According to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union, 23 per cent of teachers say staff absences due to COVID are having a major impact on their schools. By Helen Chapman, Tes.

Official figures from the Department for Education have revealed that initial teacher training applications have fallen by 23 per cent in comparison to last year when applications "surged" during the economic downturn of the pandemic. By Matilda Martin, Tes.

The Oak National Academy, a government-funded online learning platform, reported around 340,000 users last week, which is the highest level seen since schools reopened to all pupils last spring. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Jonathan Gullis, Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said that his decision to return to teaching amid staff shortages was not a difficult one, adding, “during a time of national crisis it is upon all of us to take up and do what we can do” . BBC News.

The Department for Education (DfE) has told schools that students will not need to wear masks while sitting their exams or mocks. By Helen Chapman, Tes.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland's education secretary, has said that this year's exams will only be cancelled if public health advisers "say they can’t go ahead, [for example] because of restrictions on gatherings". By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Rod Grant, head at Clifton Hall near Edinburgh, has criticised Scottish ministers claiming that decisions on whether this year's exams will go ahead were made based on “what England does” rather than what they believe to be right. By Daniel Sanderson, The Telegraph.

The Internet Watch Foundation, a charity that assesses and flags child sexual abuse material for removal from the internet, has advised that children aged seven to 10 should be supervised while using the internet amid an “incredibly worrying” rise in sexual abuse material depicting children of those ages. By Rhiannon Williams, iNews.

Alex Quigley, national content manager at the Education Endowment Foundation and a former English teacher at Huntington Research School in York, writes for Tes on the importance of shared reading for early literacy development.

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