare pupils for work, review finds
The national curriculum and exam-based assessment approaches are big factors in many students being ‘effectively set up to fail’, finds government-commissioned review
Maximum temperature limit in schools is essential, DfE told
Warnings from teaching bodies come as England sees record-breaking temperatures this week, prompting concerns about the impact of extreme heat in classrooms
Why students’ writing often feels flat, and how to fix it
Pupils’ writing lacks personality when they are too focused on sentence structures and checklists, writes head of English Emma Snow. Here, she sets out how to address this problem
Girls far more likely to take languages at A level, data shows
FFT Education Datalab analysis also finds that students from poorer backgrounds are less drawn to languages A levels, and identifies large gaps in entries between different ethnic groups
Wednesday
Curriculum reform team sees another high-profile departure
Jenny Oldroyd, director for curriculum at the Department for Education, will move posts next month, prompting one union to describe a series of recent departures as ‘not ideal’
Nord Anglia acquires second school in Malaysia
Mont’Kiara International School, an IB school, will join the British International School of Kuala Lumpur, increasing choice within the same group for families in the capital
Social media inquiry risks shifting blame on to schools, ASCL warns
Schools must not be left with the ‘policing burden’ around social media, says school leaders’ union as it demands that tech companies are held to account
Should schools call time on extra time in exams?
Extra time is the most popular access arrangement to help students sitting their GCSE, AS-level and A-level exams, but is it the most helpful? Ellen Peirson-Hagger weighs up the evidence and whether there are better options
Students lack skills for on-screen assessment, warns exam board boss
In an exclusive interview with Tes, Eduqas CEO Ian Morgan talks about the risks of moving to on-screen assessment, the use of AI to mark exams and the debate over how long exams should be
