News

To date, face masks have only been compulsory in the communal areas of secondary schools. But responses from more than 7,000 teachers to a Tes survey show than most of them would like masks worn by all in the classroom.

The survey also points to the reasons behind this caution - finding that 44 per cent of teachers are worried about their Covid safety when in school, with another 14 per cent “frightened”.

Most teachers, and school staff, told the Tes survey that they would also like to see attendance rotas introduced when all pupils do come back into school. Ministers have recently said they think rotas would be “difficult” for schools to operate.

Scientists appear split over when schools should fully reopen. One expert claimed this week that it is “nowhere near safe” to start opening up schools to more pupils yet. 

But others said you could already safely open schools up in two areas of the country. Meanwhile, a “traffic light” school opening system, based on local Covid infection rates, is being proposed by the Independent SAGE group of scientists.

We also reported on the ways that remote learning is changing English teaching - with both extended texts and extended writing proving to be problems. And we revealed how an academy chain is using YouTube to help it expand during the pandemic.

Features

It’s a teaching question for these strange times: should we ask students to keep their cameras on during live lessons? The debate is complex, bringing in issues of engagement, safeguarding and even home decor - Adam Riches walks us through it.   

The term metacognition may sound newfangled and complicated, but it’s actually the opposite, writes Nathan Burns, as he tackles five common myths about this longstanding and hugely effective approach to learning.

New research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that young people could be £40,000 worse off over their lifetimes as a result of the learning lost through lockdown. But, writes Dan Worth, the reality may not be that simple.

Teachers are used to moving about during the working day, clocking up some serious step counts around classrooms and corridors, so the sudden switch to desk-based life has been a jolt. Teacher and yoga expert Sarah Power offers seven basic chair yoga moves to help teachers beat the aches of remote teaching

Research shows that lockdown has worsened the stammers of some young people. But there is a lot we can do to help speech difficulties remotely, says Sendco Liz Hawker, from using digital breakout rooms to doing a bit of drama

Lesson observations have come under heavy fire in recent years as an inaccurate way of measuring teacher performance, yet they persist in most schools in various guises. Grainne Hallahan asks whether the time has come to finally rule out teacher observations completely (article free for subscribers).

Feminism doesn’t always get the attention it deserves - but it’s still as important as ever to the lives of our young people, writes Helen Mars. She explains how to embed feminist principles in every area of school life, from the classroom to the staffroom (article free for subscribers).