Teacher recruitment and retention remains most pressing concern for education providers in 2024
Teacher recruitment is the highest priority for education providers in 2024, with more than half (56%) of senior education professionals ranking attraction and retention of staff as the biggest problem facing their organisation today and 59% saying they expect it to remain a priority throughout the year. Meanwhile, a third (31%) of teachers and education professionals ranked tackling inefficiencies as the second biggest current challenge for their organisation and 43% said boosting efficiency and increasing productivity was a priority for the coming year. The findings are reported in the Advanced Education Trends Report 2023/24, which compiled the findings from a survey of more than 6,600 senior decision makers from a variety of sectors in the UK including 267 teaching or education professionals. Mark Dewell, Senior Vice President, Education, Government and Social Housing from Advanced, said: “The education sector faces significant challenges in teacher recruitment and retention. “The DfE’s own data released in June 2023 shows that almost 40,000 teachers left the profession this year for reasons other than retirement – the highest ever number of resignations since records began in 2010. It’s not at all surprising, therefore, to find that staffing is the absolute highest priority for education leaders this year. “The battle to deliver quality education in the face of a staffing crisis and real-term budget cuts is having a serious impact on the sector’s ability to deliver quality results. Some organisations have made the decision to reduce staff numbers to cope with underfunding, which is having a negative impact on the curriculum they can deliver and does little to allay concerns over retention of top talent,” Dewell continued. The Advanced Education Trends Report 2023/24 also examines the uptake of new technology in the education sector. Around one in 10 (12%) of education providers are using AI tools in learning – which is less than half of the general rate of uptake of AI tools across businesses in the UK. The main reason for lack of AI adoption is lack of budget – 40% of education leaders said that financial pressures were the reason that they had not invested in new technology. A third (30%) reported that they hadn’t yet adopted AI at work due to concerns over the risks it may present to their organisation, while 20% said it was down to a lack of knowledge or guidance on best practice for implementation of AI. “Technology can be a secret weapon to help educators tackle their concerns around talent attraction, as well as supporting a host of other issues in their organisations, yet there is seldom sufficient budget to allow education providers to invest in modern tech systems,” continued Dewell. “Nearly half (46%) of education professionals are juggling a combination of on-premise and cloud-based infrastructure. Trying to integrate disparate systems can make things very inefficient, slowing people down with multiple sign-ins and managing data held in different formats. “With organisations having to achieve more with less, implementing the most appropriate technology is a crucial step that should not be compromised on. It can help drive efficiencies and more effective processes that benefit teaching staff, administrative teams, and of course learners themselves.” The full report is available at https://www.oneadvanced.com/trends-report/sector-trends-reports-2024/ Read more QA Education news
Safeguarding Education: Navigating Regulations for Online Safety in Schools
In the UK, there are several regulations and guidelines that specifically impact the educational sector in relation to online safety. In this article, we delve into the major regulations impacting schools and colleges across the UK, with a focus on internet use. Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) A cornerstone in the sphere of safeguarding education is the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance, updated and enforced since September 2023. This guidance, produced by the Department of Education, sets out the legal duties and responsibilities of schools and colleges concerning the welfare of children and young people. A key facet of KCSIE is its comprehensive coverage of online safety, categorizing web-related risks into four areas [p. 35-36]: content, contact, conduct, and commerce. These 4Cs cover the potential dangers students face in the online sphere, from exposure to inappropriate content, such as pornography and extremist propaganda, to the risks associated with peer pressure and criminal exploitation. General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act (DPA) The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) remains in domestic law as the UK GDPR. Operating in tandem with the Data Protection Act (DPA), these regulations apply to all organizations, including schools and colleges, handling personal data. Ensuring the security of personal data, the regulations mandate appropriate technical and organizational measures to guard against unauthorized processing, loss, destruction, or damage. The UK GDPR and the DPA do not specifically list the technical security measures you must use. Instead, it asks for a level of security that makes sense for the potential risks involved in how you handle data. Compliance with these regulations necessitates a thoughtful approach to data security. While the UK GDPR and the DPA do not prescribe specific technical security measures, they demand a level of security commensurate with the potential risks. Educational institutions must consider the profound consequences that poor data security can have, ranging from identity theft to financial loss and fraudulent activity. Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 Additionally, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty (p.9) on schools to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” This includes online radicalization and the promotion of extremist ideologies. Schools are expected to pay particular attention to online activities and to provide internet safety education to students. Technological Solutions for Compliance To comply with the regulations listed above educational organizations have to find and apply the right technological solutions. In this case, cloud web filtering can become the first line of protection. This type of solution helps organizations restrict access to potentially dangerous, malicious resources that can somehow compromise the data they store and prevent children from encountering any kind of inappropriate, harmful, or explicit content. Besides, it does not require hardware infrastructure, which makes the solution preferable. To ensure the protection of personal information and comply with the regulations listed above, educational organizations must adopt suitable technological solutions. Cloud web filtering emerges as a first line of defense since it enables institutions to restrict access to potentially harmful and malicious resources (which can compromise the data organizations store) and prevents children from encountering any kind of inappropriate content with no need for extensive hardware infrastructure. Cloud web filtering, exemplified by solutions like SafeDNS, acts as a shield, safeguarding data integrity and preventing exposure to inappropriate content. When selecting a web filtering solution, institutions should carefully assess key features. The chosen product must align with relevant rules and regulations, offer a comprehensive range of categories for blocking, and ensure regular updates to the web filtering database. Additionally, the effectiveness of customer support and user reviews should be considered in your decision-making process. A focus on education is essential in keeping children safe online, ensuring that electronic communication remains secure, and providing a foundation for responsible online activities and social media engagement. Stay informed and advocate for robust internet safety measures to protect students and promote a secure learning environment. By Tom Hall – SafeDNS Expert
Researchers find widespread support for Ofsted report card plan
Parents and teachers want Ofsted inspections and the school accountability system to be more transparent, well-rounded, and less high-stakes, a major new report into public support for education reform has found. And they have agreed that it is time to scrap the one word judgements that can taint schools for years. Published in the same week that Ofsted’s critical report of Caversham Primary School was named as a factor in the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, research commissioned by the Laidlaw Foundation has found that mums, dads and carers are overwhelmingly in favour of a report card-style Ofsted accountability model, along the lines of Labour’s proposed reforms. Only 6 per cent of those polled said they didn’t like the idea of doing away with the current “one-word” judgement system. As well as conducting polling, the report’s authors, Public First, also spoke to focus groups of teachers and educationalists to explore the on-the-ground reality of meaningful reform to the education system. The parental desire for more balanced accountability is likely to be a reflection of an appetite for a broader curriculum offer. While parents want schools to maintain a focus on academic outcomes, they are also very keen to see expanded extra-curricular activities and the teaching of “life skills”, such as healthy eating and digital and financial literacy. Parents are almost twice as likely (57%) to name preparing children for adult life as an essential task for schools compared to preparation for further academic study (32%). Some 54% of parents would prefer for their child to go to a school prioritising extra-curricular activities and life skills, versus 37% that prefer that their child goes than to a school prioritising academic achievement and exams. As a result, the report’s authors have called an extended school day, as well as an injection of funding into the system to pay for it and staff to run it. Importantly, while academy trusts and schools would be held accountable for this extended provision, it would need to be designed in such a way that it would not increase stress or workload for heads and teachers, possibly by bringing in civic groups to run the sessions. The report had 10 key findings: The report also included nine recommendations for reform based on the views of parents, teachers and educationists. Susanna Kempe, chief executive of the Laidlaw Foundation, said: “A third of children do not pass their English and maths GCSE at age 16; for children who have received Free School Meals at some point in the last six years, this figure rises to more than half.