Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 06 October 2023

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Reform of post-16 education. That’s been the big education news of the week.

It came in Rishi Sunak’s platform speech to the Conservative Party Conference and has provoked considerable interest.

“Fantastic announcement”, tweeted the skills minister, 'not convinced it’ll happen like this’ – the view from Will Hazell for the Telegraph.

The PM framed the reforms in his subsequent Radio 4 interview as a major opportunity to transform opportunities for many disadvantaged young people and to rethink provision for the future. But much may depend on how conducive the political, let alone educational, climate remains as to how much of this will happen. Some summary details below.

In other Conference news, the Education Secretary announced plans to support a ban on mobile phones in schools. “A policy which isn’t needed for something that isn’t a problem” according to ASCL’S Geoff Barton, but supported by over 60% of adults according to a YouGov poll. She also confirmed plans to consult on introducing minimum service levels in universities, at a time when industrial action was restricting some students from completing their studies. As with other announcements, it provoked mixed views.

Away from the Conservative Party Conference, the Competition and Markets Authority announced a review into public cloud infrastructure services, while UNESCO welcomed World Teachers’ Day with a plea for more teachers. 44 million apparently are still needed globally to achieve the goal of providing primary and secondary education for all by 2030.

For schools this week, the IfS crunched the numbers on school funding, pointing to ‘a tight picture’ – with the impact of rising costs and inflation leaving 'the purchasing power of school spending per pupil in 2024–25 still about 3% lower than in 2009–10'. 

In other school news, FFT Education Datalab looked at pupil absences for the first month of this term, reporting overall absence lower among younger pupils, but higher among ‘pupils in Years 5 to 11, particularly those in Years 8 to 11'. And on a positive note, NFER indicated from new research that the Covid learning gap ‘appears to have closed for both Year 3 and 4 pupils in reading and maths’.

And two other notable reports for schools this week. A four-point manifesto from the National Governance Association (NGA), and an interesting report from the exam board AQA on ‘proposals to develop a digital, on-demand assessment of core competencies’. A summary below.

Before we leave schools, back to those announcements on post-16 reform, where the accompanying report included an interesting section on GCSEs, which may be of interest to many schools. It suggests that the current reforms 'gives us a further opportunity to look at further improvements we can make to the exams'. It singles out two: reducing the number/length of papers and adopting some digital assessment. Next year’s promised White Paper might be interesting.

For FE this week, it's been T levels promotion week, which – as Sky’s Sophie Ridge pointed out in a tweet – made the timing of the announcement about their denouement interesting. Her tweet is below. That said, colleges have welcomed the additional funding for GCSE resits and for staff included in the announcement. And also for FE, an interesting report this week from awarding body NCFE, with a look at FE and the challenges it faces.

For HE this week, which featured in a number of fringe sessions at the Conservative Party Conference, the challenge has been, in the words of the Universities UK CEO, to get politicians to talk-up what’s right rather than what’s wrong about UKHE. An interesting scene-setter this week has been the collection of thoughts from three leading vice-chancellors about what they’re hoping for in party manifesto in the forthcoming general election. Published on the HEPI website, it demonstrates a more vibrant sector than perhaps many MPs realise.

Next week, Labour holds its annual Party Conference, where one of the distinguishing features apparently will be the number of delegates not wearing ties. They may have fallen out of favour in some places, but according to The Economist, ties were everywhere at the Conservative Party Conference. 

Links to most of these stories below, but first some details behind two of the big stories this week:  

Diploma Mark 4? ‘While the principles of these proposals are good, the practicalities are daunting’. Geoff Barton’s verdict on the latest proposals to reform the A level curriculum and create a new form of qualification for 16–19-year-olds in England could arguably have been applied to any of one the previous three major attempts to do much the same over the last 30 years or so. Will this one fare any better? 

