Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 30 January 2026

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

EdTech has featured prominently again this week.

Among the news stories, the Education Secretary announced plans to develop “AI smart tutoring tools” for disadvantaged pupils, the Tech Secretary launched a new AI and Future of Work Unit along with a mass training plan to equip workers with the AI skills needed for the future and the Tony Blair Institute called for “a system-wide AI action plan for schools.”

Elsewhere the Education Secretary called on schools not to send suspended non-violent pupils home. The school governors’ association highlighted the importance of governance in a new report. Definitely not an optional extra, it said.

The Centre for Social Justice continued its drive to develop a strong vocational route for young people. And UCAS reported on university admission trends at the key mid-January point. Up for UK 18 yr olds and for many international applicants, particularly for high-tariff institutions.

Further afield, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a sobering report on poverty levels in the UK in 2026. ‘Poverty has deepened’ it concluded, often with a devastating impact of the life chances of children.

While more hopefully, the King heralded the impact of the King’s Trust as it turns 50 this year.

“As you can perhaps imagine, I am so very pleased, and proud, that the trust’s work continues to go from strength to strength, having in that time helped over 1.3 million young people grow their confidence, continue in education, secure sustainable jobs.”

Its latest impact report points to high numbers of young people worried about their future careers in the context of AI and continuing economic uncertainty.

Here’s a run through some of the details affecting different parts of education.

In schools, as the debate about mobile phones and young people rumbled on, with France now considering a ban, the Education Secretary issued ‘strengthened guidance’ to help school leaders implement bans during the school day.

“All schools should be phone-free environments for the entire school day. That includes lessons, time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime.” ‘You have my full support in taking this forward,’ she went on to add.

Not everyone felt it was that straightforward.

“It is much easier to issue an edict than to implement a joined-up policy linking these risks with action against social media providers and resourcing safe equipment for students to use doing research etc,” argued education consultant Brian Lightman.

Another topic continuing to grip the headlines is the impending SEND reform.

Last week, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) outlined some of the challenges involved in such reform including funding, early intervention and the buy-in to any reassurances, and this week the TES and the Institute for Government (IfG) both had ed ops adding their thoughts.

“Early intervention and more training for teachers will help reduce the need for both, but not by enough,” the TES wrote.

“Although legal rights are a much-relied-upon safeguard, they can at times sit in tension with efforts to improve outcomes for children with SEND,” as the IfG explained.

In other news, the Education Endowment Foundation announced six new research projects for schools, ranging from offsite prep time for primary teachers to activity programmes for Yr 9s.

Research projects for early years and FE will be announced later in the year.

The National Governance Association heralded its 20^th birthday with the launch of a major report ‘setting out why governance must be treated as essential system infrastructure rather than as an optional extra within the education system.’

The children’s mental health coalition, Future Minds, launched a roadmap of the sorts of actions government should take to tackle what it called ‘a growing crisis’ around children and young people’s mental health.

ASCL called the roadmap ‘clear and sensible’ and urged the government to get stuck in.

And new government figures showed a further rise in the number of penalty notices issued for unauthorised absences last year with most (93%) going for unauthorised family holidays. Unions want the government to talk to holiday firms.

In FE, youth unemployment has remained a big talking point.

MPs discussed it in a general debate without any obvious conclusion while the Centre for Social Justice hosted a panel event this week with Michael Gove and Andy Burnham among others, on what it called its ‘current mission’ of securing a better balance for young people between the traditional university route and the alternative skills route.

The remedy, according to a report from the think tank last month, is to ‘rewire technical skills into the education system’

It posted some stark figures to make its point.

To cite just one. “Five years after qualifying, a higher level (Level 4) apprentice earns almost £12,500 more than a graduate from a low-value university course and £5,000 more than the average graduate.”

As Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the founder of the think tank explained, the figures expose the education system’s ‘obsession with expanding university participation without sufficient regard to labour market demand, earnings outcomes or routes into skilled work.’

Elsewhere the NFER reported in a new research study that the switch from apprenticeship frameworks to standards, along with poor prior attainment and existing disadvantage for many learners, were among the reasons for withdrawals and decline in the achievement rate for apprenticeship programmes.

It called for better programme design and targeted support as ways of helping overcome such challenges.