[1] At the same time, employers complain that new recruits lack core work skills, there is a dramatic rise in mental health issues amongst the young, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and senior leaders find the stress of Ofsted inspections beyond intolerable, with devastating consequences. The current system of accountability is not working. We can and must do better. Parents, carers and the teaching community know what matters. If we start to trust that, and measure that, education can be the extraordinary force for good it ought to be.” Ed Dorrell, partner at Public First, said: “The ultimate reward for getting this right could be the creation of a new generation of happy and healthy young people. Often acting through successful multi-academy trusts, primaries and secondaries could once again become community and civic institutions – institutions that are capable, ultimately, of playing a role in helping to rebuild our fractured society and local communities. “This research suggests that there is huge appetite both within and outside the education system for something akin to this vision, but only if the reforms needed to make it happen are conceived of, funded and delivered well.” Read more QA Education news
Education Committee to probe why so many teachers are quitting
The Education Committee will question experts from think tanks to understand how turnover in the teaching workforce compares with other professions in England and with education sectors in other countries. The cross-party Committee begins its investigation tomorrow in an attempt to help the DfE develop strategies for retaining teachers. At the Conservative Party conference Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a number of policies and financial incentives designed to encourage new entrants to teaching and retain current staff. Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the NEU, said they were unlikely to work, commenting there was ‘no magic wand’ to create the numbers needed to fulfil sufficient needs. Mr Kebede commented: “The recruitment and retention crisis is caused in the main by excessive workload and below inflation pay. This is a root and branch problem not solved by bursaries, ‘golden hellos’ and other Whitehall gimmicks.” The Education Committee will hear that the teaching profession is seeing increasing levels of churn. 9.7% of teachers left the workforce in 2021/22; 91% of that number left to pursue a different career. DfE research from 2021 found that 24% of teachers left the profession within three years of qualifying. In a 2018 OECD study, England was shown to have had a higher proportion of teachers who said they wanted to leave the profession compared to an average across the 38 member states. MPs will question witnesses on how the Government should develop an effective workforce plan, and whether best practice or strategies could be learned from other public services such as the NHS. There will be questions on how the career development, pay and workloads of teachers in England broadly compare with other sectors to see what lessons could be applied to the education sector. The cross-party Committee will also be interested to hear about the effectiveness of recent interventions from the Department for Education such as the School Workload Reduction Toolkit and the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter, which promoted flexible working and access to mental health and wellbeing resources. Evidence already heard by the Committee has suggested that among contributors to workloads are providing pastoral care for pupils, preparing for Ofsted inspections, data collection and marking. MPs have also heard growing concern about non-specialist teachers filling in for lessons in subjects such as physics and maths due to staff shortages across the country. Evidence session Teacher recruitment, training and retention Tuesday 14 November, 10:00, Committee Room 15 Watch live on parliamentlive.tv Witnesses from 10:00: From 10:45: Read more QA Education News
Managing school behaviour – the power of positive parental engagement
Engaged parents can help schools deliver positive behaviour strategies says Paul Featherstone, former primary school teacher and product manager at SIMS from ParentPay Group. How often are teachers diverted away from teaching to encourage a group of pupils to stop chatting and focus on their learning or take quick action to prevent a playground altercation from spilling over into a lesson? According to the DfE’s 2023 National Behaviour Survey, 62% of school leaders and teachers reported that misbehaviour interrupted teaching in at least some lessons and two thirds of pupils had experienced lessons disrupted by poor behaviour. However, families can be powerful allies for tackling issues – parents were described as supportive of their school’s behaviour rules by almost 80% of school leaders. Engagement with parents can help nip behavioural issues in the bud, whether a school wants to address bullying, low-level classroom disruption or persistent absence. So, how can schools build stronger home-school connections and supercharge their behaviour management strategies? Spotting the signs If a child is frequently involved in playground frictions or suddenly starts regularly shouting at their peers or