neil carmichael: two pairs of where’s the waiting for helping hands £50m cadet round one for RSCs fund gone? Page 13 Page 7 Page 4 SCHOOLSWEEK.CO.UK FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2016 | EDITION 70 WILSHAW Vs CARTER CLASH OF THE KNIGHTS Joint summons for Ofsted chief and schools commissioner MPs to grill pair on how to monitor academy trusts FREDDIE WHITTAKER him trying to steal a march on Ofsted’s objectives. @FCDWHITTAKER Exclusive The committee’s inquiry is focusing on the way multi-academy trusts operate in the “context of Two of education’s most prominent figures, Sir other intermediate structures operating between David Carter and Sir Michael Wilshaw, will appear Whitehall and individual schools”, and will look at side-by-side in front of MPs next week to face a the balance of decision-making at school and chain grilling over multi-academy trusts. level, and how the expansion of the system should The House of Commons education committee be monitored and managed. decided to call the national schools commissioner MPs will also examine the characteristics of P14 and chief inspector to appear together on high-performing trusts, and how their performance SALLY COATES Wednesday, in a move that could see tensions should be assessed. flare between the two men and the organisations The testimony from the two men is expected to they represent. raise questions about the conflicting views of the I have strong For Carter, comments from Wilshaw earlier this two organisations. year that his regional commissioners were “faceless Last March, Schools Week revealed that Jenny feelings agents” of the government will have rubbed salt in Bexon-Smith, the commissioner for East Midlands existing wounds from when he served as RSC for and the Humber, had warned a struggling school for about things the south west. not forcing its teachers to use standardised lesson For Wilshaw, Carter’s eagerness for the regional plans. commissioners to play a bigger role in school Her comments contradicted Ofsted guidance improvement has been taken as the equivalent of that states inspectors Continues on page 3 THE FESTIVAL OF SUMMER 2016 Over 250 speakers now confirmed. @EDUCATIONFEST JUNE 23-24, 2016 SEE PAGE 9 FOR MORE INFO. FESTIVALOFEDUCATION.COM 2 @SCHOOLSWEEK SCHOOLS WEEK FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 2016 EDITION 70 NEWS SCHOOLS WEEK TEAM DfE needs to work out Editor: Laura McInerney impact of bursaries Deputy editor: Cath Murray FREDDIE WHITTAKER Head designer: Nicky Phillips @FCDWHITTAKER look at whether people then actually Designer: Russell Hardman went on to apply, complete the training Almost £1 billion will have been spent on and go into teaching . and how well Sub editor: Jill Craven bursaries for new teachers by next year, but they then did.” Chief reporter: John Dickens their effectiveness has not been properly He said the lack of analysis meant evaluated, warns the National Audit Office. the department had only a “general Senior reporter: Sophie Scott In a bid to fill vacancies, the government understanding” of the impact of Senior reporter: Freddie Whittaker currently offers bursaries of between £3,000 bursaries, and needed to “do a lot more”. children to their schools. and £30,000 to trainees in subjects such as In February, a report from the office on Chris Husbands, former head of the Reporter: Billy Camden physics, maths and languages training new teachers warned that the Institute of Education, said: “It is in Photographer: Ellis O’Brien But Mark Parrett (pictured), audit manager department was not doing enough to train the interests, for all sorts of reasons, of at the government spending watchdog, new teachers. Vacancies increased almost headteachers to be able to say all their Cartoonist: Stan Dupp told the education select committee ten-fold between 2010 and 2014. vacancies are covered and all classes Financials: Helen Neilly on Wednesday that the Department for The department was also criticised for are being taught. Schools are in highly Education had not met his organisation’s failing to hit teacher recruitment targets for competitive local environments.” Victoria Boyle request for better evaluation of how well the four years running, with 14 of 17 secondary He said it was unlikely a local reporting Sales manager: Hannah Smith scheme worked. subjects left with unfilled training places last system could accurately reflect the level of “What we said to the department is that year. vacancies. Sales executive: Wallace Williams you need to be evaluating the various In March, Schools Week revealed that MPs were also told that information on Administration: Frances Ogefere Dell initiatives that have been put in place to maths had the largest drop-out rates among where teachers were being trained, which attract new teachers but also to set these trainee teachers despite offering some of the could help external organisations such as against the relative cost