ISC Daily News Summary

Teachers who do not use pupils’ preferred pronouns could encounter legal challenges despite the government's new transgender guidance, education unions have warned ministers. Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, asked for the guidance to be “withdrawn and replaced” as it “falls short of what schools and colleges have a right to expect". By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

In an interview with The Times, Helen Mountfield, principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, has said that using schooling alone as an assessment of disadvantage is “much too blunt a measure". Ms Mountfield said: “It is about trying to find the people with both the aptitude and talent, interest and determination who are going to benefit most from higher education.” By Katie Gibbons.

Former education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins has called for tighter admissions rules, warning that the intake of some top-performing schools does not reflect the disadvantage in their local communities. Speaking during a panel discussion hosted by the Sutton Trust, Sir Kevan warned that the system was not ensuring that poorer pupils can access all their schools of choice. By John Roberts, Tes.

Schools minister Damian Hinds has told the Commons Education Select Committee that “close to” every child is now given a smartphone in Years 6 and 7, with it becoming “something of a rite of passage.” Mr Hinds acknowledged that the government does not presently advise parents on a minimum age limit for giving their child a mobile phone and that ministers are “trying to create a new norm” under the new guidance. By Ewan Somerville, The Telegraph.

Ashley Eastwood, executive leader at Learning in Harmony Trust, writes for Tes about why schools should consider training staff on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. Following the release of the government's new Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, which includes a more overt focus on SEND, Mr Eastwood says: "We hope such provision becomes the norm for all teacher training so that support for pupils with SEND is embedded across the sector as standard."

Campaigners studying play and childhood are calling on the Department for Education to require every school to have a play plan that would be inspected by Ofsted. Under the "plan for play", launched yesterday by groups including Opal Play, teachers would be taught about play-based learning for children of all ages. By Harriet Grant, The Guardian. 

Home secretary James Cleverly has said overseas students may be “undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system” by using university courses as a cheap way of obtaining work visas. In a letter to the Migration Advisory Committee, Mr Cleverly called for a review of whether the graduate visa entitlement, which allows international students to work for two or three years following graduation, has failed to attract “the brightest and the best” to the UK. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.