teachers, interrupting lesson time, chances are there is a lot more behind their behaviour than first meets the eye. Small changes in a pupil’s behaviour can be hard for a teacher to spot in a busy classroom. There could be issues beyond the school gates that might shine a light on why they are behaving in a certain way too, that the school may not be aware of. Nurturing strong partnerships with parents is critical to uncover issues that can impact on pupils’ behaviour and learning progress. They could be upset about a tragic event in the community or anxious about a sick relative and not sleeping at night. Open and honest communication with parents allows the school and family to work together to put additional support in place where it’s needed. A referral to the school counsellor might be all that’s needed to help the child process what their dealing with and find healthy coping strategies to manage their behaviour and get back on track with their learning. The way schools communicate with parents is key to creating this home-school partnership. Positive communication Constant letters about their child’s disruptive conduct in class can switch parents off too. Schools that take a more positive approach to communications about behaviour can get parents on side and this is a much more effective way to tackle problems. Imagine a parent’s delight at receiving a text message from school to inform them that their child has just got star of the week or received a top story-teller award. This can brighten their day and allows them to mark their child’s achievement with a treat or reward. Injecting some positivity into parental communications is more likely to encourage families to reinforce the school’s expectations of pupil behaviour. It will also make it easier to have difficult conversations if needed as the parents are already more engaged. The method of communication matters too. Research has shown that parents are more likely to read a short text message rather than an email or a letter. And a generic email about the school’s behaviour policy won’t hit the mark as effectively as a communication that is personalised and addresses a situation that needs to be addressed. Recognise and reward the positive There is often great emphasis placed on recording details of the negative behaviour that goes on in school to help flag where investment is needed to prevent it. This approach has its place, but there can be many advantages to recording positive behaviour and achievement too. If pupils only receive attention from the headteacher for poor behaviour, it can result in anger, disengagement and may even have a negative impact on a child’s self-esteem. But what if the senior leadership team is automatically alerted when a quiet child has made a positive contribution to a class debate, or a pupil has got a great score in the latest history quiz? They could then spot the child in the corridor and congratulate them for their achievement. The vast majority of schools already have schemes in place to acknowledge pupils’ achievements and encourage positive conduct on a termly or weekly basis. Being able to recognise and reward positive behaviour and achievement in real time in this way will reduce behavioural issues and help to reinforce the school’s values and ethos. Let tech take the strain Technology can make it easier for schools to engage parents and take a positive approach to behaviour management. Automated messaging tools enable a personalised text message to be sent out to notify a child’s family that they have just received 10 positive achievement points. Automatic alerts can be set up so that notifications arrive directly to staff members’ mobile device when certain criteria are reached too. Teachers cannot tackle poor behaviour in isolation. With firm foundations for parental engagement and a positive approach to behaviour management, schools can form the bedrock for happier and more productive learning. To read more QA Education blogs click here
GCSEPod offers pupils access to over 500 hours of free content during NEU strikes
One of the UK’s leading education software providers, GCSEPod, will offer 525 hours of free content to students on 1 February, and all future strike days, to support teachers and help ensure learning is uninterrupted while members of the NEU union go on strike. The content being made available has been hand-picked to align with the knowledge and confidence gaps highlighted in a recent survey of 80,000 GCSE students answering over 1 million assessment questions. To view all the content available visit: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/education/resources/free-curriculum-content/ Described as the ‘Netflix’ of education, GCSEPod is used by 1,659 schools across the UK, both in the classroom and to assist with at-home learning and revision. The free content will be available to all schools and learners, regardless of whether they currently use GCSEPod. With many schools expected to close to the majority of students on the planned strike days, GCSEPod hopes to minimise the pressure on teachers and ensure that learning can continue. Original, English Language, GCSE style exam papers will also be made available to English and Welsh exam boards. These can be easily downloaded and printed off for pupils without access to technology on strike days. Emma Slater, Head of Education at GCSEPod, said: “We