The NEU can ballot online for the first time, and Powell says the accountability regime must be more supportive (5 September 2026)
A law that came into force this week changes the arithmetic of the NEU's strike ballot before a single vote has been cast. The same week brought the education secretary's clearest statement yet on inspection pressure, and a letter that quietly reopens the question of what a technical qualification at 16 should look like.
Powell: the accountability regime should be 'much more supportive and understanding'
Speaking on LBC, education secretary Lucy Powell said she wanted an accountability structure that is much more supportive and understanding of the job heads are doing. She was blunt about why: "There's nothing that is more concerning to me as education secretary than the idea that our accountability regime ... would lead to a headteacher to taking their own life."
The context is the 2023 coroner's ruling that an Ofsted inspection contributed to the death of Caversham Primary School headteacher Ruth Perry. Her sister, Julia Waters, has said she has heard from 12 headteachers inspected under Ofsted's new framework who were left feeling suicidal. Powell is due to meet the family this coming week.
There is a review already running underneath this. Ofsted commissioned IFF Research to evaluate the new inspection framework, with preliminary findings due in autumn 2026 and the full findings in 2027. Chief inspector Martyn Oliver has pointed to inspector mental health training and to leaders reporting that inspections now feel more collaborative. Source: Schools Week, 3 September 2026.
The strike ballot will be electronic, and that is the story
Legislation that took effect this week allows trade unions to run industrial action ballots electronically, where the law previously required a postal vote. The NEU will use it. Its formal ballot opens on 3 October and closes on 15 December, with votes submitted online and postal papers going only to members with no email address on file. Civica is the independent scrutineer, and the union represents around 500,000 school staff.
The reason this matters more than the dates is the turnout threshold. A formal ballot still needs 50% turnout to authorise strikes, and the union's earlier indicative ballot returned 48.6% among teachers and 55.5% among support staff. The teachers' side fell short of the legal bar in a vote where nothing was at stake, using a format members did not have to post back. Removing the postal step is precisely the friction that gap was made of. Alistair Wood, chief executive of Edapt, put it as: "Removing the friction of finding, completing and returning a postal ballot could be what makes the difference." NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said the movement had been calling for the ballot process to be modernised for years. The threshold itself is expected to be abolished once the effect of e-balloting on participation has been reviewed.
The dispute is pay and funding together. Teachers receive at least 3.5% from September 2026, but the DfE is funding only the first 1.7 points and schools are expected to find roughly the rest from existing budgets. Sources: Schools Week, 1 September 2026 and Schools Week on the ballot dates.
Powell reopens the question of a GCSE-level technical qualification
In a letter to the education committee dated 28 July, published this week, Powell said her department will work with schools, employers and mayoral and strategic authorities to explore what new or reformed national qualifications at GCSE level may be needed to support the technical pathways for 14-year-olds.
When those pathways launch in 2028 they will use qualifications that already exist, principally technical awards. Powell's own figure explains why she is not content to leave it there: only half of pupils in mainstream state schools take a technical award at all, most of them taking a single one alongside their GCSEs, and access varies sharply between regions. Source: Schools Week, 3 September 2026.
The date to put in the diary
The consultations attached to the schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, close on 18 September. The white paper itself was published on 23 February and the reformed SEND system is not expected to take effect until September 2029, with no changes to support delivered through education, health and care plans before September 2030 at the earliest. If your school intends to respond, this month is the window. Source: House of Commons Library briefing on the 2026 schools white paper.