Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 14 March 2025

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Eyes on the horizon this week with some important announcements looming.

Three have been in the news this week.

The first is the Chancellor’s financial statement, now just over ten days away. A statement not a budget we keep being told. Either way, it’s building up to be a big moment for education let alone other areas. Deep breaths all round.

The School Cuts Coalition made its view known to MPs this week.

According to their research, huge numbers of schools will struggle financially this year unless extra investment is made available.

As ASCL’s General Secretary explained,” Right across the country, schools are setting deficit budgets and preparing to make further cuts. It is not sustainable for things to carry on as they are.”

Second, the Curriculum and Assessment Review with MPs this week asking when the interim report will be published.

“In the spring,” replied the School Standards Minister, before going on to claim that “Labour will bring forward a cutting-edge curriculum that ensures that all our children leave school ready for work and for life.” No pressure there then.

And third, SEND where the Chair of the Education Committee wrote to the Minister, calling on the Dept to clarify when it was intending to set out its proposals for reform of the SEND system.

“In light of recent media reports suggesting the imminent publication of a White Paper on SEND, we ask you to write to us setting out your plans and the anticipated timescales for any policy announcements on SEND over the next six months.”

Plenty of expectation building up then but for the moment, education soldiers on, delivering as best it can.

Here’s what else has been happening across education this week.

In schools, the NFER published its latest annual report into teacher vacancies and retention in England suggesting that these “remain in a perilous state” and in danger of “posing a substantial risk to the quality of education.”

The report said “the time for half measures was over,” indicating that the Early Career Framework hadn’t really helped and calling among other things for an above average pay rise for teachers, notably for those in shortage areas, and for clear plans to tackle workloads and pupil behaviour.

Unions were quick to row in behind the recommendations. As ASCL said, “We are far beyond the point where small steps and half measures can address the scale of the recruitment and retention crisis in education.” The NEU said ‘the clock is ticking.’

Elsewhere, the government published further details from the 2023 Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMMS) for year 5 and 9 pupils in England, looking at some of the wider features.

Apart from the data on gender where unlike 2019, boys ‘significantly outperformed girls’ when it came to maths, and on socio-economic background where ‘pupils eligible for free school meals performed significantly lower than their non-eligible peers,’ the report threw some interesting light on other issues.

These ranged from the impact of pupils arriving tired to school (not good for performance) to the issue of experienced v inexperienced teachers (No great difference.)

As the report concluded. “Given the challenges of the past five years, the teachers and pupils are to be commended for their results in the assessments.”

Schools Week has a useful summary here of the key points from the 267-page report.

Talking of performance, GL assessment this week highlighted concerns about growing numbers of students with speech and language issues.

Its research, undertaken by YouGov, suggested that 89% of primary teachers and 78% of secondary reckon that “speech and language skills have worsened since 2020.”

Some is put down to the pandemic but also social media while ‘a lack of meaningful conversations at home and school’ is cited by many.

Early interventions and working closely with parents are called for.

And Ofqual released its annual qualifications market report for last year with a splurge of data on the number of awarding organisations, qualifications and certificates issued over the year, up in many cases reflecting the increased demographic of the year.

In FE, the Apprenticeship and Training Conference has been in full flow this week with important contributions from the minister and other leading players.

City and Guilds described it as ‘a landmark gathering’ with plenty of discussion around future skills planning, funding, AI and more.

The APPG (All-Party Parliamentary Group) for Youth Employment announced it was setting up an Inquiry to look into the benefits and opportunities for employers of a Youth Guarantee.

“This inquiry will help us understand how we can better support employers to engage with the Youth Guarantee and create meaningful opportunities for our youth,” Co-Chair Mims Davies explained.

And Pearson set out its thoughts on the long-running issue of GCSE English and maths resits, inviting contributions to its ‘Rethink Resit’ project with proposals for both short- and longer-term reform.

“We are calling for a rethink of how post-16 English and maths students achieve success, ending the requirement to re-sit exactly the same content studied at school.”

Last summer, just over 20% of post-16 resit candidates gained a grade 4 pass in GCSE English and just over 17% in maths. One union leader described the repeat exercise as ‘completely demoralising’ for young people.

In HE, Universities UK published a new briefing reminding all concerned, especially ministers keen on growth, that graduate skills are central to driving forward not just the key sectors in the government’s industrial strategy but local regions as well. “The most productive regions of the UK have the highest proportion of graduates in the workforce,” it claimed.

On a related theme, Edge and the IoE looked into the challenges as well as the opportunities for HE institutions to help bridge the gap between graduate study and employability. Employer engagement remains key.

At the same time, the Russell Group spelt out how it could help deliver on aspects of industrial strategy pointing to high-level skills training, global reach and local leverage as key factors. “This means putting partnership between government, business, the public sector and universities at the heart of the strategy.”

The OfS confirmed that it would pick up its registration assessment work again this August “with priority given to institutions with existing applications that were paused last year.”

The pause, it may be recalled, was to allow for energies to be directed to financial concerns in the sector.  

And it’s that time again. The Student Loans Company encouraged the Class of 2025/6, that’s f/t undergraduates new and continuing, to apply now for their loans for the coming academic year.

The government announced last autumn a fee increase for this year (to £9,535 for f/t courses) and is of course due to publish its policy paper for the sector in the summer.

