Need to know: Teacher strike, the pay deal, cutting workload

The announcement this week of a national teacher strike not only revealed the strength of feeling in the profession over this year’s pay offers, but it also potentially set the stage for a winter of conflict in education across the UK.

The move by Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, came at a time when the major teaching unions in England are balloting members on strike action over pay and funding, and school leaders’ unions are also threatening action.

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

News

• Teacher strike announced
  The biggest teachers’ union in Scotland has announced a strike later this month after members voted overwhelming in favour. It will be the first day of national strike action over pay in the country for almost 40 years.
   
• Heads vote in ‘consultative’ strike ballot
  The Association of School and College Leaders is planning a “consultative ballot” on industrial action over pay and funding in what the union’s general secretary has called an “unprecedented moment”.
   
• Open schools at weekends, DfE urged 
  All schools should be opened outside of teaching hours to provide safe spaces for vulnerable children, says former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield.
   
• DfE cost-cutters find 20 per cent more savings in schools 
  Government cost-cutters have identified more potential savings in schools than they did last year, despite the fact that schools are in the grip of a funding crisis.
   
• Sats: Schools to close on extra bank holiday
  Schools should not open on the extra bank holiday in May next year, the Department for Education has said, even though this date falls at the start of Sats week.
   
• New DfE ministers: who is doing what?
  The Department for Education this week confirmed the specific roles that the newly appointed ministers will be performing under new education secretary Gillian Keegan. John Roberts looks at what the appointments could mean for schools.
   
• Nine in 10 schools to suffer real-terms funding cut next year
  Nearly all schools will see a real-terms drop in pupil funding from next September, analysis shows.

Features

• Teacher pay rises: everything you need to know
  With unions balloting their members on strikes over pay, Tes looks at what the government’s salary offer means for your pay packet.
   
• Five ways to cut your teacher workload
  Teachers can find themselves drowning under a heavy workload at this time of year - but Bhamika Bhudia has five tips to help ease the pressure.
   
• Adaptive teaching: why it’s the way forward
  The adaptive teaching approach could be the best way to improve outcomes for all children and strengthen inclusivity across our schools, writes SEND specialist Margaret Mulholland.
   
• How one trust gave out 35,000 iPads to its pupils
  The CEO of Oasis Community Learning, which has handed out an iPad to every pupil across its 52 schools, explains the reasons behind the decision and how the trust overcame the logistical challenges.
   
• Why explicit instruction matters, according to neuroscience
  Neuroscientists Uta and Chris Frith reveal how social cognition - the study of how humans relate to each other - shows the power of explicit instruction in the classroom.