The model, as outlined by the Prime Minister in his Conference address this week, builds on these previous forays to create what he called ‘a new rigorous, knowledge-rich advanced standard’. A levels and T levels would be brought together into a new single qualification, all students would study some form of English and maths to age 18, with more teachers and an extra 15% of teaching time over two years for most students. As the PM said, ‘this will finally deliver on parity of esteem … and ensure that all our children leave school literate and numerate’. 

What’s not to like? In theory it all sounds fine, but to return to Geoff Barton, the practicalities are daunting. Four major ones stand out. 

First, as we head into general election territory, is the difficulty of committing a future government to such widespread and long-term reform.  As the Education Secretary acknowledged in an accompanying paper, ‘this is a long-term reform. It will take a decade to deliver. It will need careful development, in partnership with students, teachers, leaders, schools, colleges, universities and employers, as well as the public’.  Consultations and a white paper are promised, but future governments may think differently, as happened in 2010.  

Second, one of the reasons why parity of esteem has proved so elusive in the past is because qualifications differ in terms of design, purpose, and assessment. Bringing them together within one framework, while retaining identity and status is not a simple exercise. As Sam Freedman explained, ’from a purely technical point of view it's mind-boggling tricky to do what he's proposing’.  

Third, transforming an exam system can be inordinately time-consuming and expensive. Is there sufficient funding capacity to undertake a reform of this magnitude? The government is promising £600m over two years initially – at least to recruit more teachers, beef up the quality of maths teaching and support resit teachers – but it may have to dig deeper if the reforms are to take off. Increasing the guided learning hours alone according to Jonathan Simons could mean an extra 20% in post-16 funding is needed.

And fourth, a reform of this magnitude needs to carry schools, colleges, the profession, parents, employers, universities – in other words, the main stakeholders, with it. It’s not clear it has that at the moment. To give just one example, this is part of the reaction from the NAHT to the announcement 'To date, there has been no meaningful engagement with the profession on any part of this announcement'.                        

The new 3 Rs. An important contribution this week to a long running debate. The contribution came from the exam board AQA and the long running debate is about the position and importance of ‘fundamental’ skills for the future. All very timely given the Prime Minister’s proposals to ‘widen the A level curriculum’. In its report, AQA argue that literacy, numeracy and digital fluency are the skills 'that all individuals need to develop to function effectively in society, work and life. All people, whatever their age, should be equipped with them', the report says. The problem is that people are leaving education without these skills and the system currently relies on existing traditional qualifications such as GCSEs, which are all well and good the report says, but serve a different purpose. 

The report therefore calls for a different form of assessment for these essential skills, on-demand, and focused on core knowledge and concepts. 'We need something where everyone can show their competence'. The board is setting up an expert panel early next year to help develop assessment structures that could be adopted. The ASCL called the report ‘spot-on’ and the government’s proposals for reform of advanced level provision does include potential adoption of some digital assessment and recognition of wider skills. An important space to watch.

The top headlines of the week:

• ‘Gillian Keegan pledges crackdown on mobiles in schools’ (Monday).
• ‘Third of funds in Sunak’s maths scheme unspent in fist year’ (Tuesday).
• ‘Advanced British Standard: Sunak qualification will replace A levels and T levels’ (Wednesday).
• ‘Rising costs faced by schools in England rising faster than inflation, IfS (Thursday).
• ‘Disruptive behaviour in English schools worse since Covid, says outgoing Ofsted head’ (Friday).

