ISC Daily News Summary

Qualifications Wales has said grade boundaries will continue to be marked more generously than before the pandemic in an attempt to acknowledge the “long-term impact” of COVID on Welsh students. It follows the recent announcement from Ofqual stating that grading in England would 'largely return' to 2019 levels. Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, is quoted, warning that the widening disparity between grading in England and Wales might be “disastrous”. By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

BBC News reports that Qualifications Wales is consulting parents and staff on plans for qualifications which will be taught from 2025. One proposal is that GCSEs could rely more heavily on digital technology with 'less emphasis on exams'.

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Jane Prescott, headmistress of Portsmouth High School GDST, writes to The Times in response to a reader's previous comment calling for there to be a 'teaching champion' to help with the issue of recruitment and retention. Ms Prescott warns "this will be successful only if education stops being a political football".

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Writing in The Telegraph, Iain Mansfield calls on the Government to end the ban on new grammar schools, suggesting that doing so 'could be its lasting legacy'. Mr Mansfield explains he would like to see a Grammar Schools Bill to be brought in, allowing private schools entering the state sector to keep their admissions arrangements. Iain Mansfield is head of education at Policy Exchange and a former special adviser to three education secretaries.

Addressing delegates at the Conservative party conference, Kit Malthouse, the education secretary, has promised the Government would put “constant attention and constant pressure” on England's education system to “drive it forward”, although no specific policies were announced. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.