TES columnist takes government adviser role

Ministers this week appointed teacher, TES columnist and former nightclub bouncer Tom Bennett, pictured, to draw up plans to help the profession deal with problems of “low-level disruption” in the classroom. Mr Bennett, who writes about his new role on page 21, will lead a new group created by the Department for Education to develop better training for teachers to tackle disruption caused by misbehaviour. One of the main problems, Mr Bennett says, is a lack of support in dealing with poor behaviour. “Many staff could use better training and support to design and run behaviour systems that work across the whole school, not just in the classroom,” he writes.

Take a look at Tom bennett’s top behaviour advice videos at bit.lyTomBennettBehaviour

Students want better PSHE provision, survey finds

More than nine out of 10 pupils believe that personal, social and health education (PSHE) should be mandatory, according to a new survey. The YouGov poll of 630 pupils between the ages of 12 and 15 found that 92 per cent wanted all schools to deliver lessons on topics such as mental health, relationships and finding a job. Some 89 per cent said that teachers should be properly trained to provide these lessons. More than 100 organisations, including Girlguiding UK and the NUS students’ union have called on the government to make PSHE lessons compulsory. Education secretary Nicky Morgan has said that she will respond on 26 June. See bit.lyPSHEgovernment

More than 15% miss out on first-choice secondary

Almost one in six children moving into secondary education in England this year did not get a place at their favoured school, according to new statistics. Figures released by the Department for Education show that 84.2 per cent of applicants were offered a place at their first choice of school in April - down one percentage point from 2014 (bit.lySecondaryChoices). Some 15.8 per cent - about 84,000 children - did not get first-choice offers. The figures show the number of children applying for places in secondary schools rose by 2.3 per cent in 2015 to 533,314; applications to primaries went up by 2 per cent compared with the previous year, to 636,279.

University tutors say students should apply later

The vast majority of university tutors believe the higher education admissions system should be dramatically overhauled to allow pupils to apply after they have received their A-level results, a new survey has found. More than 2,100 university and further education tutors were surveyed by the University and College Union (UCU). Seven out of 10 said that sixth-formers should be allowed to apply for courses after they had received their results. Many respondents also stated that universities were more concerned about bringing in tuition fees than recruiting high-calibre candidates.

Primary pupils’ fitness is a `ticking time bomb’

Primary schools should test children’s levels of physical fitness, just as they test their ability in maths and English, a new report recommends. Not-for-profit health organisation ukactive says the extra monitoring would encourage pupils to become more physically active. The report, titled Generation Inactive, says that recording children’s fitness in primary schools is “rare and at best sporadic”. The charity warned that the nation was facing a “ticking time bomb” of a physical inactivity pandemic, with only half of seven-year-olds meeting the guidelines of carrying out an hour of exercise a day. See bit.lyukactive1