 General:

• Prime Minister’s address. The Prime Minister included reforms to advanced level provision in his Party Conference address, pledging to transform opportunities and deliver on parity of esteem through a “new, rigorous, knowledge-rich long-term Advanced British Standard.”
• Chancellor’s address. The Chancellor promised to accept the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the National Living Wage from next year, as well as look at the sanctions regime for people on benefits, and freeze civil service hiring in his address to this year’s Annual Party Conference. 
• Education Secretary’s address. The Education Secretary pointed to the success of education reforms under Conservative governments when she addressed the Party’s Annual Conference, before going on to promise new guidelines on banning mobile phones in school and consulting on minimum service levels in universities.
• Cloud services. Ofcom called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to undertake a review of the public cloud infrastructure services market which at the moment is led by Amazon and Microsoft and where Ofcom has concerns particularly about egress fees, the use of discounts and problems with switching, with the CMA due to complete its review by April 2025. 
• High tech risk assessment. The EU Commission listed four technologies at most risk of security breaches (Advanced Semiconductor Technologies, AI technologies, Quantum technologies and Biotechnologies,) calling on member states to undertake risk assessments by the end of the year.
• World Teachers’ Day. UNESCO highlighted the global shortage of teachers that was limiting education progress in some countries as it published a new report for this week’s Global Teachers’ Day, listing seven recommendations for making teaching more attractive, including competitive salaries and benefits, reduced admin, and access to support. 
• Going for Growth. The OECD published its Growth Report for 2023 highlighting the issue of weak growth, and calling on countries including the UK to promote the upgrading of skills, target social support, make the most of digital transformation, and secure faster progress towards decarbonisation.

FE/Skills:

• Post-16 reforms. The government outlined proposed reforms to 16-19 provision which would see A levels and T levels brought together into a single qualification, students studying some form of English and maths to age 18, an increase in the number of taught hours, and additional funding for GCSE resits and for FE teachers in shortage subjects in their early careers.
• T levels week. The government heralded T Levels Week with a short video, blurb and student stories on YouTube, all hosted on the National Careers Service site but all ahead of this week’s announcements on post-16 reform. 
• T levels. City and Guilds invited employers to become involved in T levels suggesting five ways in which they could help, including in the development of qualifications, in providing work placements, and becoming a sector ambassador.
• Spotlight on FE. Awarding body NCFE published the first of what’s intended to be a series of four commemorative focus reports, looking on this occasion at FE, highlighting its role in helping meet the skills challenge and pointing to three challenges it faces around workforce pay and recruitment, sector profile, and employer engagement.

HE:

• Minimum standards. The Education Secretary announced plans at the Party Conference to hold a consultation on establishing minimum service levels in universities in areas including teaching hours and assessment, to ensure these continue to be provided for students during strike action. 
• Hopes and Fears. The HE Policy Institute (HEPI) published essays from three leading vice-chancellors on what they were looking for from the next election with all three calling for a single overseeing dept and progress on tackling the cost of living and individually for a focus on skills and institutional diversity, sustainable investment and a Covid generation student premium, and greater funding and research. 
• Freedom of Speech Act. Universities UK published a briefing paper to help universities prepare for the incoming Freedom of Speech Act, outlining the background and requirements of the Act and its wider context and listing what institutions and governing bodies have to do to meet the requirements of the Act.
• Project applications. The QAA invited applications for its latest round of Collaborative Enhancement Projects which encourage members to work together and share expertise on key issues, which this year might include AI, flexible pathways and effective models of student engagement.
• Subject Benchmarks. The QAA also invited comments on 10 new Subject Benchmark Statements which have recently been developed and which cover subjects from Agriculture to Veterinary Nursing.
• Turing Network. The Turing Institute announced a further 29 members to its university network, set up earlier this year to share intelligence, activity and collaborative ventures across AI and data science, and now with a total of 69 universities involved. 

Tweets and posts of note:

