Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 20 February 2026

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Half term for many but little respite from challenging headlines.

Concerns about proposed SEND reforms and student loans have continued, while a further concern, not new but now with added urgency, has added to the woes this week.

To explain.

On SEND, with the government preparing to release its likely SEND reform plans early next week, leaked content suggests a shift away from a one-size-fits-all model towards more personalised support, reviewed at each transitional stage of education -primary, secondary and tertiary.

Current EHCPs will be retained but others provided with individual support plans, ISPs, developed by the school, potentially more flexible and responsive to need, and with three levels of support. 

Securing legally based EHCPs can be expensive, time-consuming and frustrating for families. The aim is to provide more focused support through trained staff at schools and reflective of different stages of development.

Accessibility, cost and provision will always be sources of contention but the government hopes more targeted support and further consultation will ease fears.

ASCL reckoned that the (leaked) plans, “do have the potential to deliver a better system where children’s needs are identified earlier, and more are supported closer to home in mainstream settings.”

But, and it’ll be most people’s but, “it will be essential that all schools have the resources they need to deliver this provision.”

On student loans, despite contributions from all sides continuing, including ex ministers this week, alternatives remain unclear.

As HEPI’s Nick Hillman explained. “I think the current conversation reveals something important: people know they don’t like the system we have but seemingly have no real idea of what a big reform to it would look like.”

That said, the Conservatives are said to be working on what The Sun called ‘the student debt crisis.’

And on that ‘further concern,’ this was highlighted by this week’s labour market figures.

In a word: unemployment up and young people especially badly hit.

As the BBC explained, “for 16-24s, the unemployment rate now sits at 16.1% - the highest figure in just over a decade. While for 25-34s it's 4.7%, the highest since 2017.”

In its latest Labour Market Outlook published this week, the CIPD found many businesses pointing to government policies, including NI and the minimum wage let alone the new Employment Rights Act, as responsible for contributing to what they described as ‘weak hiring activity.’ ‘An own goal on jobs,’ as the FT described it.

It led the Institute of Directors to argue that “the best way to boost employment is to make it less risky and less costly for businesses to hire staff.”

As for young people, the BBC captured it neatly. 

“Employing youngsters used to be relatively cheap. Now, not so much.”

As the Learning and Work Institute noted, ‘there are 122,000 fewer people working in hospitality and retail than there were a year ago.’ Traditionally these were sectors where young people got their first real experience of work.

Alan Milburn, currently leading the government’s review into NEETs and youth employment, pointed to long standing issues, starting with social disadvantage at an early age leading to poor health and education, when called on by the media to offer his perspective.

The next NEET stats are published on 12 March and will be eagerly scoured.

On to a roundup of other news this week.

In schools, and back to SEND reforms for a moment, the government published commissioned research on how long it takes to draw up Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs.)

Anything between 56 and 68 hours seemed to be the caveated answer.

A number of stages and a people can be involved.

“EPs (Ed Psychs) and PEPs (Principal Ed Psychs) reported the highest average number of hours spent across all stages, at 17.4 hours each. This is likely due to their statutory role in delivering the EHC needs assessment.”

In other news, the Prime Minister called for ‘Britain to be a leader not a follower when it comes to online safety.’

It meant for the moment ‘closing some current loopholes’ such as cracking down on AI chatbots and, while not committing to banning mobile devices for young people just yet, having plans in place to take rapid action if the current consultation recommends it.

The children’s commissioner said she was ‘pleased to see government working to close the legal loopholes that leave children at risk.’

Finally, with the Ofqual consultation on regulating onscreen GCSE, AS and A level exams closing on 5 March, the boss of AQA professed his enthusiasm for online exams in an article in last Sunday’s Observer.

“We’d expect” he said, “that in the next 10 to 15 years we’d be doing a third or half of exams online, but no more.”

And while we’re on the subject of exams, Myles McGinley, MD at Cambridge OCR, called in a letter to The Guardian this week for a rethink on some of the hefty content requirements.

“Teachers and students are pressured to rush through too much content while, in some subjects such as English, a lack of relevance is contributing to an engagement crisis in schools.”

A lot hinges on the current curriculum review.

In FE, much of the news this week has been on youth unemployment and a, at times familiar, run through of what needs to be done about it.

Attention, and expectation, is focusing on the Milburn NEETs Review let alone the government’s Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry into youth employment. The deadline for submissions to the latter occurred this week.

The latest figures have added urgency to the whole debate.

In other news, the Migration Observatory highlighted data gaps between migration and skills.

“For most migrants, we do not have reliable information on occupation, skill level, or training,” it concluded in a new Gatsby funded report.

As the report identifies, there’s clearly a need to better understand the linkage between migration and skills policy, particularly at a technician and middle-skilled level.

In HE, just to add more detail to the student loans story.

David Willetts, Jo Johnson, Alan Johnson and Michelle Donelan have been among the bevy of ex ministers having their say this week.

David Willetts defended the original decision (“the debt has turned out much higher than we planned fifteen years ago because of the subsequent decision in 2016 to convert all maintenance grants into loans.”) Jo Johnson said it was right that students paid but changes were needed, Alan Johnson described the current system as ‘horrendous’ while Michelle Donelan largely agreed.

It all adds context but as yet no obvious way forward.

Elsewhere, the Times Higher and Wonkhe both had helpful summaries of the compensation claims brought by the Student Claim Group over disrupted services arising out of the pandemic.

Wonkhe reported in detail on the settlement already agreed with UCL which could colour future decisions.