“Recent reforms have succeeded in strengthening the quality and credibility of apprenticeships,” it argued, “those gains must not be lost in the pursuit of higher achievement rates.”

In HE, UCAS reported on this year’s application figures at the all-important January Equal Consideration Date.

In a word, apart from UK mature applicants, the trend remains up.

In the case of UK 18 yr olds, it’s up by 4.8% on last year, although as UCAS acknowledged, “this rise reflects the growing size of the UK 18-year-old population and suggests participation is returning to pre-pandemic levels.”

UCAS has added more nuanced data this year which reveals some interesting insights.

As UCAS’s Director of Data and Analysis explained in a blog on the Wonkhe site, three messages stand out. More UK 18 yr olds are applying to high tariff institutions, most such applications centred on London, and perhaps not unexpected as a result, more are signalling they might live at home.

The issue behind the latter point is arguably money, an issue that has remained in the headlines this week as debate has centred on how fair or not some loan repayments are.

The concerns centre in particular on Plan 2 loans taken out between 2012 and 2023 which used the ‘heightened’ rate of RPI+ 3% and where the repayment threshold has been frozen. Its made repayment a debt trap according to some.

As the House of Commons Library Service explained in a briefing this week, the aim of the Plan was “to make the funding system more progressive, so higher earners make more of a contribution to the costs of higher education than lower earners.”

The FT headed its report on the matter as ‘a scandal in waiting’ although the Deputy Business Editor at the Sunday Times argued that while use of the RPI rate was ‘indefensible’, “someone has to pay for higher education. The debate ought to focus on whether this is the user or the taxpayer.”

And still on the money, the OfS reported on its commissioned survey into how far students were noticing the impact of the current financial restraints on the sector.

Just over half (52%) noticed cost-cutting measures such as larger classes, similar numbers were aware of possible risks to their university though most expected to be able to finish their course but larger numbers (83%) pointed to a gap between what they felt had been the broader university promise and the reality.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ’Schools in England should be phone free all day, education secretary says’ (Monday)
• ‘DfE to trial AI tutoring tools in schools this year’ (Tuesday)
• ‘All UK adults to get access to free AI training under new scheme’ (Wednesday)
• ‘Keep suspended pupils in school, ministers say’ (Thursday)
• ‘Nearly half of students concerned about their course closing’ (Friday)

General:

• UK Poverty 2026. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported on the state of poverty in the UK today showing that progress has ‘flatlined’ and in some cases worsened, that families with children, the disabled, informal carers and minority ethnic groups are among the groups worst affected and that the government should focus on ensuring financial protection for people in and out of work.
• Child Poverty. The Education and Work and Pensions Committees announced a new joint Inquiry into the government’s Child Poverty Strategy, seeking to establish whether it will deliver on its objectives or whether it should be more ambitious in its intent.
• AI progress. The government published details of the progress made under the AI Action Plan one year on, showing among other things 200,000 people studying AI-related HE programmes, 1m AI courses delivered since last June and £6bn investment raised by UK AI firms.
• Labour market. The government published the latest Labour Market Insights promised in the wake of last year’s ‘Get Britian Working’ White Paper, showing worklessness ranging from 70% to 80%, higher for older participants, coastal towns struggling and NEETs highest in the North East.
• Antisemitism survey. UNESCO published the results of a new EU-wide survey showing ‘an alarming rise in antisemitism and Holocaust denial’ as it announced a range of new classroom resources to help mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

HE:

