Weekly round-up: Pay deal accepted but strike threat remains

Catch up on all your must-read Tes content from the past seven days right here:

• NEU votes to accept 6.5 per cent pay award and end strikes 
  England’s biggest teaching union has voted overwhelmingly to accept the government’s 6.5 per cent pay award for all teachers and leaders and end strike action.
   
• NASUWT accepts pay deal but still plans industrial action 
  The NASUWT teaching union has also voted to accept the pay deal but has said that strike action over workload could still be on the table.
   
• ITT providers ‘under pressure to take unsuitable candidates’ 
  Teacher training providers have warned that “enormous” pressure from government to recruit more trainees could be resulting in unsuitable candidates being taken on and higher dropout rates.
   
• Covid hit socioemotional skills in ‘half of pupils’ 
  The pandemic affected the social and emotional development of around half of pupils in England, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
   
• Local authority schools ‘perform better than MATs’ 
  Schools that remain within local authority control continue to perform better in Ofsted inspections than those that became academies, according to a new analysis.
   
• Why comparing trust and LA schools ignores reality
  New analysis comparing the Ofsted ratings of local authority schools and academies overlooks the reason why academy trusts were created in the first place, says the deputy of the Confederation of School Trusts.
   
• Knowledge-rich curriculum ‘could close reading gap’ 
  Schools could eliminate the disadvantage-related attainment gap in reading by providing a “core knowledge curriculum”, a new study suggests.
   
• Limit school leaders’ working hours, says ASCL 
  The next government should protect school leaders from burnout by agreeing a national standard on maximum working hours, according to the Association of School and College Leaders, in its “manifesto” for the next general election.
   
• Ofsted MAT evaluations: what really happens?
  Ofsted is now conducting summary evaluations of multi-academy trusts - but what do these involve? Rowena Hackwood, chief executive of Astrea Academy Trust, talks about her trust’s experience.
   
• ‘MATs must support families over the summer holidays’ 
  One multi-academy trust leader explains how his trust is providing free activities and meals for children this summer holidays to help families in the cost-of-living crisis.