Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 31 October 2025

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Half term for many but plenty going on.

Among the headlines this week, the Education Secretary proposed time limits on the removal of RAAC from schools and colleges, the DWP Secretary published an updated to-do list for Skills England and UCAS released early application data for 2026 suggesting in the words of the Times Higher, “another bumper year of admissions.”  

Here’s a run through of these and other top stories of the week.

In schools, the Education Secretary announced plans for RAAC to be removed, or in the case of schools under School Rebuilding Programme for progress underway, for all schools and colleges in England by the end of this parliament.

Some 175 to go based on latest data.

According to the NAHT, “work to remove this material cannot come soon enough at the many affected schools which are still waiting, with at least one having had to delay the start of term.”

Elsewhere, research published by the Education Endowment Foundation looked into strategies that can help with teacher recruitment and retention.

Workloads, flexi working and pay increases were among the more familiar, but not always easy to deliver, options.

The challenges become more severe for more disadvantaged schools where according to the research, “teachers may require a pay rise of approximately 13% to consider applying to these schools.”

As the report concluded “this research highlights that there are no low-cost solutions to making teaching roles more attractive.”

Talking of challenges, former DfE Permanent Secretary Jonathan Slater, now involved in researching and reporting on education, looked into the issue of low attainment among poor FSM pupils.

“Despite - or perhaps because of - my resolutely middle class, Guardian-reading upbringing and the grammar school education that Surrey provided at the time, I have been particularly interested in the role of schools in supporting children who don’t have the advantages I had.”

The result is a new publication calling for a more supportive accountability system and a ‘test, learn, grow’ model of sharing how other schools have done it.

As the Covid 19 Inquiry moves on to Module 8, ‘The Impact on Society,’ the Centre for Young Lives rounded up some of the evidence presented by children’s organisations to the recent sessions on children and young people.

In their words “the last four weeks have been a shocking and often infuriating insight into how Government failed so many children during a national time of crisis.”

They, and other Children’s Rights Organisations, called among other things for an apology from government and a dedicated Minister in Cabinet to speak for children in future.

And finally, Ofqual announced ‘a rap on the knuckles’ approach for Awarding Organisations that commit a breach of regulations rather than a serious offence.

Known as the Chief Regulator’s Rebuke, ‘the aim is to reflect our more agile approach to regulation,’ the Chief Regulator explained while perhaps cracking his knuckles.

To round off, some late news. The government has published its evidence to the teachers’ pay review body proposing a 6.5% pay rise for over the next three years.

“A 6.5% award over the next three years, when combined with the increases from the last two pay rounds, would mean teacher pay rising by nearly 17% across the parliament.”

ASCL said ‘it (the government) must do better.’ The NAHT said it amounted to a pay cut.

In FE, the DWP Secretary Pat McFadden polished up the priorities for Skills England following its move into his dept.

Building on the earlier priorities drawn up by the Education Secretary, he called for the body “to provide the single authoritative voice on the country’s current and future skills needs.”

Also on the to-do list were ‘bringing the fragmented skills system together,’ managing occupational standards and taking a pro-employer approach.

The priority list came as Skills England highlighted the importance of AI skills as it released a new AI skills tools package to help employers seeking to develop such skills.

According to the Chair of Skills England, the new tools, comprising an AI Skills Framework, an AI Skills Adoption Pathway and an Employer AI Adoption Checklist, “will help employers and training providers map skills needs and make sure the right training is in place.”

On a similar theme, JISC and the AoC announced a new strategic partnership to help strengthen digital developments across the FE sector.

"By combining our sector insight with Jisc’s technical expertise,” said the AoC’s David Hughes, “we can support leaders make informed decisions, build cyber resilience, and harness emerging technologies like AI in ways that are ethical, secure, and student-focused.”

And Awarding Organisation AQA acquired a new training provider. “A tremendously exciting development for AQA,” according to its boss.

In HE the first set of data on 2026 UCAS undergraduate applications came in, showing ‘record numbers’ applying for courses with early application deadlines including medicine, dentistry and courses at Oxford and Cambridge.

“The overall number of applicants is the highest on record at 79,160, a 7.4% increase compared to last year.”

The figures included increases in the numbers of UK 18 yr olds applying, many from deprived areas, along with rises in applications from UK mature students and from international students, with China leading the field.

In other news, ResearchPlus, a group of ten universities looking to support and lead innovative research in areas like advanced skills that would help economic growth and societal wellbeing, was formally launched.

As the VC of Sussex and Co-Chair of the Group explained, “ResearchPlus will give visibility and profile to universities that constitute a critical element of the UK’s research and innovation system, and that deliver excellent research-informed education and advanced skills.”

Allistair Jarvis, the newish boss of Advance HE, outlined a new programme of work to enable the organisation ‘help institutions through current challenging times.’ 

