As it was requested here:
https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/looking-for-a-way-to-keep-the-kerning-letter-spacing-menu-alwaysopen/

I think also it would make sense to let user decide if they would prefer to have always accessible all the kerning option directly on the main tool bar when text tool is activated.

May be it is already doable in the preference setting but I did not find any entry regarding this topic.

For everything else on the new version, upgrade are awesome

Cordially

Feel free to make a request on the tracker: https://inkscape.org/forums/beyond/how-to-report-bugs-or-request-new-features/