Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 08 November 2024

The increase in tuition fees has grabbed many of the headlines this week.

The bald facts are that the undergraduate tuition fee will go up for 2025/26 by £285 from a current £9,250 to £9,535. And the maximum maintenance loan will go by £414. In both cases inflation linked and from next year. Universities UK has a useful Explainer of the details.

It was not, the education secretary bluntly told MPs, “a decision I take any pleasure in and is not a decision that I want to take, but I’m determined to secure the long-term financial capability of our world-leading universities.”

She made it clear that the repayment system means that “students won’t see higher repayments as a result of these changes,” but the newly installed shadow education secretary was pretty scathing in her response. “We are now in a situation whereby students will suffer from the first inflationary increase in a number of years, at a time when they can least afford it,” she retorted.

Wider reactions were mixed.

Universities UK said ‘it can’t have been easy for the government but is the right thing to do.’ Former universities minister David Willetts said much the same, “the present system is unloved but essential.” HEPI’s Nick Hillman reckoned the fee rise needed to be more ambitious for universities ‘even to stand still.’ More critically, the UCU said it was ‘both economically and morally wrong’ while the NUS said “Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.”

An impact assessment will follow as part of the parliamentary process for uprating the fee while the position on funding beyond next year will be set out as part of next spring’s Spending Review.

For the moment, three points are worth noting.

First that the pressure around university funding had been building for some time and it was clear something had to be done.

Just a couple of months ago, the President of Universities UK had spoken starkly of the sector being at a fork in the road, ‘sliding into decline or delivering for the future.’ The fee cap, despite inflation, had been frozen for the past seven years, stories of redundancies and even of whole depts being scrapped were growing and there were dark rumours of some institutions on the brink.

So as the IfS put it “University Vice Chancellors will be breathing a sigh of relief that the government is not extending the tuition fee freeze, sparing universities a further real-terms cut to resources of around £390 million next academic year.”

Second, and less positively, Vice Chancellors may be breathing sighs of relief but many students dependent on maintenance loans won’t be.

As moneysavingexpert Martin Lewis who has been a leading voice on this issue explained, “the biggest practical problem for students isn’t tuition fees (even if raised) it’s the fact maintenance loans aren't big enough. English maintenance loans have not kept pace with inflation.”

In fact, inflation has been eating away at the value of these loans for some time and even with this latest increase, the IfS reckon that support for the poorest student will still be around 9% lower than for an equivalent student three years ago. It’s an issue that won’t go away.

And third, the government is looking for a big return on its fee increase, ‘deep change’ as the education secretary called it.

Better value for money, a renewed drive for efficiency, increased access, putting a collective shoulder to the wheel on skills, community anchors, these and other propositions were listed by the education secretary when she addressed MPs and may well feature as part of the reform proposals due to be published probably as part of next year’s Spending Review.

The government was basted last week for promising money in the Budget without reciprocal reform but here the quid pro quo was spelt out.

For many, as a blog on the HEPI website this week showed, this may now be the moment for a new tertiary model to take shape. A fly in the ointment remains the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) and whether that can ever match hopes but a sense of change, to take a familiar quote, is growing.

One other story to top many headlines this week has been about children’s reading.

This followed the publication of the latest Annual Literacy Survey from the National Literacy Trust pointing to a steep drop in the number of children and young people reporting enjoying reading for pleasure.

This was particularly marked among secondary school aged boys and those on free school meals. “For a report focused largely on reading enjoyment” the Trust concluded, “much of this is not an enjoyable read. The declining levels of reading enjoyment and reading frequency are, frankly, shocking and dispiriting.”

The NEU said the report should ring alarm bells at the DfE. “Children are racing through subjects without time to consolidate or enjoy learning – including reading for pleasure.”

The Survey came incidentally in the same week that the Education Policy Institute published a new report questioning the value of the national phonics screening check.

Not everyone agreed with the report’s findings, some pointing to the encroachment of social media on reading habits rather than the screening as the issue, but either way, all agreed that the value of reading on children’s development and wellbeing was paramount and should and remain a priority.

Moving on, what else has been happening across education this week?

In schools, Ofqual published further data on this year’s exams and launched consultation on some core principles for underpinning awarding body Conditions of Recognition. Things like “an awarding organisation must act in an open, transparent and co-operative manner with Ofqual and, as appropriate, with Users of qualifications” (Principle 5.)

