Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 15 August 2025

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

A big exams results week of course.

In other news Sir Nick Gibb has written a new book about school reform, future jobs and skills have been in the spotlight and researchers have pointed to the rising living costs facing many university students.

 More on all of these in a moment but first those all-important A level, T level, BTEC and other results.

Widespread coverage of course but away from the annual Jeremy Clarkson incursion -pointing this year to his helicopter launch pad as a recompense for those that like him got poor A level grades – four headlines stand out.

First that thankfully stability has returned to the exam system after the pandemic years and its aftermath.

The evidence is clear. Over a million what are called L3 results issued including nearly 240,000 for tech and applied general qualifications, the proportion of top A level grades @ 9.4% broadly the same as last year, performance across subjects pretty stable and results all signed off by the regulator. The Daily Telegraph hinted at grade inflation but overall this points to a reassuring picture.

As the Chief Regulator said, “standards have been maintained for another year, with grades determined by students’ performance in exams using exam boards’ strict marking and grading processes.”

Second there’s a sense that students have made different, if not ‘better,’ choices in terms of their future this year.

A level entries were slightly down despite higher numbers of 18-year olds, T level entries were up and as the Executive Director at Ofqual blogged “We can’t be certain but it may be that some students who might have taken A levels in previous years instead opted for some of the level 3 vocational options, such as applied general qualifications (for example BTECs) or T Levels.”

The subjects with the largest entries at A level were maths, psychology and biology and business admin, social sciences and science and maths at applied general. Some perhaps more directly career related than others but arguably all reinforcing the need for continued choice at L3 as the ‘Protect Student Choice’ campaign has been arguing for some time.

Third, attainment gaps remain a concern.

This is particularly the case at a regional level where the gap widened in places this year with for instance the proportion of top A level grades in London and the South East reaching 32.1% and 31.2% respectively against 22.9% and 23.8% in the North East and East Midlands.

As the Sutton Trust wrote, “the gap is now significantly above pre-pandemic levels.”

In the words of the NAHT, the worsening gap “could range from differences in the impact of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, to specific areas of poverty and varying investment into education, health, social care and other support services and infrastructure” but either way “needs closer investigation.”

The Education Secretary expressed her concern in various interviews and pointed to her focus on early years and the recent setting up of an inquiry to look into the educational outcomes of white working class pupils. It remains a wide-ranging issue.

And fourth university entry, where the story has been the record number of students accepted for their first-choice university. Up 4.5%, including ‘higher numbers of 18-year olds from deprived areas.’

According to UCAS the subjects with the largest percentage increase in placed students are engineering and technology, mathematical sciences, and law.

Clearing plays out over the coming days so how far this all provides a much needed boost to higher ed, and in particular to lesser-known institutions, remains to be seen

On to other matters across education this week starting with schools where Sir Nick Gibb’s new book on school reform out this week has attracted considerable interest.

Co-written with joint headteacher Robert Peal, the book offers in the words of education commentator Jonathan Simons, “a go-to-guide for school system improvement for any ambitions and reforming Minister around the world.”

This can be boiled down to ten key implementation lessons, all neatly summarised in Schools Week this week. ‘Never stop making your case’ and consult and road test extensively, to quote just two.

In other news, Ofsted added a new date (2 October) in its programme of webinars on the new inspection system for state funded primary schools.

And the Education Policy Institute considered the latest school absence figures, suggesting that they offered “some long-awaited good news, with falling overall and persistent absence – notably at secondary school.”  

On the downside concerns remain about absence rates among more vulnerable groups, including notably SEND pupils. “Absence continued to rise among those with EHCPs (from 8.4 days of absence in autumn 2023/24 to 8.7 days in autumn 2024/25,)” the briefing noted.

In FE, jobs and skills have been a big theme this week with three new reports on the UK labour market, none wildly optimistic, plus a new assessment of employment demand and skills needs for key sectors critical for the economy and an update from government on its planned Construction Technical Education Colleges (TECs.)

The context is of a labour market described by many as ‘cooling down.’ There was certainly evidence of this in the flurry of surveys released this week.

The ONS for instance in its latest quarterly report pointed to job vacancies falling in 16 out of 18 sectors.

As the Learning and Work Institute described it, “The labour market continues to cool with payroll employment down an estimated 164,000 over the past year and vacancies falling for the 37th month in a row.”

On a more positive note, the ONS reported a fall in the economic inactivity rate and wage growth holding steady although the NIESR reckon wage growth will continue to fall, reaching 4% rather than the current 4.6% by the end of the year.

A similar picture emerged in the latest labour market survey from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

Headlines here included recruitment activity ‘falling sharply’ and starting salaries slowing. “Economic uncertainty, the complexities of AI adoption and global headwinds are all weighing on business planning,” the Group Chief Exec at KPMG explained.

While in its labour market report the CIPD pointed to ‘employer confidence remaining low, with the net employment balance at +9 - little changed from +8 last quarter and still among the lowest levels recorded outside the pandemic.’

Positive employment news in fairly short supply therefore with many looking to the government to provide for a more hopeful scenario.  

Right on cue the government announced formal development of its plans to create ‘state-of-the-art Technical Excellence Colleges.’

The aim is for these to work with local employers and training providers to help develop skills in construction, carpentry, bricklaying and so on to support the government’s house building ambitions.

Driving much of this will be the ten key sectors in the government’s Industrial Strategy which according to the latest assessment of skills from Skills England this week, will see likely additional employment demand in a number of sectors.

“Initial modelling suggests that occupations in Digital, Adult Social Care, Construction and Engineering have the greatest additional employment demand between 2025 and 2030.” A third of these and other priority occupations will require level 2 and 3 qualifications and two-thirds, level 4 and above qualifications.

