Weekly round-up: What will Labour mean for schools?

Catch up on all your must-read Tes news and analysis right here:

• Labour’s education policy: what schools can expect
  The new government has pledged to hire teachers in shortage subjects, replace Ofsted grades and ensure schools are inclusive for pupils with SEND.
   
• The new education secretary: who is Bridget Phillipson?
  With the former shadow education secretary now taking the helm at the Department for Education, Tes looks at her career and views on education.
   
• Labour’s first task? A huge decision on teacher pay
  There’s little time to celebrate for Labour’s education team because they face immediate challenges on teacher pay and school funding, writes Luke Sibieta of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
   
• Twelve questions for the new Labour government on education
  Teacher pay, how to manage multi-academy trusts, tackling the SEND crisis - Tes outlines 12 key issues that the new Labour government needs to get to grips with.
   
• Nick Gibb: Labour can think “afresh” on tough sector challenges
  The former long-serving schools minister reflects on passing the baton for education to a new Labour team of ministers, and the challenges inherent in the ministerial roles.
   
• Keegan among former education ministers to lose in election
  Gillian Keegan, who had been education secretary for one and a half years, was among more than half a dozen ex-education ministers who lost their parliamentary seats in the general election.
   
• “Labour’s victory is a golden opportunity for education”
  Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says “change is sorely needed after several years that have felt chaotic and oppositional”.
   
• Teaching assistant cuts expected in half of deprived schools
  Half of senior leaders working in the most disadvantaged areas of England expect their school to cut spending on teaching assistants in the next year to cope with budget pressures, a poll shows.
   
• Anger over “unreasonably difficult” A-level paper
  Exam board AQA must take action before next year’s physics A level after reports that one of this summer’s papers was “unreasonably difficult”, subject experts have warned.
   
• DfE property firm helps sell one surplus school site in five years
  The Department for Education’s property company has advised on the sale of surplus land at just one school in the past five years, Tes has learned, prompting questions about the value of its work.
   
• Teachers get “minimal” training in helping pupils to write
  Teachers receive “minimal” training on writing, despite a strong appetite for further development across the primary and secondary phases, according to a review by the Education Endowment Foundation.
   
• Middle leader tips: How to assess your year
  With the summer term coming to an end, Tes’ Middle Leadership Essentials series provides expert guidance on techniques to assess your own performance over the year.
   

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