The Week in Education: What mattered for STEM teachers

A teacher-facing long-read that joins the dots across Schools Week, Tes, FE Week, Sky News and the EEF. Duplicates removed; links included so you can dig deeper.

1) School food standards: a big policy change with very real classroom knock-ons

The proposed overhaul of school food standards stayed at the top of the agenda this week – not because anyone is against healthier food, but because implementation questions are piling up fast: cost, capacity, uptake, and fairness. Caterers told Schools Week that if government wants menus to change meaningfully, funding needs to match the ambition. Tes ran a parallel line: a pilot scheme suggested costs rose and pupil uptake dropped – which is exactly the sort of unintended consequence schools are anxious about.

STEM angle: this is an unusually good “real-world science” hook. You can explore energy balance and metabolism (biology), emulsions/fats/sugars (chemistry), sampling and bias (maths/data), and systems thinking (why a policy can be right in principle but hard in practice). It also connects to behaviour and concentration: if lunch logistics change (longer queues, fewer preferred options), that can ripple into afternoon lessons.

2) SEND reforms: the “experts at hand” idea is moving — but workforce capacity is the bottleneck

The SEND reforms storyline sharpened this week around one practical question: who will deliver the support? Schools Week reported guidance warning councils that “experts at hand” funding should not simply plug existing gaps or be captured by the most proactive schools. Alongside that, both Schools Week and Tes highlighted educational psychologist shortages as a serious risk to the plan’s viability.

For STEM teams, this matters because SEND support often determines whether pupils can access practical work safely and independently: instructions, working memory load, language demands, sensory factors, transitions, and the way pupils evidence their understanding. In other words: inclusion happens in routines, not in slogans.

If you want a very practical companion read, Tes also published an implementation-focused piece on how to set up inclusion bases (the policy direction for every secondary). It’s not “quick”, but it’s useful – especially for business managers and SEND leads thinking about space, staffing and scope creep.

3) AI in schools: tutoring pilots expand, while assessment integrity tightens

AI is now doing the classic education thing: arriving through multiple doors at once. On one side, Schools Week reported the DfE inviting bids for AI tutoring pilot partners. On the other, Schools Week reported the Ofqual chief saying that scrapping some forms of long coursework is “never off the table” if AI makes cheating harder to control. In STEM subjects where extended write-ups and non-examined assessment matter, this is a big signal: process evidence may become more important than ever.

Practical STEM move: if you set coursework or extended tasks, consider building in a short in-class component, an oral “defence” of choices, or a draft trail. It’s not about distrust; it’s about making thinking visible.

4) Phones: from “already solved” to a proposed statutory ban

The phones debate accelerated in a matter of days. Tes reported an exchange in which a minister suggested the phones problem was “already solved” through guidance and enforcement. Then Tes reported the government would introduce a statutory ‘ban’ on phones in schools. For teachers, this isn’t really about the argument – it’s about implementation: consistent routines, sensible exceptions, and not burning staff time on policing that doesn’t stick.

STEM lens: labs and workshops are where “attention drift” becomes a safety issue. If your policy changes, update your practical safety briefing so it’s explicit and non-negotiable – and document the reasonable adjustments you allow (medical devices, accessibility needs).

5) Assessment confidence: when exam errors hit physics

For STEM teachers, the most “close to home” assessment story was Tes reporting that an exam board (OCR) was fined for serious errors on AS/A-level physics papers and mark schemes, which led to incorrect grades for some students. It’s a reminder that assessment systems rely on trust – and that subject communities notice quickly when something doesn’t line up with the standards we teach.

Practical take: if you lead a KS5 course, it’s worth tightening your “what to do if something looks wrong” pathway for students (how to raise concerns, who to tell, how to keep calm while it’s investigated).

6) Workforce signals: job adverts down, redundancies up, action being discussed

The staffing picture this week had mixed messages. Tes reported secondary teacher job adverts at their lowest level in nine years, which could reflect falling rolls – but doesn’t necessarily mean recruitment is “fixed”, especially in shortage STEM subjects. At the same time, Tes reported more than 70 Harris Federation staff at risk of redundancy, citing declining rolls as a major factor. And Tes reported NEU members indicating willingness to take industrial action over pay and funding (noting turnout details).

