At a glance headlines: March 6, 2014

Observing colleagues teach is the activity heads think will most improve teaching and learning, while teachers feel that discussing work with individual pupils would be most effective. The findings are included in the Department for Education’s Workload Survey 2013, published on Friday (February 28). The study asked what activities would improve the quality of teaching and learning if teachers could spend more time on them. Around 1,000 teachers and school leaders responded with heads listing observing colleagues teaching (36 per cent), observing good practice in other schools (32 per cent), and mentoring or being mentored (33 per cent) as their top three. For teachers and deputy heads, 30 per cent said discussing work with individual pupils, 28 per cent said one-to-one and small group teaching, and 26 per cent said collaborative planning with colleagues.