Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 09 January 2026

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

A lighter newsfeed this week as the new year got off to a slow start.

Much of this was down to the weather but political and economic forecasters equally found little to shout about as they looked to the year ahead. 

The Institute of Directors did at least find a marginal improvement in business confidence among its members as it published the results of its latest survey this week.

In contrast, the British Chambers of Commerce indicated that “confidence among firms has continued to weaken,” while the Jobs Foundation highlighted “a profound loss of confidence among family businesses.”

Further evidence of a downbeat mood emerged from a global survey published by the consultancy FGS Global at the start of the new year.

“A total of 67 per cent of UK respondents agreed that the country’s best days are behind it, with just 14 per cent saying the best days are ahead – a more gloomy assessment than in any other country,” they reported.

Sir Keir Starmer may have claimed that ‘we’ve turned a corner’ but it clearly didn’t feel like it to many.

As the Resolution Foundation put it ‘what a difference a year doesn’t make.’

To be fair, it’s not all been doom and gloom for the year ahead.

The Economist reckoned interest rates will fall, the CBI Financial Services Survey reported ‘a brighter 2026 than expected,’ one futurist pointed to start-ups being the new grad scheme while astrologists are predicting a year of ‘change and growth’ especially from late July. When’s the World Cup Final?

What about education at the start of another year?

For schools, the TES pointed to five issues to look out for in the coming months.

These included funding and pay, industrial action, safeguarding, behaviour management, and SEND reform, with the latter likely to constitute the big talking point.

Conjecture about SEND reforms has continued in recent months with The Times, for instance, running a big feature on the matter over the Christmas break and hinting that schools may be called on to help identify problems earlier and thereby reduce the number of education and health care plans (EHCPs.)

Some unions have already expressed concerns.

As The Independent explained, “SEND is shaping up to be one of the most sensitive policy battles of the year.”

The long-awaited white paper is due out shortly.

The impact of the new inspection framework, the future of assessment, onscreen or not, and phones in schools are among other issues likely to feature in the coming months. The Conservatives, for instance, are going strong on the latter with a renewed call for a ban released in a letter over Christmas while Ofqual’s consultation on onscreen assessment closes at the beginning of March.

In FE and skills, many may well agree with Fiona Aldridge, the Chief Exec of the Skills Federation, who argued in a blog this week that ‘we need a year of implementation rather than announcements.’

This should be a big year for skills with local skills plans and a central industrial strategy driving developments.

Many will be looking for Skills England to step up and lead here and it’s worth reflecting on the three priorities set by ministers back in October for the executive agency this year.

These included understanding skills needs and improving the skills offer. Also simplifying access to skills, and coordinating and working with employers, ‘a pro-employer approach,’ as it was described.

Much of this was reinforced in the subsequent Skills White Paper with its long list of ‘we wills.’

Apprenticeships and NEETs are likely to remain big topics this year.

The interim findings from the Milburn NEETs Review, for instance are due this spring. The call for evidence on this closes at the end of this month.

Alan Milburn has promised ‘radical solutions.’ He has already pointed to the collapse of Saturday jobs as one of the issues. Others will be able to point to plenty more.

As for HE, Debbie McVitty listed on the Wonkhe website at the end of last year ‘the five hottest policy topics of the year.’

They included artificial intelligence, free speech, franchising, mergers and funding.

They seem likely to be up there again this year although some aspects may change as new leadership takes over at the Office for Students (OfS.)

A more immediate concern for many will be the impact of the international student levy due in from 2028 and for which consultation closes next month.

It could ‘hurt’ universities in England to the tune of £600m pa according to some analysts and comes of course in the context of widespread funding concerns set out in the OfS’s late autumn funding report on the sector.

In summary, it looks like another year for HE of increasing debate over the merits or otherwise of a university education, how this should best be served up and how funded. 

