Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 23 May 2025

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Teacher’s pay, independent school pupil numbers, NEETs and university grant funding.

All among the big topics this week as many in education prepare take a breather for next week’s half-term.

Let’s start with the big news for many teachers, and that was the announcement on Thursday afternoon that the government had accepted the recommended 4% pay award from September.

Not only that, but it also pledged to stump up an extra £615m from the department’s budget to help pay for it.

Welcome, but a few buts, has been the general reaction. “We also welcome the additional funding allocated to partially cover the cost of the pay award and recognise the difficult financial situation in which the government is working”. the view from ASCL.

Schools are still expected to find the first 1% of the award through efficiencies, but there had been fears that it might be worse.

Earlier in the week, the Education Secretary had sharpened her tech credentials by announcing in an address to the Education World Forum this week, shared work on developing global guidelines for generative AI education along with a major international summit on the matter next year.

All aimed at making the UK a leading force in this area. “On this the UK will lead the way”.

And in other Bridget Phillipson news this week, she confirmed that a new early years strategy and ‘a refreshed’ international education strategy are both in the offing for the coming months.

Some important positioning by the Education Secretary this week

Elsewhere for schools, the Independent Schools Council reported a drop in pupil numbers in the face of what it saw as ‘a triple whammy on finances’, as it published its latest census and annual report.

Numbers were down nearly 11,000 or 2.0% on 2024 with Reception, Year 3 and Year 7 recording decreases of 5%.

“Make no mistake, this is a crisis for independent schools and is only just beginning”, the report explained. But on the positives, the report pointed to high levels of progression rates among pupils and the sector’s high standing in many parts of the world.

The overall message was of turning the positives into opportunities. Independent schools need “to reinvent the way they market themselves to parents and the wider public”.

In other news, ImpactEd and partners published extensive survey research confirming suspicions about when pupils start to turn off from school.

“Data shows that levels of enjoyment, trust, agency and safety drop dramatically among Year 7 pupils and never fully recover”. The steepest falls appear to be among girls and disadvantaged pupils.

The transition from primary to secondary tends to coincide of course with developmental changes for young people, but the impact on pupil engagement appear more stark in England than elsewhere.

In a new report on mental health service provision for children, the children’s commissioner called for “a fairer share of investment,” reduced waiting lists and fairer access to support services through the NHS 10- Year Plan.

“The numbers in this report are staggering,” she wrote.

In a similar vein, the IPPR think tank called for targeted investment and an end to political short-termism on children’s health policies. “The earlier we address both physical and mental health challenges for children, the more likely we can prevent costly health conditions and worklessness later in life”.

And Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate, called for children’s reading to turn from “an invisible privilege to a universal right”.

In FE, Impetus, the body that supports disadvantaged young people, published its latest report on the youth jobs market, pointing once again to the extra challenges facing those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Its most ‘striking’ finding appeared in its concluding section when talking about multiple disadvantage. “Young people who have low qualifications, special educational needs and disabilities and come from disadvantaged backgrounds, for example, face a likelihood of being NEET, 180% above the average”.

Its view was there’s no lack of willingness to help young people, rather a lack of targeted data, time and money. Nothing new there perhaps.

Interestingly, the report came out as the Skills Commission launched a new Inquiry into this area and the OECD published a new report on careers and young people, pointing, among other things, to worrying data on NEET numbers in the UK.

As ever no shortage of reports, but little sign as yet of concerted action.

Elsewhere, skills experts from the English and Maths Coalition and the Skills Federation variously called for clarity around apprenticeship developments, and a strengthening of requirements around English and maths.

The CITB confirmed Consensus support for its latest Levy proposals which now go to government for ratification.  

The Engineering Construction Training Board (ECITB) reckoned it’ll need 40,000 extra workers by 2030, a slightly lower increase than previously predicted given delays in current projects, but with “mechanical fitters, electrical technicians, process engineers, project managers, pipefitters, welders and design technicians”, among the occupations most in demand.

And the stars came out to support this year’s annual National Numeracy Day. To quote one, Denise Welsh “I am terrified. I have to add up under the table. I have never really been able to do my times tables.”

