About this episode

The episode discusses key education news including industrial action by NEU members, rising academy trust CEO pay, and new DfE guidelines on mobile phones in schools.

The Education Brief: Wednesday 22 April 2026 - Top stories include: NEU members have signalled strong support for industrial action over pay and school funding. Academy trust chief executive pay is continuing to climb, but with a gender gap at the top. The DfE is set to make its school mobile phone guidance statutory. Ofqual’s chief regulator warned that scrapping essays because of AI cheating is still an option. The DfE is inviting firms to help develop and test AI tutoring tools for disadvantaged pupils. HEP Updates: Find and book more CPD sessions at https://hepbookinghub.co.uk/ 100k in May: https://horizonscharity.org/news/join-100km-in-may-fundraising-challenge/ Watching - https://youtu.be/bwzbVBLiWPw?si=eGzvfUXOlQBNbkOg Listening - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002tzqm Reading - https://www.tes.com/magazine/teaching-learning/early-years/what-neuroscience-tells-us-about-teaching-young-children AI Tool - https://aieducator.tools/ ⁠ Music by Slo Pony⁠

Topics covered

• industrial action
• school funding
• gender pay gap
• mobile phone guidance
• AI in education
• CPD sessions

Keywords

• education
• NEU
• DfE
• Ofqual
• AI tutoring
• school funding
• CPD sessions

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• The Education Brief: KS2 SATs Are Coming, Along with Media Literacy · March 25, 2026 · 11 min
• The Education Brief: Ofsted's New Inspector Recruiting Strategy · March 18, 2026 · 11 min
• The Education Brief: SEND Priorities, Teacher Wellbeing, and IDSR Updates · March 11, 2026 · 12 min
• The Education Brief: HEP on the Schools White Paper · March 4, 2026 · 25 min

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