As Ofqual said, the principles may be new in terms of wording but underscore existing rules. The consultation runs to next February.

In other news, Ofsted published some recordings of inspector training via its new Academy as part of its commitment to being more open and transparent.

The Confederation of School Trusts used its Conference to set out a new vision to help the education system grow in the future, listing what it called ‘ten seeds to plant together’ to hep things flourish. These included ‘deepening integration into communities’ and more prosaically, ‘reforming accountability.’

The education secretary used the same Conference to announce new advisory leadership to help tackle SEND concerns.

Young Enterprise called for financial education to be embedded across the school curriculum following Teacher Tapp polling showing widespread teacher support for the approach.

Another one for the curriculum review.

The government published its latest Memorandum of Understanding for working with independent schools.

And FFT Education Datalab looked at the picture on school absences at the start of this term with the story around persistent absence showing “no change at primary and a slight reduction at secondary.” But still some way to go on 2019 figures.

In FE, the Learning and Work Institute helped kick off Learning at Work Week with some positive figures from its latest survey of adult participation in learning. Just over half reported they’re currently involved in learning in some form or have been recently.

Much of it is online and self-directed learning and by those already in employment. In addition, significant regional and disadvantage gaps remain but as the survey reported “this is the highest participation rate since the survey began” over 25 years ago. The AoC’s David Hughes wondered whether, when coupled with the Budget, this showed that adult learning was now turning a corner.

Edge and UCL reported on the impact of Ofsted and the inspection framework on the sector. There were some suggestions that holding up a mirror was useful but equally that there was room for improvement, particularly in making it all less high-stakes and, as ASCL called, removing single headline grades.

The AoC said it was ‘a timely report.’

In HE, ahead of the government’s announcement on tuition fees, the HE Policy Institute (HEPI) commissioned a survey to find out what students think should happen if their institution went bust. Half reckoned it should be taken over. Other options included cancelling loans along with transfers and mergers.

With a busy period for university applications looming, leading organisations came together to launch a new campaign aimed at tackling some of the common myths around applying to university.

The ‘Uni Myths Busted’ campaign will provide help and resources for those who advise applicants and who commonly face questions such as ‘if I don’t get to the right uni will I struggle to find a job afterwards?’

Suggested responses to this question by the way include pointing to evidence that employers are more interested in your skills, competence and enthusiasm than which university you went to. Other top myths and responses can be seen here.

UCAS published the figures on 2025 applications for courses such as medicine and dentistry and at Oxbridge which have an earlier deadline. In a word, slightly up on last year and among international applicants but down for medicine and slightly among UK 18-year-olds.

King’s College published a useful survey this week on attitudes to international students. “Overseas students are nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to public concern about immigration,” the report noted.

And finally this week back to Westminster where MPs’ Education Questions included the impact of the increased employer NI contribution for early years providers (“we are looking in more detail at what the changes mean for providers in the early years sector, and we will have more to say shortly.”) It was also confirmed that schools and colleges would be ‘compensated’ for NI employer increases.

There were also plenty of questions around SEND (“we are moving as fast as we can”) and progress in the curriculum review (interim report promised early next year.)

Elsewhere, the Public Accounts Committee listed two education inquiries among a lengthy list of 18 set for the next six months.

They included ’Improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged children’ and ‘Support for children and young people with special educational needs.’ Each will be reinforced by a recent NAO report.

And just to note finally, a second pilot of the 4-Day Week Campaign launched at the start of this week with further pilots due to take place next year.

Links to most of these stories below starting with the week’s headlines.

The top headlines of the week:

• ‘University fees in England to rise next autumn for first time in eight years’ (Monday).
• ‘Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure’ (Tuesday).
• ‘Phillipson to ask schools to end exam ‘tunnel vision’ and look to wellbeing’ (Wednesday).
• ‘SEND: Phillipson announces plans to boost inclusion in mainstream’ (Thursday).
• ‘£300m of adult education lost in post-pandemic underspend’ (Friday).

More specifically ...

