A look back at the last week in education, a peek at what's coming up, plus lots of other interesting stuff to help with lesson planning  ...

LOOKING BACK AT THE WEEK THAT WAS Three of the week's headlines ... More sixth form college strikes possible, union leaders say Read more Watchdog ‘appalled’ by use of restraint on autistic children at London school Read more William Hague elected chancellor of Oxford University Read more Visit EdNews to filter all the education news by phase or topic Three pieces of policy news - by phase Follow this link to view the full version of Steve Besley's popular policy round-up - including an overview of all the important stories, his top headlines of the week, tweets and posts of note, the most memorable quotes, not-to-be-missed statistics and what to look out for next week. As your starter for ten, we've chosen three items from each phase below ... GENERAL: Get Britain Working. The Work and Pensions Secretary launched the government’s white paper on ‘Getting Britain Working’ again, setting out a range of reforms and reviews “to target and tackle the root causes behind why people are not working, joining up help and support based on the needs of local people and local places.” White Paper Briefing. The Learning and Work Institute published a briefing on the ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper and in particular what’s needed in terms of numbers and support for the government to reach its ambition of an 80% employment rate. CBI Conference Blueprint. Rain Newton-Smith, CBI CEO, addressed the organisation’s Annual Conference where she set out three key areas for growth more immediately around the workforce and a reformed levy, and in the longer term, around the Industrial Strategy, as she launched a new Blueprint for Competitiveness. SCHOOLS: Inspection outcomes. Ofsted reported on its 2023/24 inspection outcomes for state schools, showing a small increase to 90% in the number inspected judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ with 39% retaining their top grade. Breakfast clubs. The government invited applications from schools hoping to become early adopters from next April of its free breakfast club scheme, ahead of a national rollout due in the future. Career Insights. The Careers and Enterprise Company published the results of its major survey, conducted among secondary schools over the past year, into student perceptions about career readiness finding students starting to express more definite career ideas from Year 7, with key transition points such as Year 11 acting as prime motivators. FE/SKILLS: 16-19 funding. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) set out the funding conditions for GCSE English and maths for 2025/26 which will see respective 16-19 students provided with 100 hours of teaching in each subject across the year, recorded through data returns with an additional hour a week of maths where required and a 2.5% tolerance maintained. GCSE resits. The Education Endowment Foundation announced two new post-16 projects, one supporting students resitting GCSE English or maths and one supporting FE teachers working with GCSE maths resitters, that will run next year and help build up evidence of what works best with resit students    Skills strategy. The FT reported that businesses were concerned about the slow progress and lack of ambition of the government’s skills strategy with a new Industrial Strategy not due until next year, little progress on development of a new Growth and Skills Levy and concerns about the status of Skills England. HE: Student loans. The Student Loans Co provided a new roundup of loans provided to UK students over recent years, showing a 3.8% decrease to £19.9bn in total support provided last year with the average f/t tuition fee loan amounting to £8,220, and with a total of £4.77bn paid out for the current year to date. Lifelong Learning. The HE Policy Institute (HEPI) and education technology company Instructure called for the Lifelong Learning Entitlement and the Growth and Skills Levy to be brought together as part of a unified, flexible pathway for lifelong learning rather than implemented as two separate approaches. Business Plan. The Student Loans Co published its Business Plan for 2024/25 setting out a range of outcomes and measures for its three core ‘client’ groups of customers, shareholders and staff respectively, pledging among other things further support for disabled students and enhanced efficiencies, along with building for the future as the current Corporate Plan draws to a close. Access all issues of Steve Besley's Education Eye Latest research, reports and studies Education Policy Outlook 2024: Reshaping teaching into a thriving profession from ABCs to AI | OECD Networks of headteachers and schools | EPI Satisfaction in Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey reaches new heights in 2024 | Advance HE The socio-economic gap in teenage motherhood | FFT Education Datalab Using Schema theory to understand how students learn | Teacher Toolkit What kind of school would you really like to work in? | Teacher Tapp How can we reduce food poverty for under-fives? | EPI Intersectionality and Key Stage 5 subject choice | FFT Education Datalab Aligning the Lifelong Learning Entitlement and the Growth and Skills Levy: how these policies could work together under a new Government | HEPI What recent trends in graduate numbers could mean for the future of teacher supply | NFER Analysing further education recruitment trends using a large language model | SchoolDash Colour coding resources supports thinking | Teacher Toolkit 2023 Childcare Providers’ Finances Report | London Economics Report warns thousands of vulnerable children at risk of criminal exploitation and urges Government to roll out Young Futures in disadvantaged areas | Centre for Young Lives   Search our education research section COMING UP IN THE NEXT WEEK Parliament and elsewhere Universities UK International Student Recruitment Conference (Monday 02 December) Education Committee evidence session on L3 qualification reform (Tuesday 03 December) Westminster Hall debate on statutory framework for home-to-school transport for SEND pupils (Tuesday 03 