According to Schools Week, vacancies for some school leadership positions have shot up by as much as 85 per cent in the past three years, fuelling fears of a post-COVID retention crisis. By Freddie Whittaker.

Speaking at an online Department for Education Women’s Network, Professor Lynne McKenna, dean of the Faculty of Education and Society at the University of Sunderland, warned that the teaching sector is facing a "recruitment crisis like no other". Independent Education Today.

Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher and the new chair of the Social Mobility Commission, will say in her inaugural speech today that there is too much emphasis on 'rags to riches stories' and instead social mobility should highlight the value of “small steps up the ladder”. By Sally Weale and Richard Adams, The Guardian.

In a joint piece for Tes, several researchers discuss the impact of the pandemic on all of the early years foundation stage learning areas, highlighting physical development as an area that needs serious focus. By Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Sara Bonetti, Louise Tracey and Dea Nielsen.

Charles Banbury, an educational consultant, writes in The Telegraph arguing that schools need to make a change in their admissions policies to support pupils who are late developers. Mr Banbury says: "Schools need to re-evaluate their admissions policy and focus on the amount of value they can add to the pupil not just what the pupil brings to the table on day one."

Jo Hutchinson, co-author of a report on 'stuck' schools by the Education Policy Institute and Institute of Education, writes in Tes suggesting that teacher turnover is a major problem experienced by these struggling schools, with 'stuck' primary schools losing 73 per cent of their teachers over five years.

New findings from the Office for National Statistics have revealed that almost one in four university students are lonely most or all of the time, which is four times more than the one in 20 adults who said they were similarly lonely. By Branwen Jeffreys and Vanessa Clarke, BBC News.

According to The Times, universities will be asked to use supermarket customer-tracking software to spot early warning signs of mental health problems and identify students who are struggling. By Nicola Woolcock.

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