So as ever plenty to consider for education in the year ahead.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ’Ofsted: Heads need to ‘think carefully’ about phones in schools’ (Monday)
• ‘OU to be ‘university without walls’ as Milton Keynes move dumped’ (Tuesday)
• ‘DfE to push ahead with MAT inspections’ (Wednesday)
• ‘GCSE results will be available online this summer’ (Thursday)
• ‘Committee launch new inquiry on tackling youth NEET crisis’ (Friday)

General:

• Cyber security. The government set out how it will protect and secure online public services through a Government Cyber Unit with a Software Security Ambassador Scheme helping drive best practice, as it published its new Government Cyber Action Plan.
• Business confidence. The Institute of Directors (IoD) pointed to a slight improvement in business confidence as it published the results from its latest survey completed last month, albeit with recruitment remaining flat and worries about tax and employment law remaining high.
• Workplace stress. The TUC reported on a new survey from its health and safety reps showing an ‘unprecedented’ increase in the number of workers reporting work-related stress, anxiety or depression over 2024/25, calling for a reduction in workloads and the strengthening of laws to help reduce stress.
• Young voters. The consultancy Public First published the results of its recent focus group work in two locations with Yr 8 pupils likely to be the first group of 16/17 yr olds able to vote at the next UK general election, finding political views in most cases shaped by family, location and lived experience but all unaware that the voting age had been lowered.

HE:

• Student Finance. Labour MP Luke Charters presented a new Bill to parliament to regularise the payment of student maintenance loans from termly to monthly payments to help students manage their finances better.
• OU. The Times Higher reported that the Open University (OU) had dropped plans to move to a new campus in Milton Keynes preferring instead to focus on its traditional model of working closely with other institutions to ensure flexible provision was available across the country with campus provision available for block release when needed.
• Targeted recruitment. The Guardian reported that Trinity Hall College, Cambridge was looking to ‘target’ its recruitment strategy around its core subject offer and the specialist schools that prepare for them, raising some concerns about a preferential/elitist model of student recruitment.
• Graduate Futures. The Graduate Futures Institute highlighted in a new report the extent of careers and employability support provided by HE institutions in the UK, such as one-to-one guidance appointments and CV checkers, all aimed at helping students and graduates becoming career ready.
• Graduate recruitment. Stephen Isherwood, joint Chief Exec of the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) suggested in a new blog on the ISE site that it could be another difficult year for student employment with the speed of pickup in the economy and AI key factors in any improvement.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “I haven't been using @X properly for a while, but I am back on for 2026. My posts will primarily focus around education, skills & manufacturing, as well as my activities as Executive Director of @MakeUK_.I look forward to travelling around the UK to meet our great @Make_UK” -@RtHonRobHalfon.
• “If you are a Head and you are faced with the snow decision remember you simply cannot please everyone, so trust your gut, your site team, whether it’s safe to open or not and whether your staff can actually get to work safely. Everything else is irrelevant white noise” -@Samstricko181.
• “Currently very impressed with 2025 Me. An alarm just went off which told me where my lanyard is. I don’t remember ever being this organised or efficient but I’m here for it” -@MoreMorrow.
• “Day two of school closure. Only real silverlining is I've been able to do the school run and settle the girls in. Downside is I've had a toddler jump on my head or scream into my face while doing PPA” -@LeeBraganza.
• “I love these cold days in London. They always remind me of something I once read about George Orwell, that on cold days like this he would boil a pair of eggs and keep one in each pocket as a handwarmer and then eat them when he arrived at work” -@danielsusskind.
• “Am I the only one who weighs themselves nude after Christmas? According to the staff in Boots, yes” -@robertwlk.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “The challenges we face were decades in the making, and renewal is not an overnight job, but putting our country back on a stable footing will become our strength” – the PM strives to offer hope in his New Year message.
• “This was a Trustee-led process and decision” – City and Guilds responds to questions about its recent sale.
• “Spending is up 60 per cent in a decade in real terms, but outcomes are no better” – Sam Freedman sets out the context around SEND reform.
• “Our renewed inspection framework is explicit that headteachers need to think carefully about their approach, especially in relation to children’s behaviour and safety” – Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver confirms the Inspectorate’s position on mobile phones in schools.
• “No student should have to rifle through drawers looking for a crumpled certificate when they're preparing for a job interview" – the government hails the availability of GCSE results on an app this summer.

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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.