February Focus: recruitment and retention

The big news of the month came from the National Audit Office (NAO), who published their report on teacher recruitment. It revealed that DfE targets had been missed for four years running; meanwhile, increasing numbers of teachers have been leaving the profession. In the same week, charity Future Leaders published new analysis on headteacher recruitment; educationalist Robert Hill wrote a blog about how to counter the headship crisis; and think tank LKMco released a video summarising their recent research on why people choose to teach.
Read more: NAO, BBC, Schools Week, Future Leaders, Guardian, Robert Hill, LKMco

In other news...

SATs Suspension?   There were continuing concerns about feasibility of primary assessments. Unions contemplated a SATs boycott; Schools Week editor Laura McInerney argued for online testing instead. Meanwhile a leaked study prompted rumours the DfE could scrap the baseline  - a week after primary teachers revealed little confidence in the tests. Read more: TES: SATs, SW: SATs, Laura McInerney, SW: Baseline, BBC: Baseline, TES: Baseline, TES: opinion, Guardian

• The Education and Adoption Bill passed the Lords and the Commons and is due to become law in April (Schools Week report 200 schools will immediately become academies)
• School admissions reform announced by DfE; (covered in Schools Week)
• Regional School Commissioners – report published by the Select Committee (covered in Schools Week)
• Post-16 area reviews – new briefing paper published by the House of Commons Library
• Children's mental health - the DfE requested evidence on the use of peer support - respond here
• Apprenticeships - an inquiry was launched by the Sub-committee on Education, Skills & Economy â€“ give written evidence here. A consultation on apprenticeships in the public sector was launched by DfE and BIS - respond here (covered in Schools Week)