Most policy activity has been on hold given the week of national mourning, although education did gain a new minister with the appointment of Jonathan Gullis as Under-secretary at the DfE. Other education-related news has largely concerned the economy. The full version of Steve Besley's Education Eye can be accessed here.

GENERAL
Energy Relief Scheme. The government announced further details of its much-vaunted Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses, charities and public sector bodies like schools, which will see a discount applied on current wholesale gas and electricity prices, ’running for an initial six-month period to 31 March 2023.’
Global education. The UN Secretary-General highlighted the critical role that education plays in developing young people and nations as he addressed the UN Summit on Education, listing five priorities for the future including: access for all, quality teachers, schools as places of safety, digital provision, and investment.
Insulation challenge. The IPPR think tank called on the government to adopt a major (£7bn pa) retrofitting programme for the country’s cold and leaky houses, arguing this would generate jobs and ultimately save money but equally would require a major programme of skills training to meet the skills needs required.

SCHOOLS
Teacher recruitment and retention. The House of Commons Library Service published a useful briefing on teacher recruitment and retention running though recent initiatives to improve things in both cases, but pointing to the continuing demands of the job and the likelihood that things will remain challenging.
Education recovery. The Education Policy Institute reported on its roundtable held with the Publishers Association a couple of months ago looking into how best to aid education recovery, highlighting the importance of educational technology in helping catch-up but recognising that this could be hampered by a continuing digital divide.
Teacher attrition. The NFER compared leaving rates among teachers in England with those in Wales to see how far different national policies or other factors played a part, concluding that while generally lower in Wales, different economic and contextual factors made direct comparisons difficult. 
 
FE/SKILLS
Levy reforms. The EDSK think tank examined the impact of the apprenticeship levy on skills training so far, outlining some of the current issues such as the way its been used to rebadge existing training rather than invest in specific skills, calling for a more coherent approach to skills training including a wider Apprenticeships and Skills Levy, devolved local skills funding, and a new entitlement to paid training leave.
College strikes. The Guardian argued in an Editorial that while strikes are not always desirable, colleges and college staff in particular have had a raw deal when it comes to funding and if the government was serious about economic growth they should invest in the skills sector. 
L/D and Social Mobility. The TrainingZone in conjunction with the OU published a new report looking at ways in which learning and development (L/D,) either through reskilling or personalised learning, could help support social mobility and organisational efficiency. 
 
HIGHER EDUCATION
Clearing update. UCAS provided an Update on acceptances to university this year one month on from the summer results day, showing a one percent increase on last year in accepted places including record numbers of 18 year-olds from disadvantaged areas but also a high number of young people still to be placed. 
Uni Connect. The Office for Students (OfS) reported on the second phase of its Uni Connect programme designed to bring HE providers together in local partnerships with schools to encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply, showing an increasing range of activities and outreach work over the year 2020/21 with nearly 3,000 schools and colleges involved and over 180,000 ‘target learners’ participating at some point.
AI scholarships. The Office for Students launched a further funding competition for scholarships for students, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, to study artificial intelligence (AI) and for data science postgrad conversion courses, with employers encouraged to co-fund where possible.

Labour Party Annual Conference (Sunday 25 September – Wednesday 28 September).
Conservative Party Annual Conference (Sunday 2 October – Wednesday 5 October).

Monday 26 September: ASCL Data and Regulation Conference | ASCL (Central London)
Monday 26 September: Effective Principles of Instruction with Technology | TeacherToolkit (Online Event)
Tuesday 27 September: Next steps for the Music Curriculum in England and implementation of the new National Plan | Westminster Forum Projects (Online Event)
Tuesday 27 September: The Data Futures Breakdown 2022 | Inside Government (Online Event)
Tuesday 27 September: Child Protection in Education - London | Optimus Education (Central London)
Wednesday 28 September: Online Training Course: Managing R&I Performance, Metrics and Outputs | Inside Government
Thursday 29 September: Equalities Conference 2022 - Intersectionality - Who Do You Think You Are?  | NAHT (Online Event)
Thursday 29 September: AELP ED&I Summit | AELP (Central London)
Thursday 29 September: Child Protection in Education - Manchester | Optimus Education (Manchester)
Thursday 29 September: RSHE Digital Masterclass: Whole-school approach | Optimus Education (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.