3 more would be great...

This week, there are no trips to different lands, no rooftop bar views and no incredible burgers, so you'll have to settle for the usual round-up and the announcement of our first-ever Ed & Tech Product spotlight featuring Air Education - a stress-free way to mark writing and maximise pupil outcomes.

As we write this newsletter, we have 997 subscribers. Please like, repost, tell your friends and share. We love a round number so three more would be cool, haha.

Anyway, we gather stories and news from LinkedIn, so you don't have to. You're here for a round-up of the most recent stories in education and EdTech, so without further delay, let's get into it.

General Education News

Implementation Plans - Haygrove School

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently published a guest blog written by Jaimie Lall-Sachdev (Teaching &?Learning) and Louise Gregg (Reading), both Assistant Headteachers from Haygrove School.

The school is a?mixed, comprehensive secondary school in Bridgwater, Somerset that is on a?journey of improvement. Jaimie and Louise share how they have used the EEF’s implementation framework and tools to support their school improvement work.

To find out more, click the link below.

Thousands of state teachers switch to private sector

That's the title of a recent Schools Week article that states, "More teachers have left state schools to work in the independent sector than vice versa in every year since 2019"

You can read the full article below, but it opens with "Pay and conditions are making it harder for state schools to retain staff, leaders have warned, as data shows private schools have poached more than 8,500 teachers from the sector since 2019." a figure that I found startling.

Old School Book of Retirement Tales

Geoff and Margaret's Book of Retirement Tales is the story of two septuagenarian teachers who answered "The Call" and returned to the chalk face in 2022. As it turned out, there was very little chalk to be found anywhere but plenty to write about.

Geoff set up a Twitter account @RetirementTales. It's a unique place of joy, nostalgia, reflection and gentle nonsense. During the thick of the pandemic, the account offered warmth, support and hope. Twenty thousand people followed in the first week!

Geoff brought people together with his kindness and positivity. Margaret made people laugh with her no-nonsense approach and her maverick ways.

This is a book for teachers and non-teachers, and for anyone who remembers their own school days fondly. It's a reminder of sniffing purple worksheets and straining your neck to watch the big TV. It's about having a map rolled into your wallpaper-covered geography book. It's about sitting cross-legged on parquet flooring and singing about the Lord of the Damp Settee.

If you want to find out more, head over to Focus Education

Toilet training and high anxiety - how schools are changing

Schools across the UK are under unprecedented pressure as they struggle to address a range of social issues unrelated to teaching. A group of schools in the West Midlands town of Telford illustrate the problems. Here, for a growing number of pupils, simply getting to school is an achievement in itself.

Continue reading this BBC News Article below.

Encouraging students to contemplate authorial intent

“Encouraging students to contemplate authorial intent helps them to dissect the nuances of words.”

In the blog below Stella Jones of Town End Research School explores ways to support pupils to expand their vocabulary.

Shortlist for National SBL of the Year 2024

Oracy Matters

DfE News

School workforce in England

On the 6th of June, the DfE published their school workforce census data.

The release is largely based on the School Workforce Census (SWC). The census, which runs each November, collects information from schools and local authorities on the school workforce in state-funded schools in England.

Independent schools, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges and further education establishments are not included in the SWC.

This release includes information on teaching and support staff, their characteristics, teacher retention and pay, qualifications and details of the subjects taught in secondary schools.

You can find the page linked to the release here

Here's a quick summary:

Across England, there are 5,225 more FTE equivalent people working in schools than last year. The total FTE is 979,085

The breakdown of the above figure is; 468,693 FTE teachers which equals 293 more than 2022/23, and 282,925 FTE teaching assistants which equals 1,825 more than 2022/23

The teacher workforce is predominantly female in all school phases.

In 2023/24, 69% of leadership teachers were female

16.2% of teachers identify as belonging to an ethnic minority group, up from 11.2 in 2010/11.

Teachers are NOT getting younger

The average (median) classroom teacher FTE salary (Nov 2022) = ￡43,100

Teacher vacancies (full and part-time) have more than doubled in the past three years

43,500 teachers left the state-funded sector in 2022/23

Ofsted News

There's no Ofsted news to share this week, and with a general election looming, it is highly likely that the DfE and Ofsted will share fewer communications over the coming weeks. It's a good job that our Ed & Tech community share enough stories to keep us going :)

EdTech News

WhichMIS? MIS Market Churn - Spring 2024

With the MIS stats for English state schools now available, WhichMIS have produced a blog to help us understand the latest updates.

The data is from the Spring 2024 census, and it shows that over 500 schools changed MIS providers between the Autumn 2023 census and the Spring 2024 census.

If you would like to read more, you can do so below.

Fan of the Arts

I have always been a fan of the arts and believe they play an integral part in education. For some students they open the doors to a world that they would never dream of. That's why I loved seeing this post from our friends at Cosmo by Filisia

Scomis, part of Devon County Council MIS Deep Dive Sessions

Bromcom Discovery Days

For those of you who can't make the SCOMIS sessions above, Bromcom have shared a recent session of their own.

School Business Services Bromcom Webinars

Throughout this month School business services are delivering the following Bromcom Webinars:

• Bromcom Secondary MIS
• Bromcom Primary MIS
• Bromcom Finance for Academies
• Bromcom Finance for Maintained Schools

To find out more, follow the link below:

The Global EdTech Awards 2024 winners’ event is coming

Perspective Observatory Toolkit from Angel Solutions

Our good friend Andy Kent recently shared the post below, in which he shares how Angel Solutions supports LAs, schools and MATs. I have worked with Angel in the past when I was working in a LA, so I can speak firsthand about the quality of their offer, how quickly they innovate, etc.

If you don't use Perspective to its full potential, I would definitely recommend reaching out to Andy and the team

What's new in Arbor?

Ed & Tech Product Spotlight

Air Education

We promised a big announcement, and here it is. Next Thursday, we will see the first-ever Ed & Tech Live product showcase.

These showcase events are free to anybody, and any EdTech business can showcase its product(S) free of charge, with one caveat: You can effectively communicate the problem you are solving.

This is about demoing and feature bashing; it's about showing how we understand the problems facing schools and educators and sharing how we can help them overcome those challenges.

First up is Air Education and we will share more info throughout the week.

Ed & Tech Live

Building a stronger society by engaging disengaged learners, with Rose Rees

This week's episode of Ed & Tech Live features Rose Rees, a passionate champion for children and young people. In this episode, we will discuss the important role we play in engaging disengaged learners and the positive impact that this can have on society.

Click the image below to register as an attendee.