• Applications latest. UCAS reported on how the 2026 application cycle was shaping up as of the January Equal Consideration Date, showing an increase in applications from UK18 yr olds, notably for high tariff institutions, and in international students, notably from China, with more UK 18 yr olds signalling they may live at home.
• Fee loans. The House of Commons Library Service outlined the various student loan repayment schemes and the differing rates of interest involved in each in a new briefing, as media headlines continued to raise concerns about the so-called Plan 2 repayment scheme.
• Not just about the money. The Office for Students (OfS) reported on its commissioned survey into how students were viewing the current financial restraints affecting the sector and what effects if any these were having, with just over half of the respondents reporting noticing cost-cutting measures in their institution but with higher numbers (83%) reporting a gap between what had been offered and the reality.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “I asked Cambridge computer scientists how the university deals with (mis)use of AI in exams and coursework. They said it’s not an issue because they still handwrite all their code on paper” –@t_blom.
• “How many schools communicate with their pupils online and expect them to submit written homework online? So much of this is done by thumbs on phones. If you want to ban phones from schools, maybe curtailing this practice would need to follow” -@Trivium21c.
• “It's lovely to get an email from the EduSec about phone bans. Now we need the government to explain clearly that it backs schools who have serious sanctions for students who breach the ban. "Bans" without sanctions aren't bans” -@lehain.
• “Suspension… the clue is in the name; you’re suspended from the school. You shouldn’t remain on site. If this move becomes policy it will be a disaster. It becomes isolation. It’s not the same thing. It will increase workload & it will make things even more difficult” -@Samstricko181.
• “Sad to say, England has become a world leader in labelling children. The latest one I heard is ‘greater depth pupils’ -@MelAinscow.
• “I've started some volunteering at a local primary school helping kids to read. Went in today - Year 2 kids - and as one of them came out to sit with me I said: "Hi! I'm Rich". To which he instantly replied: "How rich are you?" Might go with "my name is" next time!” -@itsrichwilliams.
• “One of my daughter’s teenage friends heard me use the word thesaurus and asked me if it was a type of dinosaur. I’m not kidding and neither was she” -@miles_commodore.
• “This morning my daughter said her ear hurt and I said on the inside or outside, so she walks out the front door, comes back in and says both. Moments like this has me wondering if I’m saving too much for college” -@elainesim28.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “The deeper you go, the further away from the poverty line you look, the worse things are” – the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports on poverty levels in the UK in 2026.
• “There are more young, unemployed people searching for work in England right now than there are people living in Iceland” – Dr Lawrence Newport on the challenge of youth/graduate unemployment.
• “It’s also a huge step forward that everyone who completes these short courses will get digital badges that properly recognise what they’ve learned” – the Chair of Skills England on the new AI skills training programmes announced by the government.
• “High-quality post-16 education transforms lives and strengthens our economy, and I look forward to working with colleagues across the inspectorate and in the education sector to support providers in delivering the best outcomes for learners” – Jonathan Childs, Ofsted’s new Deputy Director of Post-16 Education, Training and Skills.
• “The government has estimated that ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029/30” – the Minister answers an MP’s question about how much revenue is likely to be generated from the application of VAT to private school fees.
• “Learning about the Holocaust is not simply a matter of historical record. It enables young people to recognise prejudice, to challenge discrimination, and to understand the consequences when these go unchecked” – the Education Secretary highlights the importance of this week’s Holocaust Memorial Day.
• “Schools should not only have clear policies, but should make sure those policies are applied consistently across classes and at all times, and we want parents to back these policies too” – the Education Secretary outlines new guidance for schools on mobile phone use.
• “Suspensions will always play a critical role in helping heads manage poor behaviour, but time at home today can too easily mean children retreating to social media, gaming and the online world" – the Education Secretary on keeping non-violent suspended pupils inhouse.
• “It is disrupting education, limiting future employment, driving up public service costs, and threatening the UK’s long-term prosperity” – the charity Future Minds Group reports on growing concerns about children’s mental health.

• Everything else you need to know ...

  What to look out for in the next couple of weeks:

• Westminster Hall debate on ‘Educational outcomes for disadvantaged boys and young men’ (Tuesday 3 February)
• Education Committee witness session on ‘Reading for Pleasure’ (Tuesday 3 February)
• Other stories

  Mustn’t grumble. January is generally seen as the bleakest month for many and there’s certainly little cheer evident in the latest ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey released this week. For most people, trying to keep warm, pay the bills and save costs have been the big concerns at the start of this year. On keeping warm, one in six adults, generally the most disadvantaged, reported “occasionally, hardly ever, or never able to keep comfortably warm in their home in the past two weeks.” On paying the bills, food, energy and housing have been the big concerns for many. And on saving costs, spending less on essentials (61%,) buying cheaper food (51%,) even eating smaller portions (18%) have been among the reported ways of keeping the costs down. No wonder its seemed like a long month for so many. A link to the Survey is 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.