appreciate that the decision to strike is by no means an easy one for teachers and understand that the last thing they want to see is pupils falling behind at a crucial point in the academic year. By offering free access to content that aligns with the knowledge and confidence gaps including video content from across the core and options subjects, we believe that pupils and teachers at all schools taking advantage of the offer will benefit. “Studying Shakespeare, revising the topic of energy, stretching yourself with statistics or geographical skills. With over 100 videos being made available online across all areas of the curriculum teachers and SLT can rest assured that we have their learners covered over the coming month.” Rosie Tucker, a science teacher based in Devon, said: “The situation for teachers is becoming almost untenable and forcing many, like myself, to consider leaving the profession altogether. While we’ve had a small pay rise, this hasn’t come from extra government funding, it’s come from the schools themselves – things urgently need to change. “While we are not required to set work on the days of the strikes, many of us will be working extra hours over the next few days to ensure that pupils have work to complete and that learning can continue from home. By offering GCSEPod to students we are confident that pupils will access engaging and useful content that they are familiar with. At the end of the day, no one wants to see pupils losing out.” Covering 30 GCSE/ IGCSE subjects, users of the GCSEPod learning and revision tools are proven to achieve one grade higher, on average, than non-users. The GCSEPod content and assessments are accessible both in the classroom and at home, providing learners more flexibility and freedom when it comes to managing their progress and revision. To find out more visit: GCSEPod curriculum content and assessment
What teachers need to know about ADHD
Dr Mark Kennedy is a Senior Teaching Fellow at The Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King’s College London. He is also Lead Educator on the Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice course on the FutureLearn Platform. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is regarded as a “neurodevelopmental disorder”; which puts it in the same category as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It’s the most common neurodevelopmental disorder, affecting around 4-5% of children. Despite this, teachers frequently say that they lack specific knowledge about ADHD and what strategies can be used to help children affected by ADHD. When you ask people what ADHD is, they describe a child with too much energy. In reality, there’s a lot more to it than hyperactivity. In fact, there are three “presentations”; Hyperactive-Impulsive, Inattentive and Combined Type. The most common form in the general population is actually inattentive, not hyperactive-impulsive, which comes as a surprise to some people. Teachers need to be aware of ADHD for a number of reasons. Children with ADHD often struggle academically. As well as being a concern for parents and teachers in itself, ADHD and associated difficulties in school can also begin to impact the child’s self esteem. Beyond this, it has been linked to poorer outcomes in adulthood, such as unemployment and difficulties in relationships. Importantly, research has shown that teachers simply being aware of what the disorder is, can actually be beneficial. I think that’s a really positive message, especially given the immense pressure teachers are under to accommodate the broad range of issues children in their class may be facing. Free-to-join online ADHD course Motivated by a desire to increase awareness, King’s College London have partnered with FutureLearn to create the free-to-join, online course: Understanding ADHD: Current Research and Practice, which launched in May. The course is an accessible and time-efficient resource for anyone looking to learn a bit more about the disorder. Being ADHD aware also matters because there’s reason to believe that girls with ADHD are being missed. When you look at population-based studies, for every one girl with ADHD, there are two boys. But when you look at clinical referrals, the ratio is double that (1 girl: 4 boys). In our course, we speak with a mother of a daughter with ADHD. She describes her daughter’s report card, which contained descriptions of ADHD behaviours, but no-one had considered that she may have ADHD. Much like Autism Spectrum Disorder, there’s a huge amount of evidence to suggest that the brains of children with ADHD are hardwired differently, compared to those without it. That matters because it means that children with ADHD are less able to regulate their behaviour, again like those with ASD. Understanding that – and the increased empathy that this understanding brings – along with helping children to understand this, has again been shown to help. As well as being aware of the disorder, there are low-cost, practical things teachers can do to help. For instance, sitting a child with ADHD close to the teacher has been shown to help; it’s harder to get distracted and makes it easier to pick up on the teacher’s cues. More practical tips, strategies and evidence based advice is discussed in the Understanding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder course on the FutureLearn platform.