December) HEPI hosted launch of LSBU English HE Social Mobility Index 2024 (Tuesday 03 December) UCAS End of Cycle reporting (Thursday 05 December) Release of secondary school 2024 performance data (Thursday 05 December) Events and CPD opportunities Monday 02 December: International student recruitment conference 2024 | UUK (in-person event) Tuesday 03 December: The future of assessment in England’s schools | Westminster Forum (online event) Tuesday 03 December: Research and innovation conference 2024 | UUK (in-person event) Thursday 05 December: Internal Alternative Provision: from Remote to Reintegration with students at the core | Academy 21 (online event) Thursday 05 December: AI in the secondary school setting – How to prepare for a future of AI writing | SecEd (online event) Thursday 05 December: Developing your coaching skills | BTS Spark (in-person event) Thursday 05 December: Understanding Christianity (Secondary) | NATRE (online event) Running an education-related event that you'd like to see included in our calendar? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with details and a link to the booking info. See all events Three interesting daily facts MONDAY 02 DECEMBER On this day in 1804 General Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the French at Notre Dame in a ceremony officiated by Pope Pius VII. On this day in 1929 the first skull of Peking man, later dated at roughly 750,000 years old, was found in the caves of Zhoukoudian outside of Peking, China. On this day in 1982 Barney Clark became the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart and lived for 112 days after the transplant.   TUESDAY 03 DECEMBER On this day in 1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduced potatoes to England from Colombia. On this day in 1984 a gas leak from a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India killed over 2,000 people and affected thousands of others. On this day in 2017 the first pizza party in space was held by astronauts on the International Space Station.   WEDNESDAY 04 DECEMBER On this day in 1123 Persian mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet, Omar Khayyam died at the age of eighty-three. On this day in 1791 British newspaper 'The Observer' became the first newspaper in the world to be published and read on a Sunday. On this day in 2018 research published in 'Nature' and 'Science' claimed Native Americans had just one migration from Siberia to the New World at most 23,000 years ago.   THURSDAY 05 DECEMBER On this day in 771 Charlemagne became the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman. On this day in 1766 art auction house Christie's held their first auction in their permanent sales room in Pall Mall, London. On this day in 1945 five US Navy torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 were lost east of Florida in the supposed Bermuda Triangle.   FRIDAY 06 DECEMBER On this day in 1865 the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified abolishing slavery across the US and its territories except as a criminal punishment. On this day in 1933 'Ulysses' by James Joyce was ruled not obscene by a federal judge after the book had been banned immediately following publication in both the US and England. On this day in 2006 NASA revealed photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars. Awareness days from around the world DECEMBER IS UK: Decembeard. WORLDWIDE: Advent begins, Bingo's Birthday Month, Blue Christmas, Gift of Sight Month, International Sharps Injury Prevention Awareness Month, Learn A Foreign Language Month, National Car Donation Month, National Cat Lovers’ Month, National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, National Giving Month, National Human Rights Month, National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, National Pear Month, National Tie Month, National Write A Business Plan Month, Operation Santa Paws, Quince And Watermelon Month, Root Vegetables And Exotic Fruit Month, Safe Toys And Gifts Month, Spiritual Literacy Month, Tomato And Winter Squash Month, Universal Human Rights Month, World Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome Awareness Month, Worldwide Food Service Safety Month.   THIS WEEK IS UK: National Grief Awareness Week, Illumination Street Week. WORLDWIDE: Better Conversations Week, Clerc-Gallaudet Week, Crohn's And Colitis Awareness Week, Hornbill Festival, Inclusive Schools Week, National Cookie Cutter Week, National Deal Week, National Handwashing Awareness Week, National Influenza Vaccination Week, National Pet Suffocation Awareness Week, Older Driver Safety Awareness Week, Zagreb Advent.   MONDAY 02 DECEMBER WORLDWIDE: Business of Popping Corn Day, Cyber Monday, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, National Build Joy Day, National Fritters Day, National Jandal Day, National Mutt Day, National Skip School Day, National Special Education Day, Play Basketball Day, Safety Razor Day, Special Education Day, Walt Disney Day, World Computer Literacy Day.   TUESDAY 03 DECEMBER WORLDWIDE: International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Let’s Hug Day, Make A Gift Day, National Day of Giving, National Green Bean Casserole Day, National Heather Day, National Roof Over Your Head Day, World Coati Day, World Trick Shot Day.   WEDNESDAY 04 DECEMBER WORLDWIDE: Cabernet Franc Day, Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day, International Cheetah Day, National Cookie Day, National Dice Day, National Package Protection Day, National Sock Day, Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, Santa’s List Day, Wear Brown Shoes Day, World Wildlife Conservation Day.   THURSDAY 05 DECEMBER WORLDWIDE: Bathtub Party Day, International Ninja Day, International Volunteer Day, Krampusnacht, National AFL-CIO Day, National Blue Jeans Day, National Communicate with Your Kids Day, National Repeal Day, National Sacher-Torte Day, World Soil Day.   FRIDAY 06 DECEMBER WORLDWIDE: Faux Fur Friday, Mitten Tree Day, National Bartender Day, National Gazpacho Day, National Microwave Oven Day, National Miners Day, National Pawnbrokers Day, Put On Your Own Shoes Day, Saint Nicholas Day. 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