Schools:

• Education secretary’s speech. Bridget Phillipson addressed the Confederation of School Trusts Annual Conference where she confirmed new steps in tackling SEND concerns with the appointment of a new strategic adviser and group of experts.
• Reading for pleasure. The National Literacy Trust pointed to a ‘shocking’ decline in the numbers of children and young people reporting enjoying reading in their free time as they published the results from their latest Annual Literacy Survey conducted earlier this year.
• Phonics screening. The Education Policy Institute called for ‘a fresh review’ of the phonics screening check as it published a new report suggesting that there was no evidence that it had helped improve reading results or narrowed attainment gaps.
• Exam access arrangements. Ofqual published data on access arrangements for GCSE, AS and A level exams over the past year showing a 12.3% increase in arrangements approved, largely for extra time or the use of a computer reader or scribe
• Awarding body recognition. Ofqual launched consultation on six core Conditions of Recognition for awarding bodies, broadly building on existing principles to confirm the importance of transparency, integrity and of ensuring that qualifications are fit for purpose.
• Flourishing together. The Confederation of School Trusts (CST) along with the Church of England and Catholic Education Service called for a new joint vision and ‘compelling narrative’ for the future listing ten ‘seeds,’ from making the education system more inclusive to deepening collective thinking, to help the system flourish over the next 15 years.
• Multiplication tables. The Standards and Testing Agency published the arrangements for next year’s Multiplication tables check which will take place for eligible year 4 pupils between the 2^nd and 13^th June 2025.
• Financial education. Young Enterprise published survey evidence from Teacher Tapp showing strong teacher support for financial education to be embedded within the curriculum rather than left to specific maths classes.
• Inspector training. Ofsted published recordings of its inspector training from earlier this year on matters like approaches to inspection and use of data.
• Pupil absence. FFT Education Datalab examined the latest picture on pupil absence pointing to a slight drop in persistent absence in secondary but with unauthorised absence remaining high and well up on 2019.

FE/Skills:

• Lifelong learning. The Learning and Work Institute published its latest annual survey of adult participation in learning showing an increase in the number of adults actively engaged either currently or recently, many via online learning but underlining that ‘stark inequalities in participation by social grade remain.’
• Post-16 maths. The OECD highlighted the importance of maths beyond the age 16 in a new, comprehensive study of maths in England, arguing that level expectations here remain high and that alternative, less demanding options should be made available to encourage greater take-up and success.
• Inspections. The Edge Foundation reported on its work with UCL looking into the impact of Ofsted and the inspection framework generally on FE, finding a perhaps inevitable mix of views with calls for them to be less high stakes and more developmental to enable the sector to better understand strengths and weaknesses.
• Local skills. WorldSkills UK announced the launch of its Local Skills Competition Endorsement Framework which will enable organisations to tap into the experience and resources of WorldSkills to help run local skills competitions.
• STEM progression. The Education Policy Institute and Centre for Education and Youth (CfEY) called for co-ordinated action including a national strategy to help support more disadvantaged young people progress on to post -16 STEM courses after reporting many are missing out after leaving school.

Not-to-be-missed numbers of the week:

• 5. The number of candidates through to the final round of voting for the position of Chancellor at the University of Oxford, down from an original 38 with voting due the week after next according to the University.
• £10,680. The amount that the undergraduate tuition fee could reach by 2029/30 if it carries on rising with inflation, according to the IfS.
• 26%. The number of HE students reported to be quite worried that their institution might go bust, with male students more worried than female ones according to a commissioned survey by HEPI.
• 1m. The number of enrolments over the past year under its free course OpenLearn platform, according to the OU.
• 52%. The number of adults participating in learning either currently (30%) or within the past three years (22%,) according to the Learning and Work Institute.
• 1.3%. The percentage of late entries for GCSE over the past year, according to latest data from Ofqual.
• 93%. The pupil absence rate for schools for week commencing 21 October, slightly lower than the same week last year but difficult to compare because of half-term according to latest government figures.
• 34.6%. The number of 8–18-year-olds reporting that they enjoyed reading in their spare time, according to the latest survey from the National Literacy Trust.
• 251m. The number of children and young people globally still not in school, many in poorer parts of the world according to UNESCO’s latest Global Education Monitoring Report.
• 2.3m. The number of people visiting the high street each week drawn in by a visit to Primark, according to research from Public First.

Everything else you need to know ...

What to look out for next week

• Association of Colleges (AoC) Annual Conference (Tuesday 12 – Wednesday 13 November).
• OECD report on Lifelong Learning (Wednesday 13 November).
• The Chancellor’s Mansion House speech (Thursday 14 November).

Other stories