Keeping the love for history alive
Benedict Freeburn, history teacher at St Mary Magdalene CE School, explains the positive impact great CPD can have on teachers’ passion for their subject. After giving explanations of how William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings to a multitude of classes, does your passion for teaching shine as brightly as it did the day you first walked into the classroom? The best teachers are highly skilled at ensuring true love for their subject endures, regardless of how many years they have been teaching it. But schools have an important part to play in nurturing this. History beyond the classroom School trips are a great way to spark students’ imaginations and immerse them in the subjects they are learning. Our school is ideally located for this and as a history teacher, I’ve seen the positive impact of taking students on half-termly trips to exciting locations such as the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace. Giving students the chance to chat about the famous characters from history inside the rooms they inhabited, or see the actual graffiti created by those imprisoned in the Tower for themselves, really helps to bring history to life. But spending time outside of the classroom in these places can be hugely beneficial for teachers too, as I discovered recently when my colleagues and I attended a CPD event at the Tower of London. Always learning Having visited the Tower with our students at least eight times a year as part of the history curriculum, we were amazed at how much a CPD-focussed event enabled us to learn about the subject we love and the different ways of teaching it. One highlight of the event, which was run by Historic Royal Palaces, was being able to chat to a current GCSE examiner about the new numerical grading system. As a relatively new school, St Mary Magdalene is about to start teaching GCSEs for the very first time, so it was great to be able to ask questions and get a clearer understanding of what examiners look for in a grade 9 answer, and how this differs from the previous A* grade. Taking a tour from a teacher’s perspective, rather than that of a student, helped to underline how our trips to the Tower can support teaching at Key Stage 3, as well as our GCSE units. We returned to school invigorated with new lesson ideas and a deeper understanding of the site’s history – it is quite amazing how many questions you have when you’re not monitoring thirty students. The experience has changed our approach to teaching Key Stage 3 history. The Tower now plays a central role in developing students’ enquiry skills, featuring heavily in our Normans and Tudor schemes of work. The CPD event has also provided a strong introduction to the Elizabethans for Key Stage 4 too. Inspiring students School trips are designed to an experience that motivates students to make good progress back in school. CPD days away from the classroom are equally important for allowing teachers to delve deeper into their subjects and explore the most effective ways of teaching them. With over 70% of students at St Mary Magdalene studying history GCSE, we believe that the passion our teachers have for history is shared by our students. For more information, visit CPD for schools.
Three tips to enhance maths in your school
Alexandra Riley is author of the Power of Maths report and Senior Publisher in the Primary Maths team at Pearson. She leads the team behind Power Maths, a whole-class mastery programme developed in partnership with White Rose Maths. Here, she highlights how schools can not only boost results but improve perceptions about how maths is used in everyday life… Maths can unlock doors by giving children and young people the tools needed to access new learning or pursue a career that increases their future earning power. And yet, only 36% of males and 23% of females at Key Stage Four feel that mathematics is most likely to lead to a job in the future [1]. Meanwhile, myths about mathematics continue to perpetuate, from the belief that some people just can’t do maths to the perception that this isn’t a creative subject. Following the release of Pearson’s Power of Maths report, shaped by leading thinkers across education and business, here are some ways you can improve both the perceptions and teaching of mathematics in your school: 1. Bust myths Maths is relevant and important in our lives beyond the school gates. In your school, talk openly about the utility and creativity of maths. Maths is not about getting “the right answer”. Instead, show pupils that debate, discovery and creativity are an integral part of maths, rather than characteristics confined to humanities, and this makes maths fascinating and exciting. You can do this in practice, by regularly integrating problems with more than one solution into maths lessons, and debating the strategies used and solutions. Pupils will become engaged in their learning by thinking creatively and participating in rich mathematical discussion. 2. Build resilience If an adult is under-confident in maths, they can unknowingly pass on their anxieties to children and young people, leading to many arriving in their lessons ready to hate it. Building mathematical confidence among parents can be key to tackling maths anxiety in your school. At a primary level, teachers can give parents simple suggestions for engaging their child in learning at home, whether it is working on a puzzle book at bedtime, creating a maths picture storybook or talking about shape while they play together. You can run workshops to communicate this or draw on Pearson’s Handy Parent Factsheet, which explains the importance of a growth mindset and how parents can encourage their children to be confident mathematicians. 3. Never underestimate the power of professional development Teachers are one of the biggest influencers on our young people yet many maths teachers are not subject specialists (particularly at primary) and feel under-confident in teaching the subject. High-quality resources, such as textbooks and teacher guides, can help teachers to consistently implement what they have learnt in the classroom. You can also encourage teachers to observe, or even film, lessons and reflect on them with a colleague or as a team. This gives an opportunity to reflect on best practice, build subject knowledge and share new ideas. The future of mathematics is ultimately one where people from diverse backgrounds and interests come together to collaborate and drive change. By harnessing a passion for mathematics in schools and classrooms, we can all inspire young people with its power one step at a time. To read the Power of Maths report and its recommendations, please visit: pearsonprimary.co.uk