Need to know: Ofsted, exam exemptions and wellbeing

In the week that social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh said girls don’t “tend to fancy” doing physics because of the “hard maths” involved, Tes magazine has covered a wide range of stories from the world of education.

Among other things, we reported on Ofsted’s new five-year strategy and the JCQ announcement that students with long Covid can apply for special consideration exemption from exams, and we looked at how the pandemic and online technology have changed initial teacher training.

Catch up on your must-read Tes news and feature articles from the past week right here:

News

Social mobility tsar: Girls shun physics due to ‘hard maths’
Girls don’t “tend to fancy” doing physics because of the “hard maths” involved, social mobility tsar Katharine Birbalsingh told MPs this week.

Ofsted released their five-year strategic plan
Ofsted plans to increase the proportion of fully graded school inspections it carries out over the next five years to allow for more “professional dialogue and evidence gathering”.

Sats: No ‘special consideration’ for Covid
Schools will not be able to apply for special considerations for pupils whose key stage 2 Sats have been disrupted by Covid, except in the case of a bereavement.

Female teachers ‘significantly less likely’ to become heads
Female teachers are “significantly” less likely to progress to being headteachers than their male counterparts, analysis from the Department for Education suggests.

GCSEs 2022: Long Covid could spark exam exemption, says JCQ
Exclusive: Schools that have students with long Covid who are taking their GCSE and A-level exams this summer will be able to apply for a special consideration exemption if the condition worsens during the exam period, Tes has learned.

Schools forced to cut teacher numbers owing to energy price rises
Schools are having to cut teacher numbers and teaching hours owing to the impact of rising energy bills, research by a headteachers’ union has found.

Most teachers feel their job has hit their wellbeing
More than nine in 10 teachers feel their job has adversely affected their mental health, according to a new survey by the NASUWT teaching union.

Features

The pandemic changed ITT, but is it for the better?
Teacher training institutions adapted to the pandemic and now those changes are not only staying but they could change how the whole system operates, finds Dan Worth.

I helped design pupil-premium funding, but it needs an urgent update
Sam Freedman, one of the architects of the pupil-premium strategy that is central to school funding for disadvantaged pupils, reflects on how the policy was brought to life - and why it needs to take centre stage once again.

Vaping in schools: how concerned should we be?
Anecdotal reports from teachers suggest that underage e-cigarette use is becoming increasingly common. So, how big a problem is vaping in secondary schools and what are the health consequences?

The end of the primary head? A warning from Scotland
Recruitment difficulties and cost pressures are leading Scottish councils to attempt to bring primary and secondary schools together under one headteacher, a move riddled with issues for Scotland and with big lessons for other countries.

Why you need to know if a pupil was born preterm
On average, two to three children in your class will be preterm babies - but do you know how to support them? In this week’s Tes Podagogy, Professor Samantha Johnson explains everything you need to know.

Could ‘golden lessons’ be the key to school improvement?
Building a bank of “gold-standard” lessons based around the principles of the “three Is” is improving student engagement and resilience, say the teachers at one junior school.

Exams 2022: What happens if pupils miss exams with Covid-19?
What happens if a pupil is struck down with Covid during exam season, and misses a key test? We explain everything you need to know.