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

General:

• Public sector reform. The PM set out plans to cut down on red tape, slash waste and adopt technology including new tech apprentices as he set out plans to make the state operate more efficiently and in the interests of ‘working people.’ 
• Tech address. The Technology Secretary addressed the techUK conference where he ran through a hectic list of announcements and reforms aimed at ‘supercharging innovation’ including bringing forward a dedicated tech plan, investing in telecoms research and engineering biology, and appointing Lord Willetts as Chair of the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO.)
• Industrial Strategy. The NAO published a report into the Dept for Business’s efforts around industrial strategy, acknowledging the progress made in supporting industry in recent years but urging the Dept to review its operating model to ensure greater clarity of purpose, collaboration across government, and identification of key metrics.
• Living standards 2025. The NIESR published its review of UK living standards 2025, arguing that “stagnation in real income growth in the last 15 years has caused UK living standards to plummet and cost UK workers thousands of pounds per year,” calling for tax cuts and changes to welfare as a result.
• Building the infrastructure. The British Chambers of Commerce called for a streamlined planning process, improved transport system, local skills funding and policy stability as it set set out a series of recommendations to improve infrastructure development.
• Investor Survey. The consultancy PwC reported on its latest survey among UK investors finding them optimistic about the broader economy and supportive of the role of technology but seeing upskilling of the workforce as the top priority.
• Book Fair. The Publishers Association highlighted the importance of UK publishing business as part of this week’s London Book Fair, pointing to a projected rise in UK literary tourism from £1.7bn currently to £2.1bn by 2030.
• First 100 days. The 2024-29 EU Commission marked its 100 days milestone with a published list of achievements ranging from growing defensive support for Ukraine, to Summits with India and South Africa, to a new Industrial Plan, Skills Action Plan and Competitiveness Compass.

HE:

• Back to business. The Office for Students (OfS) announced that having paused its registration work last year to allow time to focus on financial issues in the sector, it would restart this work again in August.
• The importance of graduate skills. Universities UK emphasised the importance of graduate skills to economic growth and productivity, showing in a new report that such skills align closely to the government’s defined growth sectors as well as to regional growth.
• Supporting industrial strategy. The Russell Group’s Industrial Strategy Panel set out a number of ways in which research-intensive universities could help deliver on key industrial strategy areas, including through high-level skills training, spinouts and start-up, and global reach.
• UK/EU R/D. Leading research groups including the Russell Group called on the government and the EU to ensure that UK/EU R/D remained as priority at the planned UK/EU Summit in May, pointing to the success of Horizon Europe as an example of the benefits from researchers working collaboratively.
• Bridges to employment. Edge called for greater collaborative learning and bridge building with employers as it published a new report with UCL’s Institute of Education, stressing the impact of practical learning, work experience and career guidance in helping graduates move into employment.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “Why is it 100 times quicker to mark books when they are in table piles rather than one big pile? Theres got to be some scientific reason!” -@DeputyGrocott.
• “Ministers will make 'tough decisions' about how to widen the apprenticeship levy to fund other types of training 'within a constrained budget' if the Treasury refuses to release more funding, skills minister Jacqui Smith warned today” -@FEWeek.
• “Can't even describe how much I hate what AI has done to the process of grading student work. I hate finding it, I hate the paranoia it fosters, I hate the confrontations with students who have used it. Nothing else in my experience has ever changed my job this much for the worse” -@PetreRaleigh.
• “My boy had tonsillitis. He’ll be off school for another day and all I can think about is his attendance statistic. Metrics without a soul” -@ShakinthatChalk.
• “School culture is not created by a laminated vision statement, a slogan or even policies, but it is created by what everyone does every day” -@Headteacherchat.
• “As teachers I think we sometimes underestimate how tiring school is for kids. Imagine a day of training where there are 5 one-hour sessions all about completely different things. Especially if there’s a lot of teacher talk (‘direct instruction’) -@norchcity.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “No person’s substantive time should be spent on a task where digital or AI can do it better, quicker and to the same high quality and standard” - the PM adopts a new mantra.
• “Away from the blockers standing in the way of growth. Towards you - the bold people building a new future for Britain” – the tech secretary sets out a bold vision of future innovation for the country.
• “A digital Sabbath” – what we all need according to the author of ‘The Anxious Generation,” Professor Jonathan Haidt.
• “While some enjoy a standard of living comparable to the most prosperous regions of Europe, the poorest are struggling to afford the most basic necessities, like food and heating” – the NIESR report on living standards in the UK in 2025.
• “I’ve seen first-hand the challenges and opportunities facing our universities and I am committed to ensuring that we continue to thrive” – Malcolm Press, the incoming president of Universities UK.
• “For us, freedom of speech is and always has been a priority because we think it goes to the core mission of what universities are for” – Arif Ahmed, OfS director of freedom of speech.
• “In the medium- to longer-term, we believe a new GCSE for post-16 learners is needed” – Pearson calls for reform of English and maths GCSE resits.
• “Through the independent curriculum and assessment review, Labour will bring forward a cutting-edge curriculum that ensures that all our children leave school ready for work and for life” – the Minister for School Standards bigs up the Curriculum Review.
• “The evaluation of teaching experience reveals a workforce that is experienced and clear about professional development needs” - the government reports further findings from the 2023 TIMMS report.
• “Fully funded pay increases that make teacher pay more competitive are essential to keeping teachers in the classroom and attracting new recruits” – the NFER recommends measures to tackle teacher recruitment and retention.
• “Staff in private schools are seeing their standard of living eroded by the continuing cost of living crisis” – the NEU reports on its survey of members working in the independent sector.

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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.