STEM lens: if budgets tighten, protect the “enablers” that keep quality and safety high – technician time, practical consumables, and planned intervention time. Those are the first things that quietly erode while everyone focuses on class sizes and timetables.

7) System accountability stories: pensions delays and trust leader pay

Schools Week ran two “systems” stories that matter because they shape trust and morale. One reported the schools minister calling teachers’ pension delays “unacceptable”, amid a backlog leaving many people waiting anxiously. Another was Schools Week’s annual investigation into academy CEO pay, reporting average pay just over £140k and highlighting gender disparity at the top. You don’t need to have a single view on either story to see why they matter: they affect confidence, trust and the wider narrative around education funding and leadership.

8) Children missing from education: registers sound simple, but pilots suggest real burdens

Schools Week reported a pilot suggesting registers of children not in education could be burdensome for limited value – a useful counterweight to the idea that “just create a register” solves the problem. For STEM teachers, this matters indirectly: pupils who move in and out of education are the ones most likely to miss key sequences (lab safety, foundational concepts, maths fluency). Catch-up needs to be designed as a system, not left to individual heroics.

9) KS3 gets attention: alliance co-chairs named for the “forgotten middle”

KS3 can be the engine room of STEM success – or a place where pupils quietly drift. Schools Week reported 17 leaders named as regional chairs for a KS3 alliance aimed at identifying best practice and improving outcomes in early secondary. If your department has been trying to “fix everything at GCSE”, this is a nudge: some of the biggest wins are in Year 7–9 curriculum sequencing, routines and vocabulary.

10) Early years still matters (even for secondary): readiness guidance and a neuroscience explainer

Two early years pieces are worth a glance even if you teach older students. Schools Week reported advice telling schools not to prolong staggered starts for reception pupils (linked to readiness ambitions). Tes published a readable neuroscience-informed explainer on how young children learn and how attention and engagement differ from adults. The long tail is real: early language, attention regulation and confidence compound into later science understanding and maths reasoning.

11) Wider context: pupils holding back views (and what that means for classroom talk)

Sky reported on a survey suggesting some teenagers don’t share political views due to fear of being “cancelled”. This is less about politics and more about classroom climate: if pupils feel unsafe speaking, learning suffers – especially in STEM where reasoning benefits from talk, challenge and explanation. It’s a good reminder to teach “disagree well” routines (evidence, clarity, respect) and to keep debates anchored to claims and data.

12) FE snapshot: prison education procurement, and colleges turning learners away

FE Week’s coverage this week had two notable “capacity” stories. First: Novus was selected again to deliver West Midlands prison education after a tender re-run. Second: a long read described colleges being forced to turn away students as demand outstrips space – a reminder that “skills pipelines” depend on physical capacity, not just policy ambition.

FE Week also ran a live blog of education questions (Commons) focused on education issues including skills; it’s useful if you want the “what are MPs asking about right now?” temperature check.

Quick scan: what ministers were grilled on

Schools Week’s Commons “education questions” piece is short, but it’s a useful bookmark: it shows which issues are climbing the policy agenda quickly (and therefore likely to drive guidance, funding decisions or new expectations).

Reflections & prompts for STEM teams

1) Food standards as a science case study: If your school changes menus, could you turn it into a short STEM enquiry (measure, sample, interpret)? What would you need to track to know if changes are helping (uptake, waste, cost, behaviour after lunch)?

2) SEND in the lab: Pick one practical routine that regularly creates barriers (multi-step methods, equipment issue, noise/sensory load, written-only evidence). Trial one universal adjustment for two weeks and gather simple pupil feedback.

3) AI and authenticity: Rewrite one assessment this term to include process evidence (in-class component, oral explanation, annotated working, draft trail). Make it normal, not punitive.

4) Phones policy (if it changes): What would make your policy workable without burning staff time? Agree your “non-negotiable” safety line for practicals and a small number of consistent responses.

5) KS3 focus: What’s one Year 7–9 concept that causes Year 10 pain every year (graphs, variables, proportional reasoning, forces, cell structure)? Fix the sequence now rather than patching it later.

6) Workforce realism: If staffing tightens, what are your department non-negotiables for safety and quality (technician time, required practicals, key intervention slots)? Write them down before decisions get made in a rush.

7) Classroom talk: If pupils are holding back views, how do you build “safe disagreement” in STEM? Try one routine: make a claim, ask “what evidence supports this?”, and practise respectful challenge as a skill.