GENERAL: Employment Rights. The government reported back on its various consultations around employment rights, confirming a series of amendments to its Employment Rights Bill that would see among other things, zero hours contract rights applied to agency workers, statutory sick pay extended to low earners, and improved rules over collective redundancy.
Work coaches. The government announced that it was deploying a thousand of its existing Work Coaches to work with eligible sick and disabled people, providing intensive support and career guidance to help them back into work as part of a planned move on reforming the welfare system and targeting economic inactivity.
Neighbourhood rebuilding. The government listed 75 areas which will each receive up to £20m over the next decade to help local neighbourhood boards come together to revive high streets and improve local services from health, education and employment to crime prevention and youth clubs.
Business Confidence. The Adam Smith Institute reported on its survey among business leaders pointing to ‘low levels of confidence in the UK business environment’ largely due to high taxes, regulation and high energy costs, with the resent NIC hike a particular bugbear.
Economic forecast. The British Chambers of Commerce published its latest Quarterly Economic Forecast (QEF) downgrading growth prospects for this year to 0.9% from 1.3% previously with unemployment likely to rise to 4.6%, ‘as cost pressures bite.’
Protecting children’s data. The Information Commissioner’s Office reported that it had opened an investigation into how Tik-Tok uses the personal information of 13–17-year-olds as it published an update on its progress in protecting children’s privacy online.
Tackling child poverty. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) with Save the Children set out their thoughts on tackling child poverty as the government works up its own strategy, pointing to two key policy priorities that should form part of the national strategy, namely setting binding targets and investing in the social security system.
Teething issues. The government announced the launch of its programme with Colgate Palmolive to tackle tooth decay among young children with funding to support supervised toothbrushing for 3 – 5-year-olds along with free toothbrushes and toothpaste. SCHOOLS: Progress on the Bill. The House of Commons Library Service reported on the progress of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, running through the main measures in the Bill and amendments considered, as well as those on care leavers and academy teachers agreed at the Bill’s Second Reading last month.
Facing abuse. The NAHT reported that over 80% of school leaders surveyed had received abuse from parents over the past year as it published the results of a survey revealing ‘shocking examples’ of physical and verbal abuse by parents of school leaders, calling on the government to conduct a review of complaints procedures.
EIF effect. Ofsted reported on its research into curriculum quality in schools, arguing that while this tended to be driven by schools themselves, the Education Inspection Framework (EIF) had been a useful contributor to institutional thinking.
Disadvantage funding. The Public Accounts Committee argued in a new report, that the government needs better grip on how disadvantage funding is being spent with, for example, indications that pupil premium funding is being used to plug budget gaps rather than support disadvantaged children. Missing out. The Education Policy Institute called for better data and auto-enrolment for free school meals as it published a new report showing that the number of pupils registered for free school meals or receiving the pupil premium was lower than the number estimated to be in poverty.
Maladministration report. The Standards and Testing Agency reported on issues of maladministration in assessment reported to it over the last year, showing that over 670 cases were investigated, largely at KS2 and largely to do with ‘incorrect completion of transcripts.’
Special school workforce. The NFER followed up its blog last week looking at the workforce in special schools by examining teacher recruitment and retention in both special schools and alternative provision, highlighting the issue of a lack of a dedicated training route in such cases.
Happy birthday. FFT Education Datalab toasted its 10th birthday by looking back at some features from its first report ten years ago such as the KS4 attainment gap which has actually got worse, as well as some of the top issues ten years on including exclusions and SEND, both of which have become more challenging concerns. FE/SKILLS: Funding. The FT reported on the impact of a likely funding squeeze on FE with colleges set to get only two-thirds of the money promised last year for additional 16-19 numbers, given ‘exceptional growth in numbers.’
More on funding. The government also pointed to ‘exceptional growth in numbers’ as it set out calculations for scaling back the 2024/25 growth funding originally identified for most 16–19-year-olds in colleges this year.
AI in Voc Ed. The AoC announced a new partnership with Ufi VocTech Trust aimed at helping support the development and use of digital tools and innovation in FE with an Insight survey on current use kicking off the initial work. Union of Skills. The EU pledged to create a European Skills High-Level Board, a Skills Guarantee and a new European Vocational Education and Training (VET) Strategy as it set out its plans to increase levels and portability of skills across the EU as part of a major new Skills Plan.
SME Manufacturers Blueprint. Make UK/Civitas called for improved access to skills and growth funding, along with shared data with the education sector on skills needs, as they published a new ‘Blueprint for Scaling Up SME Manufacturers.’
16/17 yr olds in colleges. The AoC published its annual paper on where publicly funded 16- and 17-year-olds study, showing the number in colleges in England last year rose 2% as the numbers of young people continue to rise. HE:
Jobs crisis. The UCU pointed to a growing jobs crisis in UKHE with over 5,000 jobs at risk across a range of universities, as it launched a campaign to support funding for HE and an end to staff cuts.
Financial return. The OfS called on institutions to submit an interim financial return for the financial year ending 2025 as it sought to get a better handle on any ‘material movements’ in core finances and a ‘refreshed understanding’ of the financial picture for both institutions and the sector overall. Pandemic impact. The Times Higher reflected on the impact of the pandemic on HE five years on, with issues around the role of lectures v online teaching, the increase in the number of students reporting mental health worries, and the subsequent pressure on both national and institutional resources, continuing to provoke debate.
Students from conflict regions. The British Council pointed to ‘a significant rise’ (38%) in the number of students from conflict-affected regions between 2018 – 2023 participating in UK institutions through transnational education with the OU, Liverpool John Moores and Suffolk Universities the most involved and with Nigeria and the Lebanon showing the highest numbers.
Swing to science. The HE Policy Institute (HEPI) published a new paper looking at what’s fuelled a drive by UK students to take up STEM subjects over recent years, suggesting that rather than government persuasion it was more a case of more A level students taking maths and sciences, concerns about future employment prospects, and a growing ethnic intake favouring such subjects.
Regulation. Universities UK reported on its recent series of workshops on ‘regulation in the interests of students’ ahead of a new strategy from the OfS on the matter, with five key themes emerging from quality and transparency to employability and conditions of learning.
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