“Supporting enhancement, change and transformation will now be at the heart of what Advance HE does.”

And former OU VC, Professor Time Blackman published a challenging new report on the future for HE, embracing a more flexible lifelong learning model with a key role in developing skills to cope with and challenge modern life.

“Sustainable economic growth,” he argued, “depends on wide participation in acquiring high levels of skill and knowledge – including working with artificial intelligence – and our ability to act as a society on the risks we face depends on respect for evidence and openness to criticism being universal and not confined to conversations among scientists.”

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ‘DfE misses key teacher pay review deadline’ (Monday)
• ‘Phillipson commits to remove RAAC from schools by 2029’ (Tuesday)
• ‘Mental health affecting education attendance for ‘half of young people,’ says report’ (Wednesday)
• ‘More overseas students propel early applications to record levels’ (Thursday)
• ‘Soaring costs trigger calls to address transport for SEND pupils in England’ (Friday)

General:

• Staff recruitment. The British Chambers of Commerce published its latest quarterly survey on the recruitment market, finding sectors like construction, transport and hospitality all experiencing difficulties and concerned about skills levels, inactive young people and government policies.
• Key employer challenges 2026. HR software provider Ciphr reported on its survey among members of challenges they expect to face next year with the recruitment and retention of skilled staff at the top of the list, along with managing rising costs, meeting employees’ remote or hybrid working expectations and managing the responsible use of AI all in the top ten.
• Financial struggles. The FT reported that the British Council was having to scale down operations as it sought to clarify its position with the government on grants and loans needed to secure its financial position.

HE:

• UCAS early application data. UCAS reported that the number of applicants, including UK 18 yr olds, applying to early deadline (15 Oct) undergraduate courses such as medicine, dentistry and Oxbridge courses had reached a record high.
• A Call for Radical Reform. Former OU VC Tim Blackman argued in a new Debate Paper for HEPI that universities should play a key role in a rapidly changing and challenging society but that ‘radical reform’ of the sector is needed to shift from the current f/t hons degree model to a more flexible, lifelong learning model.
• ResearchPlus. A group of ten UK universities formally launched a new ‘national collaborative,’ known as ResearchPlus and aimed at strengthening research in areas such as advanced skills that could support ‘economic growth and societal wellbeing.’
• Going Global. The British Council hosted the 2025 Going Global Conference focusing on the three themes of ‘resilience, values and innovation’ needed to help global HE leaders best ‘survive and thrive in a volatile world.’
• Change programme. Alistair Jarvis, the newish chief exec of Advance HE, set out in a blog for Wonkhe, a new programme of work for the organisation built around embedding transformation and change, developing a new strategic advisory group and extending its global reach.
• Tackling inequality. The World Access to HE Network (WAHEN) called for further research and advocacy as its latest report mapping global inequalities in HE participation and attainment showed patchy progress, with things actually worsening in some 27 countries.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “You can hardly open an educational article or report these days without seeing the latest buzzword, ‘belonging,’ scattered throughout. It’s being hailed as the new silver bullet, the key to transforming schools and unlocking exceptional outcomes for every pupil” -@Mouhssin_Ismail.
• “I am sooooooo muddled over who's a 'boomer', who's a 'millennial', who's a 'generation X' or is it 'x'? And there are others, aren't there? People on TV just say the phrase and I spend the rest of the interview trying to figure out who they're talking about!” -@MichaelRosenYes.
• “OMG just discovered my daughters had a bet on when I would first mention a glass of wine today: one said 2pm, one said 10am! (Actual answer: 3.30pm)” -@MissBPrimary3.
• “Will never not baffle me 20 years after their mass adoption how many (otherwise clearly tech savvy) people’s approach to using supermarket self check outs is to treat them as a piece of alien, never before seen, tech that requires lengthy engagement” -@LukeTryl.
• “The truly inspiring DHL has notified us that the parcel was signed for by a neighbour. They have attached a photo of the neighbour. The photo is of a horse” -@LucyGoBag.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “Skills England has a vital role to play in expanding opportunity, achieving the Government's skills ambitions and delivering the Industrial Strategy” – the government sets out the to-do list for Skills England.
• “It is always difficult for Government and for ministers, when you’re putting reforms in place, to be able to project forward and to work out what the demand might be, how the plans might work” – former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan reflects on the impact of the SEND reforms undertaken when she was in government.
• “For some time we’ve been building our presence in the vocational sector” – the boss of AQA on acquiring a new training provider.
• “We inherited a crumbling education estate, but I won’t let that be our legacy” – the Education Secretary sets out a timescale for removing RAAC from schools and colleges.
• “The processes around the second school lockdowns were confusing and chaotic” – the Centre for Young Lives reports on the latest Covid Inquiry sessions on children and young people.

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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.