As ever, the National Numeracy charity and its ambassadors, are always on hand for those like Denise Welsh who remain terrified of numbers.

In HE, the government’s ‘Dear Sir David’ letter this week to the Chair of the Office for Students confirmed a cut to the OfS’s Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG) and capital funding for 2025/26.

UCU called the £100m+ budget reduction “catastrophic", the Russell Group saw it as “another blow to universities already facing stark financial challenges”.

The letter recognised that a smaller budget and sharper priorities would “involve making compromises elsewhere”, and went on to spell out where such compromises might be found, including reprioritising funding towards more economically important courses, ringfencing the student premium, and sharpening the evidence base for access and opportunity.

Further ‘review and reform’ of the Grant is set to follow next month’s Spending Review, with the emphasis on ensuring better value for money and alignment with government objectives. The outlook remains ‘challenging’.

In other HE news, the government published its commissioned review into student suicide deaths and incidents of non-fatal self-harm. An upward trend over the previous decade had let to serious concerns. Last year for instance saw “a total of 169 incidents from 79 providers”.

Among the contributory factors, two stood out: ‘mental ill health and academic problems’.

The review identified gaps in data and support, and some system failures, and came up with 19 recommendations, with lots of proposals about better guidance, support and access, but as Wonkhe pointed out, statutory guidance might now be needed.

Finally, UPP Foundation reported on one of the country’s so-called ‘university cold spots’. HEPI reported on the career profiles of vice-chancellors, where there’s been considerable turnover in recent years.

As former VC Sir Chris Husbands explained, “the job has become more definitively the job of a chief executive, less overtly or obviously academic, but with some of the overtones of being a football manager”.

And Wonkhe announced the launch of what looks like an important Augar Mark 2 project, looking again at post-18 provision.

“The Post-18 Project is an initiative to shape the policy environment around universities and colleges, and provide practical solutions for anyone with a stake in the success of post-18 education in the UK. We bring new thinking, ideas and analysis from experts around education to drive reform of post-18 education in the UK”.

Timely and welcome.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ‘Third of school staff say safeguarding training inadequate’ (Monday).
• ‘School engagement plummets in Year 7, research finds’ (Tuesday).
• ‘Universities must do more to prevent suicides, ministers say’ (Wednesday).
• ‘Teachers to get 4% pay rise’ (Thursday).
• ‘Government extends flexible working programme’ (Friday).

General:

• Productivity costs. The Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) highlighted the challenges the government faces around falling public sector productivity arguing that if the trend in declining productivity continues, it could end up costing the government £5.1bn in extra labour costs by 2030.
• Sure Start. The IfS rounded up its examination into the impact of the previous Labour government’s Sure Start programme, concluding that its effect on outcomes such as educational attainment and hospitalisations was ‘overwhelmingly positive', and while ‘no silver bullet’, its effects were widespread and exceeded costs.
• Child poverty. The Child Poverty Action Group and partners reported on their commissioned research into public attitudes on child poverty, showing widespread public support for action from government as it prepares to draw up its overall strategy in this area.
• Early childhood. The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood reported on some of the work and support received from banks, companies and supermarkets since the launch of its major Taskforce report last year, with further projects, funding and activity being lined up for the year ahead.
• Children’s health. The IPPR think tank called for investment in children’s health, arguing in the first of what’s intended to be an extended programme of work on the subject, that this could not only benefit families long-term, but also generate both economic and social benefits.
• Adult numeracy. The charity National Numeracy published a new survey report as part of its annual National Numeracy Day revealing a gender gap when it comes to numbers, with ‘women significantly less confident dealing with numbers and making financial decisions’ than men, calling as a result for greater support to be made available to women.

