Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 11 April 2025

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

A lower key week with schools closed and MPs away for Easter.

There’s still plenty to report however so here’s a run through what’s been happening in education over the past week.

In schools, the Sutton Trust reported on its latest commissioned research into school budgets, painting a pretty bleak picture.

50% cuts to teaching assistants, 53% cuts to spending on trips and activities, reductions in exam choices, let alone cuts to overall staffing numbers. As the report says, “These figures point to a range of shocking pressures on school budgets” and it’s left just under 90% of school leaders reaching for the Pupil Premium to try and plug gaps.

The call, echoed in union comments, is for school budgets to be protected, if not enhanced, in the forthcoming Spending Review.

In the words of ASCL ““No school leader wants to be in the position of losing teachers or support staff, but the financial situation facing schools and colleges has seldom been as grim as it is right now.”

In other news, Ofqual published its regular pre-exam season guide with information both for teachers and parents about marking and grading for GCSEs and A levels. It came with accompanying animation. “Our animation walks you through the journey from exam hall to results day.”

The explainer covers the nature and importance of grade boundaries – often an important issue for students and parents. “Grade boundaries are set with the aim of maintaining standards over time, not to ensure that the same proportion of students get a particular grade.”

The Cultural Learning Alliance published its Report Card on the state of the Arts in state secondary schools in England. It followed last year’s Report which revealed a worrying 42% drop in the number of Arts GCSEs taken since 2010.

This year’s Report adds more context. Family deprivation is a big factor. “We can now see that where a child grows up, and their family’s socioeconomic status, are significant social determinants in whether or not they will pursue Expressive Arts options from the age of 14.”

In addition initial teacher training recruitment to Arts subjects is ‘in crisis’ and “we are still seeing a trajectory of Arts decline in secondary education.”

It’s not a happy read for a country that punches above its weight in creative performance.

Moving on, the Shadow Schools Minister kept up his commentary on the government’s plans with a Substack on school-led improvement. While the Social Market Foundation (SMF) looked into just how far pupil attainment and wellbeing can work together.

In their view, one doesn’t need to come at the expense of another. “Critics need not worry that prioritising wellbeing will come at the expense of attainment. It might just improve it,” they concluded.

According to their recommendations, one way of doing this might be through cutting down on the number of high-stake exams.  

The children’s commissioner for England called for head teachers rather than government to be arbiters of phone use in schools as she published a commissioned survey showing that 90% of secondary schools in England currently restrict use. “Blanket ban if you want but they’re doing it,” she said.

It came as The Guardian reported France tightening its rules on mobile phones in schools for 11–15-year-olds. ‘Children give up their phones on arrival – placing them a locker or box, or in a special locked pouch that can only be unlocked by an electronic system at the school gates as they go home.’

And the Education Policy Institute reported on a couple of state – independent school partnerships in a report for the HMC.

Each of the two models looked at offered plenty of benefits as well as a few challenges but ultimately as the report concluded, “they provided opportunities for pupils to engage in activities beyond their core curriculum, in some instances attaining additional qualifications, but often simply allowing pupils to gain other important skills such as collaboration with others and building confidence.”

In FE, the importance of STEM skills in future workforces was highlighted in a new international STEM Skills Index developed by the STEM workforce consultancy SThree and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr.)

It used 20+ indicators to rank a number of global workforces “to reveal who is leading the way in STEM and who risks being outpaced.”

Switzerland came out on top with the UK a creditable 7th out of 35 nations. In a word, “the UK punches above its weight in biotech and Life Sciences, but engineering and digital skills may need a boost to maintain global competitiveness.”

The Career Development institute (CDI) launched its new, Gatsby supported, tech ed careers hub, aimed at providing “comprehensive signposting to trusted external resources and regular updates on developments in the technical education landscape.”