effectiveness of biggest bursaries – up to £25,000 tax-free in Gatsby to match vacancies with trainees, Contributors: Christine Bayliss measures to retain teachers – and that many cases. was being kept under wraps. Andrew Old hasn’t been done,” Parrett told the second Chemistry and modern foreign languages Jenni French, programme manager at evidence session of the committee’s inquiry also had some of the highest drop-out rates, Gatsby, said: “In the first instance it would Kiran Gill into teacher supply. although both also offer some of the largest be helpful to know where people have been Neil Carmichael “On bursaries, the department did some bursaries. doing their teacher training. Although qualitative analysis in 2012-13 and some During this week’s hearing, which the government does collect data on the quantitative analysis in 2013-14, which explored the difficulties in providing locations of teacher training, it doesn’t showed some positive link between regional data on teacher vacancies, it was release that publicly. bursaries and people wanting to apply to accepted some headteachers would not “We could do some work as an external train as teachers. necessarily report all vacancies for fear it organisation matching up vacancies with Managing director: Shane Mann “However, they haven’t extended that to might put parents off sending their that data, it’s just not been released.” And tweet us your thoughts @schoolsweek or with the hashtag #schoolsweek TA standards ‘nothing to do with us’, says Gibb subscribe SOPHIE SCOTT reviewed the For an annual subscription to Schools Week for @SOPH_E_SCOTT document and just £50 visit www.schoolsweek.co.uk and click Exclusive will release it on ‘subscribe’ at the top of the page. Government-commissioned standards for today. www.schoolsweek.co.uk teaching assistants are finally being released The non- or call 020 8123 4778 to subscribe 15 months after they were due, but only on the mandatory condition it is “clear” the report has nothing to standards do with the Department for Education. come with a ADVERTISE WITH US As Schools Week exclusively revealed last caveat that they If you are interested in placing a product or job advert in a future edition please click on the October, the department refused to publish are not to be ‘advertise’ link at the top of the page on school- the standards that describe training and associated with sweek.co.uk or contact: responsibility expectations for teaching the government, E: [email protected] assistants (TAs). despite the T: 020 81234 778 The review was commissioned during the government requesting them to be drawn up. coalition government by David Laws, a Liberal Jon Richards (pictured), head of education Disclaimer Schools Week is owned and published by Lsect Ltd. The views Democrat MP who was then schools minister. at Unison, which represents more than University of East London, and Maria expressed within the publication are those of the authors An expert group made up of schools 150,000 TAs, said: “We have lost two years over Constantinou, a schools-based practitioner. named, and are not necessarily those of Schools Week, Lsect Ltd or any of its employees. While we try to ensure that the professionals submitted a 13-page report last this, mainly due to the internal machinations The 2014 school workforce census shows information we provide is correct, mistakes do occur and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of our material. February. of the DfE. there are 255,100 full-time equivalent TAs, an The design of the printed newspaper and of the website After Laws lost his seat last May and a new “I still cannot understand why they increase of 4.8 per cent on 2013. is copyright of Lsect Ltd and material from the newspaper should not be reproduced without prior permission. If you Conservative government was formed, Nick didn’t publish them. The standards are still Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary, wish to reproduce an article from either the printed paper or the website, both the article’s author and Schools Week must Gibb replaced him as schools minister. Five extremely valuable and show how important said: “School leaders will welcome this be referenced (to not do so, would be an infringement on months later Gibb announced the report TAs are.” publication, which helps to clarify and solidify copyright). Lsect Ltd is not responsible for the content of any external would not be published. In a letter to Richards, Nick Gibb, schools the role of teaching assistants as a profession.” internet sites linked to. Please address any complaints to the editor. We are fully At the time, none of the 12 members of the minister, said: “The department does not wish Reports from two further working groups committed to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of expert group knew of the decision. Many told to publish the standards and, as they do not – those looking at teachers’ professional Practice.