HE:

• Grant funding. The Education Secretary announced the funding available under the strategic priorities grant and capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year, down £100m+ on last year with the focus remaining on supporting high-cost strategically important subjects, specialist providers, student access and regulation but aligned to government priorities and review next year.
• Student suicides. The government published its commissioned report into student suicide deaths following an upward trend in the decade before 2019, pointing to a number of factors – including primarily mental ill health and academic problems, and calling for better data, training, support, and access to services generally.
• Dear Chancellor. Universities UK wrote to the Chancellor ahead of next month’s Spending Review to highlight the importance of research and of universities’ role in this and calling for the government to use the Review to support research, increase per-student funding, and ease restrictions on international students.
• N8 universities. London Economics highlighted the impact that N8 – the group of Northern research intensive universities – has on both the region and the UK economy generally, supporting nearly 100,000 jobs, generating over £18bn in economic impact and promoting research generally, concluding with a warning about limiting future funding opportunities.
• HE cold spots. UPP Foundation reported on its research in Doncaster, one of the country’s so-called university ‘cold spots’, finding worries about costs and future jobs, local family roots and limited career guidance among the reasons why young people were not considering going to university, with recommendations on how to change things promised in a report shortly.
• C. CVs. The HE Policy Institute (HEPI) examined the CVs of university vice-chancellors, acknowledging how crucial, but equally how challenging the role can be, noting that there has been ‘significant turnover’ in recent years and that those recruited from outside the sector or from a previous VC role tend to perform best.
• Research support. The Royal Society announced it was making £30m available over the next two years through its new Faraday Fellowship route to attract global talent and support UK science research and development.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “I wish students wouldn’t try to cram revision in last minute using TikTok and instead used the 100+ resources I’ve provided for them”. | @hkateaching
• “Somehow managed to use one of the unseen poems in revision yesterday and now year 11 100% think I’m a witch”. | @MissPowellEng
• “In 2024, we received more than 1500 reports of social media accounts and websites claiming to have confidential exam material for sale. If you see anyone claiming to have confidential exam material, report it to us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.”. | @PearsonEdexcel
• “Maybe Y7 kids suffer this sudden "substantial decline" in their enjoyment of education because too many schools overwhelm them with excessive levels of control & punishment in their very first weeks of secondary school”. | @AdamHighcliffe
• “Private schools have long had the freedom to employ unqualified teachers. No one questions whether parents paying tens of thousands of pounds a year are receiving a substandard education. So why should state school families be denied the same flexibility?”. | @Miss_Snuffy
• “When (and why) did we start arriving *into* places rather at them? "This train arrives into Horsham at 10.15". | @SuanElkinJourn

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “A government that taxes education and opposes school leaders’ evidence-based plans to improve standards has lost its way. It is time to learn some lessons from the past” – former government education adviser Tim Leunig writes for the FT on the need for the current government to learn from the past.
• “So getting AI on the right track now is the most important challenge for global education in a generation” – the Education Secretary announces major new work and support for the UK around Ai in education.
• “Let’s call them what they are: these are cuts” – the Russell Group calls out the savings in the latest grant letter from government.
• “The review has shown where the problems lie – now ministerial courage is needed to implement solutions that are universally applied” – Wonkhe reflects on the commissioned report into student suicides.
• “It only takes 10 minutes and you can find all the details on the website” – the charity National Numeracy encourages users, as part of its annual National Numeracy Day, to sign up to its National Numeracy Challenge.
• “Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1% of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count” – the Education Secretary sets out this year’s pay award for teachers.
• “Repeating our methodology for Autumn and Spring 2023/24 and 2024/25, we see little change in the rate of suspensions and exclusions across all year groups” – FFT Education Datalab examine the latest data on school suspensions and exclusions.
• “There have been some welcome improvements in investment and access to services, but too often it remains a case of too little and too late, leaving children waiting far too long for help” – the children’s commissioner publishes her latest report on mental health service provision.
• “Long-run benefits are likely to significantly exceed the costs” – the IfS reports on its evaluation of the previous Labour government’s Sure Start programme.
• “As a secondary school kid in the 1970s, I loved school dinners. Meat and potato pie that was cut into slabs from a huge metal tray. Chips served every other day. Gloopy gravy. Soup served with a rock-hard bread roll that could be launched as a projectile. And occasionally was” – i-newspaper readers reflect on the joys of school dinners in days gone by.
• “They’re eight and six but I have been extremely clear with them that they are getting a smartphone when they are 16 and not any earlier” – Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott on when her children will be allowed smartphones.

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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.