And JISC launched its latest national survey for FE staff on their digital experience. It runs to the end of April. “Questions cover the hardware and software available to staff, the support and guidance to use them, their impact on teaching and administration, and the digital skills needed to make the most of technology.”

In HE, the Education Committee held its ‘deep dive’ session into HE finances this week with Sir Philip Augar, the Chair of course of the last major review into HE finances, a key contributor.

In his view it was “unthinkable” that a university could be allowed to go bust. The damage to staff, students, the community, let alone the reputation of UKHE would be, well, unthinkable.

He acknowledged that times were difficult and that government intervention might be needed but reckoned that this should come with scrutiny of institutional governance to see what had gone wrong.

The session came as a special taskforce was announced to help the ‘financially stricken’ Dundee University and Nottingham University set out plans to cut some admin jobs.

Elsewhere, Sussex University set out its grounds for appeal and judicial review of the recent judgement and fine against it imposed by the OfS in relation to freedom of speech.

According to the vice-chancellor, the judgement is “an unworkable and highly detrimental decision for the whole higher education sector.”

The university has written a pre-action protocol letter setting out its case and invited the OfS “to respond positively.” Wonkhe has a useful scene-setter for it all here.

The OfS has also been looking this week at the impact of industrial action on students and what protections it would like to see for them.

It duly set out a list of six expectations it expects providers to apply including developing effective contingency plans, communicating clearly with students and not limiting liability to them, and being prepared to pay fair compensation where necessary.

“We plan to share these expectations with students in the event of future sector-wide industrial action, emphasising the priority we place on the delivery of their education.”

And finally, the Times Higher looked into latest data on which institutions were awarding the most and the least top-class degrees. They ranged from Oxford with 92% of firsts or 2:1s to the Royal Agricultural University which awarded a mere 12% of firsts.

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

General:

• Quango alert. The government set out the principles behind its major review of quangos with each dept called on to justify every quango in scope or see them “closed, merged, or have powers brought back into the department.”
• Cyber security. The government announced the launch of the Cyber Governance Code of Practice along with a Cyber Security Toolkit and Governance Training designed to provide free support and guidance for boards and directors of medium and large organisations.
• EU AI Plan. The EU Commission set its sights on the EU becoming ‘a global  leader in AI’ as it presented its AI continent plan aiming to mobilise €200 billion investment with initiatives in 5 areas including increasing access to high-quality data, strengthening AI skills and talents, and building a large-scale AI computing infrastructure.
• AI developments. The IPPR think tank called on the government to take a stronger lead in shaping how AI is deployed as it published results from its ‘first of a kind’ AI database, showing that too many companies are focused on improving existing business processes rather than pursing innovations to help tackle societal concerns in areas like health, transport and climate change.
• Industrial strategy. Former minister David Willetts offered a practical guide to developing an Industrial Strategy in an essay for the Resolution Foundation, putting forward 20 tools that might help including getting senior ministers to work closely with top companies, promoting a mix of public/private investment for skills training and developing technology roadmaps.
• Recruitment. The British Chambers of Commerce reported a drop to 20% in the number of firms looking to recruit as its latest Recruitment Outlook Survey showed firms concerned about labour costs notably in sectors like manufacturing, hospitality and construction.
• Flexi working. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) highlighted the importance of flexi work options to employees as it published the results of a business survey conducted in February showing employers concerned about the impact of rising sickness rates on productivity and the need for flexible approaches.
• Children’s centres. The Centre for Young Lives pointed to a worrying decimation of children’s support and family hub services as it published FOI survey evidence showing council cuts to spending in these areas in recent years, calling as a result for ringfenced funding to secure future family support.

