At a glance headlines: Thursday, May 7

A suggestion that schools could “outsource” the marking of homework in order to reduce teacher workload has been dismissed by teachers. The idea was put forward by Rebecca Allen, director of think-tank Education Datalab and a reader in economics at University College London Institute of Education. She said that for as little as £2 an hour, schools could find “incredibly reliable” marking services in countries such as India. However, the National Union of Teachers said the idea did not take into account the true nature of assessment. Deputy general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “Teachers don’t just look at the rightness or wrongness of the student’s answer – they want to understand and support the student’s learning process. Outsourcing doesn’t help at all with assessment for learning. Of course we want to see a reduction in teacher workload, but the solution surely does not lie in perpetuating a low-wage economy overseas. The extremes of workload are a product of accountability to Ofsted and the Department for Education.”