Skills England will be earning its keep in the coming months as the economy takes shape and the government lines up its much anticipated Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy.

On to HE where the traditional summer season debate about the merits or otherwise of choosing to go to university has been raging for much of the past week or so ahead of this week’s exam results.

“I’m a teacher but I don’t understand the obsession with university,” wrote one columnist in the i-newspaper at the weekend. Costs and uncertainty about future jobs seem to be the main concerns.

The issue of costs was highlighted in a detailed report this week from HEPI and Loughborough University looking at the figures for first-year students in university halls.

As HEPI’s Nick Hillman wrote, “the top-level finding is that first-year students living in halls need £418 a week – over £20,000 a year and double the maximum maintenance support package in England.” He reckoned that a ‘typical’ student would need to work 20 hours a week throughout the year to earn enough to hit the minimum income standard.

The report raises a number of issues around just what an acceptable minimum income standard should be, how far expensive halls are needed for students and whether this is short term pain for long term gain.

Yet support for going to university remains high as University Alliance highlighted in a survey this week, with parents and grandparents “overwhelmingly” (84%) in favour, albeit with a more flexible loans system.

Many students are turning to commuting to help cut costs with the latest figures showing over 30% of students opting to live at home. And as one student added ‘Mum makes all my meals.’

Either way, the Times Higher reported this week that experts reckoned “all the ingredients are there for a bumper year of UK university entrants.”

A big question remains, however, about how some of the lesser-known institutions, will fare once the recruitment dust settles.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ‘Scene set for busy clearing as recruitment ‘games’ commence’ (Monday)
• ‘Experts suggest school holidays shake-up’ (Tuesday)
• ‘Poorer students far more likely to drop A levels than get top grade’ (Wednesday)
• ‘A level results 2025: regional divide grows’ (Thursday)
• ‘Uneven recruitment could force more universities into mergers’ (Friday)

General:

• On the buses. Westminster’s Transport Committee published the results of its Inquiry into local bus services, proposing among other things a free bus pass for young people aged under 22 to help with access to college and jobs.
• Labour market. The ONS published its latest data on the UK labour market presenting what many called ‘a mixed bag’ with both the employment rate and earnings remaining steady but with the estimated number of vacancies down again amid suggestions of a tightening job market.
• Back to work. The Centre for Social Justice called for more help for 50 – 64 yr olds looking to get back into work including strengthened occupational health services and a reformed fit note system as part of a new national 50+ employment strategy, as it published a new report showing near record levels of economic inactivity among this age group.

HE:

• UCAS admissions. UCAS reported on university admissions as L3 exam results came in and Clearing got under way, indicating that record numbers, including of 18-year olds and those from deprived areas, had been accepted for their first-choice with plenty of options remaining available through Clearing.
• Student living costs. Researchers from HEPI, Loughborough and TechnologyOne reported on rising living costs for many university students, suggesting that the current maintenance loan covers just about half of the £400+ a week needed by first-years living in halls leaving many to resort to p/t working or living at home.
• Graduate Guarantee. The government announced increased job opportunities and additional support into employment for qualified nurses and midwives following graduation, as part of plans to remove barriers and improve access and opportunity across the NHS.
• Loan forgiveness. University Alliance published the results of its survey undertaken by YouGov and showing strong public support for bursaries and grants for students training to work in public services such as teaching and the NHS.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “It's about this point in the holiday when I realise 6 weeks isn't really that long at all” -@llewelyn20.
• “Teenagers are supposedly addicted to their devices - but are anxious about making phone calls. Now schools are teaching them how to ring universities ahead of A-level results day” -@nicolawoolcock.
• “Missing school in the transitional years is much more damaging to academic achievement than absence in the middle years of primary, @UniStrathclyde research shows” -@tes
• "Perhaps one of the biggest threats that A.I. poses to education isn’t that it’s going to make educators useless, but that it is going to make educators so much more necessary than we are willing to invest in" -@DTWillingham.
• “Can we just have one day when no one mentions AI?” -@FT.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “Slowing pay growth, employment gaps for certain demographic groups, coupled with declining vacancies and payrolls, points to increasing employer caution and a cooling labour market” – the Institute for Employment Studies assesses the latest data on the UK labour market.
• “My big priority for this year will be how we focus on the really stark picture that we see around attainment and outcomes for children from white working-class backgrounds” – the Education Secretary builds up the pressure ahead of a promised white paper this autumn.
• “I did on occasions hope that I might be offered the top job but my fate was always to be the bridesmaid, never the bride” – Jonathan Simons quotes from Sir Nick Gibb’s new book.
• “None of the structural problems have gone away, but recruitment this year looks set to avoid the worst-case scenarios “ – dataHE expert Mark Corver looks ahead to this year’s university clearing season.
• “There will, of course, be many colleges disappointed not to have been chosen, but they will continue to play a vital role in construction skills as part of the further education sector” – the AoC’s David Hughes responds to the announcement of ten new Construction Excellence Colleges.
• “The value of the A*, what it stands for… is directly comparable with previous years, 2024 [and] 2023” – the Chief Regulator reassures.
• “I’m off to Nando’s to celebrate my T levels” – one happy results day student cashes in.
• “We’re also seeing rising absence among children at the start of their school journeys, raising questions over what this means for future absence as they progress through the system” – the Education Policy Institute examines the latest school absence rates.

You can sign up here to receive Education Eye straight to your inbox on publication.

If you find my policy updates useful, please consider donating something, however small, to help support its publication. EdCentral is a not-for-profit social enterprise and relies on donations to continue its work.

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.