HE:

• Augar returns. The Times Higher reported that Sir Philip Augar, Chair of the last major HE funding review, argued that it would be ‘unthinkable’ for a university to fail but also that government support should be coupled with an institutional governance review, as he gave evidence to the Education Committee’s session on HE finances.
• Committee evidence. The Russell Group and Universities UK outlined their joint concerns and call for action as they posted their summary of the Education Committee’s session on HE finances, drawing attention to the fact that the first report from UUK’s Efficiency Taskforce is expected shortly.
• Grounds for appeal. Sussex University confirmed that it intended to appeal against the recent judgement and fine issued by the OfS in relation to Freedom of Speech, setting out eight grounds for appeal including the fact that the fine was ‘unreasonable and disproportionate’ and that the OfS had ‘misdirected’ itself in a couple of areas.
• Strike action protections. The Office for Students (OfS) pointed to concerns about the impact of industrial action on students, setting out ‘six expectations’ that it expects providers to adopt including communicating clearly with students and prioritising education provision where necessary.
• Language skills and research. The British Academy pointed in a new report to the importance of language skills as a tool in research, calling for these to be recognised in REF submissions and for investment to be made available for language training to avoid UK researchers from being cut off.
• Subject benchmarks. The QAA published this year’s batch of Subject Benchmark Statement setting out expected standards in specific subject areas with updates in a number of subjects including Accounting and Physics and a new Statement for Public Policy and Public Admin.
• Student survey. The QAA’s Student Strategic Advisory Committee announced the launch of a survey among current students and recent graduates about value for money and its importance to them, with a closing date for responses of 25 April 2025.
• Top marks. The Times Higher reported on latest HESA research showing a further fall in the number of universities awarding top degree awards, with Russell Group students generally receiving the largest number.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “In my view, the main reason we’re living in an age of ‘over diagnosis’ of mental health issues, is because we have chosen to ‘under invest’ in community development and well-being” -@SteveChalke.
• “My main takeaway(on Adolescence:) kids need to be supervised. They need scaffolded support by adults, to become adults. When we abandon them to their own pursuits, don’t be surprised when some of those pursuits take them into dark places, like Pinocchio stumbling into Pleasure Island” -@tombennett71.
• “Though this reminds me of a behaviour meeting I chaired where one of the things the child had done was to tell a teacher who was trying to help him complete his work “No, you do it, b**ch”. When this was read out, mum looked aghast. Dad smirked. Social media wasn’t the problem” -@botzarelli.
• “Years ago, I was teaching my grandmother how to do something on her laptop, and I told her to move the cursor. She peered over her glasses at the trackpad to find the cursor. Last month, I asked a student to move the cursor. They looked down at the trackpad” -@MBDscience.
• “Great opportunity for schools to get involved in @10DowningStreet's VE Day celebrations” -@bphillipsonMP.
• “Tonight my 3yo had a full meltdown because twenty-nine is followed by thirty instead of twenty ten” -@dmthomas90.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “We’re now eating into muscle and something substantial needs to happen pretty soon or we will be facing the question of what to do with a failed university.”- Sir Philip Augar gives evidence to the Education Committee on HE finances.
• “We are heartened by your explicit recognition of the population of children with Special Educational Needs within the wider group suffering the effects of poverty” – the Chair of the Education Committee responds to the Education Secretary’s earlier letter on the process for developing the Child Poverty Strategy.
• “I know from speaking to numerous school leaders that the current shift away from school-led school improvement to centrally-led is causing a lot of confusion and uncertainty for schools” – the Shadow Education Minister on school improvement.
• “‘If action isn’t taken, we’ll be failing the next generation” – the Sutton Trust paints a bleak picture on school funding.
• “A decade and a half of former government policies have led to erosion and decline across Expressive Arts subject take-up and the Arts teaching workforce” – the Cultural Learning Alliance reports on the state of the Arts in secondary schools in England.
• “This deficit model is frankly insulting to the many thousands of female teachers doing a wonderful job of educating boys in often challenging circumstances” -HEPI contributor Mark Roberts challenges the call for more male teachers to act as role models to boys.
• “The perpetual call of the device” - Baroness Beeban Kidron on the lure of the smartphone.

Education Eye will be back after the Easter break.

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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.