Brief Alerts - July 2019

As Britain’s weather followed the definition of an English summer by Charles II ‘two fine days and a thunderstorm, questions were raised about whether there are any limits to classroom heat. The short answer is that there is no specified limit though The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 says that employers have a duty to protect those in their workplaces and this can include protecting against excessive working temperatures) and Regulation 7 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 says employers must ensure that temperatures are ‘reasonable.’

There has been a series of problems of leaks of examination papers, and demoralising rumours of leaks on social media: including a plagiarised text book question appearing verbatim in an exam. Ofsted have warned schools not to allow pupils to be distracted by these stories or internet offers. The police are investigating the theft of a paper, a page of which appeared on the internet with an offer to sell access for cash and have made arrests. However, teachers who were guilty of  systematic malpractice in the conduct of controlled assessments: providing pupils with PowerPoint presentations “throughout each stage of the controlled assessments; research, planning and analysis and evaluation, and where, students who did not meet the target mark, giving them feedback and instructing them to amend the controlled assessments, were not given a ban by the Teachers Regulation Agency panel because, while neither teacher acted under duress, it heard “evidence relating to the pressure from senior management downwards.” Concluding that neither was likely to offend again and that they had good records as teachers the panel decided that a prohibition order was not necessary. Meanwhile one exam board was criticised for confusing ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ in a biology exam, and another for having a question on calorie counting which was thought might affect pupils with eating disorders.

The call by Leora Cruddas, Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, for a new standard of governance has been reinforced by a variety of historical issues over academy finances which have emerged recently.
The failed Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) confirmed it gave an undisclosed sum to the DfE after ending its latest accounting period with a cash balance of more than £1 million. The trust was accused of “asset-stripping” on the basis that of reports that it transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds from its schools’ budgets in the months before it announced closure. (The DfE has not said whether any of the money would go back to its 21 former schools).
The DfE system of oversight has been criticised after a lack of evidence in two free schools' accounts meant it could not uncover whether spending rules had been breached over payments made to a company linked to two free schools and one trust claimed it had ‘lost’ access to financial data from longer than two years ago after changing its management systems.
As a step towards more effective accountability, the Department for Education and the government’s Insolvency Service have signed an agreement to regularly share information about academy trusts – making it easier to ban trustees who flout the rules. A new memorandum of understanding (MoU) seeks to “facilitate the regular exchange of information” between the two organisations, which “need to be able to share information, in particular information relating to misconduct, investigations and enforcement within their respective remits”.

The Migration Advisory Authority has refused to add teaching in general to the Shortage Occupation List. The criteria it uses are that a job must meet three requirements: skilled (are the jobs skilled to the required level?), shortage (is the job in shortage?), and sensible (is it sensible to try to fill those shortages through migration?). Its report suggests that only the following teaching posts meet these criteria:
‘Secondary education teachers in the subjects of maths, physics, science (where an element of physics will be taught), computer science and Mandarin.’

The NASUWT has circulated posters to schools to stop parents and pupils abusing teachers. Meanwhile a report suggests that schools are often baffled by cyber-abuse. Interestingly in a recent case, two people were jailed for harassing a judge.

The government has published guidance on teaching on-line safety. It suggests that focusing on ‘underpinning knowledge and behaviour’ is more useful than specifics in an on-line world that is rapidly changing. The skills it identifies are: evaluating material (for truth etc); online behaviour; identifying on-line risks; and how and when to seek support.

• The Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, stated that teaching must be a family friendly profession.
• He also said that children must learn about same sex relationships before they leave school and that it is better to learn about them in the classroom than in the playground.
• The Children’s Commissioner is producing a new Early Years Green Paper to ensure the most vulnerable young children are ready for school.
• It was revealed that Michael Gove, as Secretary of State for Education, banned four teachers for the possession of cocaine.