News round-up

It’s the first week back for schools in England after the second long period of partial school closures in a year.  Secondary school staff were tasked with Covid-testing all students and staff three times, and adapting to mask wearing in classrooms. Some parents have threatened legal action against headteachers for asking students to wear masks in school, but the government has said that their use should not be mandatory as some students will be “very anxious and nervous” about wearing them.

Meanwhile, regarding primary schools, Tes reported that the government has said it may be advised to restrict attendance in the event of local Covid outbreaks, after the Department for Education updated its contingency framework for schools to specify what action may be required as a “last resort” if there is “extremely high” prevalence of Covid-19, or if it is necessary to “minimise the impact from new variants of the virus”.

Some experts claimed that the current Covid measures recommended by the DfE are not enough to keep classrooms safe amid the ongoing pandemic, and recommended more stringent ventilation steps for schools. And on testing, University of Birmingham biostatistics professor John Deeks said: “Anybody who thinks that using [lateral flow] tests is going to make the schools completely safe is being misled,” after he flagged that there was a “very strange” lack of positive cases being detected in schools.

On the issue of funding, Tes revealed that local authorities across London have collectively written to the education secretary demanding a reversal of a change that will result in schools missing out on millions of pounds for their poorest pupils. The change to the way pupil premium money is allocated had been described as “scandalous” and “sickening” by teachers and heads when they became aware of it earlier this year.

Speaking of finances, but moving away from the coronavirus crisis, Tes revealed there are now at least seven state school leaders who are earning salaries of a quarter of a million pounds or more, based on an examination of the latest set of multi-academy trust accounts. New financial reports show that seven senior figures - including two at one academy chain and one headteacher who is responsible for a single school - were among the highest-paid school sector staff in the country in 2019-20.

This is just a taste of the key issues that we have covered this week on the Tes newsdesk - please head to www.tes.com/news to catch-up with these stories and many more.

Features round-up

We asked primary and secondary teachers how it felt to be back at school with the full roll of students, and heard tales of surprisingly calm young people, one extremely popular after-school club and students good-naturedly grumbling about seating plans, because some things never change. 

Teaching in a mask isn’t many people’s ideal plan for pedagogy. But when facial expressions are obscured and your voice is muted by a covering, other body language becomes key - and teacher Mark Roberts offered his tips on using it well. 

As the world reacted to Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview about racism in the Royal Family, former headteacher Viv Grant spoke to us about the importance of schools making time and space to explore their own work around racial equality.

Unconscious bias risks bringing variation in teacher-assessed grades, so how can staff make sure that they are giving fair marks this summer? Senior examiner Chris Eyre offers some key principles to bear in mind. 

Teachers are facing big challenges around differentiation as the varied picture of learning in lockdown emerges. Psychologist Debbie Pope offered three research-informed tips for teaching classes with a range of abilities.

Silence is golden, so the saying goes, and many teachers insist on it, but is a quiet environment always optimal for learning? Carly Page sifted the research to come up with some golden insights for this week’s magazine.

While the vast majority of people will get vaccinated against Covid-19, a sizeable minority will choose not to, and that may bring problems for school leaders. John Morgan explores what role schools may be forced to play in the vaccination roll out over the coming months, and discovers that empathy and understanding may be key to navigating this complex issue. (article free for subscribers)