• “I know what Sunak meant obv but calling Gillian Keegan 'our first ever apprentice to be an education secretary' made it sound weirdly like she's here on work experience” | @gabyhinsliff
• “Sunak says his 'main funding priority in every spending review from now on will be education' – says it's a 'silver bullet'” | @SchoolsWeek
• “Incredible timing. Rishi Sunak announces T Levels will be scrapped … during 'T levels week' Someone needs to tell the DfE Twitter guys…” | @SophyRidgeSky
• “Advanced British Standard is a good name for a Indie Revival rock band” | @EdDorrell
• “On morning duty. Student walks past with their shirt untucked. Call, authoritatively, after them, "young man, tuck your shirt in". Young, male colleague walking past looks slightly sheepish and checks his shirt. No, sir, not you. The child” | @MBDScience
• “Some people say 'oh but most schools ban phones already.' Not quite. Lots of them have policies, but many of them aren't enforced consistently, lots of staff ignoring it. That's an example of what I call a 'misbehaviour policy,' when you have a rule no one upholds” | @tombennett71
• “Advancing education is a force for social justice, not social mobility. Conflating the two is dangerous. Mobility is lifting up the few while justice is lifting up all. Conflating the two will lead to quite different policy. @LeoraCruddas.” | @EduPolicyInst
• “Our Ofsted report (From last June) has come out. My whole school community has all but forgotten about it. Not a single parent has commented about it to me. All. That. Stress” | @HeyMissSmith
• “I studiously avoid rail clichés in my writings though very occasionally I get derailed” | @christianwolmar

Memorable quotes

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “Education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet” – the PM introduces the latest advanced level reforms.
• “We should be expanding opportunities and not talking down what is a national success story” – Universities UK chief executive Vivienne Stern ticks off some politicians.
• “Ultimately, we argue that in the realm of work, generative AI is neither inherently good nor bad, and that its socioeconomic impacts will largely depend on how its diffusion is managed” – the ILO’s new report adopts a midway position on AI and jobs.
• “Some people may view [apprenticeships] as second rate, but my mission is to change that, to make an apprenticeship the way to come a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, even a space engineer” – the Education Secretary in her Conference speech.
• “Our plan represents real, meaningful reform and won’t be delivered overnight” – the Education Secretary in the Foreword to the new advanced level reforms.
• “This change will reduce distractions and help us continue to improve behaviour and drive-up standards” – the Education Secretary issues new guidance on mobile phones in school.
• “So we need a new approach, and we believe the new on-demand assessment we’re developing is the answer” – AQA on proposals to develop a new assessment model for essential skills.
• When policymakers claim that school spending per pupil is growing significantly in real terms and reaching a record high, this is likely to jar with schools’ actual experience” – the IfS on school funding.
• “Among pupils in Years 10 and 11, unauthorized absence accounts for more absence than illness. However, some of this may be because reasons for absence have yet to be established” – FFT Education Datalab reflects on pupils absences so far this term.
• “We only keep your personal information for as long as we need it” – the DfE sets out its position on collecting personal information following recent concerns.

Other stories

• Banning mobile phones. Shortly after the education secretary had confirmed government plans this week to ban mobile phones in schools, YouGov ran a snap poll on the matter. 45% of adults surveyed ‘strongly supported’ the ban with 28% ‘somewhat supporting’ it. 5% ‘strongly opposed’ a ban with 13% being ‘somewhat opposed.’ The figures are broadly similar to a previous poll conducted by YouGov in June 2021 although the questions then were slightly different. At that time, 46% said ‘they definitely should be banned’ during the school day and 6% that they ‘definitely shouldn’t.’ The only difference then was that 31% said that they ‘probably should,’ be banned. A higher figure than this week’s 28% somewhat supporting a ban. Links to both polls are here and here.

• National Poetry Day.This year’s National Poetry Day which took place on Thursday focused on the theme of refuge. It came with a buzz of activities and resources for schools. Many people remember poetry from their school days with the online library, Interesting Literature, listing some of the best to memorise and learn by heart. They include: Shakespeare’s ‘Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?,’ Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s 'How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways', and Tennyson’s ‘Break, Break, Break.’ Not everyone will agree perhaps, but the full top ten list can be seen here

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Steve Besley

Disclaimer: Education Eye is intended to help colleagues keep up to date with national developments in the education sector. Information is correct at the time of writing and is offered in good faith. No liability is accepted by Steve Besley or EdCentral for decisions made on the basis of any information provided.