36 universities are facing legal action; others may follow and clearly the financial implications for the sector are worrying. Payments of £5000 to students have been mentioned.

And the Russell Group issued its response to the government’s consultation on the international student levy.

“There is agreement across the sector that the international student levy will likely damage the UK’s reputation as a study destination and global R&D leader.”

It called for certain groups such as PhD students to be exempt.

Universities UK made a similar call in its response, along with a plea for a delay to the introduction of the levy until an impact assessment had been completed.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ’Students begin Covid compensation claim against 36 more universities’ (Monday)
• ‘SEND parents face 12-week wait to see how four-tier reforms will affect children’ (Tuesday)
• ‘School absence up 50% in latest flu season, analysis finds’ (Wednesday)  
• ‘Pupils with SEND to have support reviewed after primary, leaked plans suggest’ (Thursday)
• ‘Number of academics working in the UK falls for first time’ (Friday)

General:

• Labour market latest. The ONS published its latest estimated figures for the UK labour market, showing unemployment hitting ‘a near record five-year high’ at 5.2% for the last three months of last year, higher for 16-24 yr olds at 16.1%, and with wage growth slowing to 4.2%.
• Labour Market Outlook. The CIPD pointed to ‘subdued hiring intentions’ and increased employment insecurity with the government’s Employment Rights Act largely to blame as it published its latest Labour Market Outlook based on evidence collated from 2,000+ HR professionals over late Dec/mid-January.
• Spring Forecast. The Resolution Foundation set out the economic context ahead of next month’s Spring Statement calling on the government to avoid changes, adopt a low-key approach but ‘double down’ on growth to support families and young people.
• Covid-19 Inquiry. The public Inquiry into the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which first sat in 2022 and took its first public hearings a year later, began its 10^th and final hearing at the start of this week, focusing on the impact of the pandemic on key groups such as the bereaved and key workers, with a report set for next year.
• Jobcentres on wheels. The government announced that it was rolling out its mobile Jobcentres to take in a further six areas in England and Wales, locating the vans outside supermarkets and football stadiums, bringing job support services nearer to people.

HE:

• International Levy response (1.) The Russell Group issued its response to the government’s consultation on the International Student Levy, arguing that the definition of international students is ‘overly broad’ and that certain groups, including those who contribute to UK skills and PhD students plus those on scholarships and short-term exchanges, should be exempt.
• International Levy response (2.) Universities UK issued its response to the same consultation, equally calling for certain groups of students to be exempt, as well as for an increase in the number of levy-free students allowed, and a delay to the introduction of the levy to allow for an impact assessment.
• FT on student loans. Economics correspondent for the FT, Martin Woolf, set out his thoughts on the current student fee loan debate, suggesting that the early model of income-contingent loans was broadly correct but that subsequent tinkering and rising costs have seen it become an issue that’s now insoluble. 
• Commission on research for better economic growth. Policy Partners in conjunction with UCL called for views on ways in which research and innovation could help drive economic growth, as they set up a new Commission to help push developments in this area forward.

Tweets and posts of note:

• “Big up the teachers who's bodies decide to give their immune systems a break over the holidays... Mine works so bloody hard all year round, but I get to the holidays and my body gives up” -@Misterbodd.
• “Been reading the early leaks, and speaking to a couple of people about the send white paper. I hope I’m wrong, and over simplifying things, but I have a horrible feeling that we are about to return to the days of ‘action’ and ‘action +” -@llewlyn20.
• “When it comes to exams, we should follow the evidence. Research shows writing by hand supports memory & deeper learning. With growing concerns about screen time affecting attainment, moving high stakes exams to devices makes little sense without proof it improves outcomes” -@LauraTrottMP.
• “So much time and money has been spent creating online resources and apps. The accessibility/disadvantaged gap was always there but generally ignored. Now the research backing is not clear/being questioned the rhetoric seems to be different” -@vicgoddard.
• “The correct answer to the old question: "Do you teach maths or do you teach children?" is "I teach maths TO children" -@oldandrewuk.
• “What makes your toes curl in staff meetings? Teachers talking over others” -@Headteacherchat.
• “I'm feeling ancient after I had a student ask if we'd cover the 2008 financial crisis in my economic history class” -@wagonweill.
• “Apparently the average adult in Britain reads 3 books a year... it's February and I'm on my 7^th” -@mdundon_books.
• “My grandma recently installed WhatsApp and thought that groups were meant for sorting contacts. Long story short: She created a group called 'Unimportant' with about 15 relatives and acquaintances” -@caraksha103.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “There is more to do” – the government responds to the latest figures showing unemployment at nearly a five-year high with young people especially badly hit.
• “No platform gets a free pass” – the government commits to keeping children safe online.
• “To those universities that have descended into hotbeds of cancel culture, antisemitism, and which survive really thanks to the cache of foreign students, and keep conning young people into worthless degrees, Reform is putting you on notice” - Suella Braverman takes on the education brief for the Reform Party.
• “The debate over university funding is a good example of the intractable challenges facing the UK government” – the FT’s Martin Woolf reflects on the current student loans debate.
• “My thinking has changed since The Anxious Generation came out — in it, I was mostly concerned about mental health. What I've come to realize in the 2 years since the book came out is that the much bigger problem is attention fragmentation” – author Jonathan Haidt on a growing problem for many young people.
• “There is a definite need to keep everyone on board” – the government prepares for consultation on its proposed SEND reforms.
• “These reforms must create a system that is no longer focused on telling children they are the problem, and instead creates one that is inclusive by design, setting limitless ambition for children through bespoke, responsive support for a much broader range of needs” – the children’s commissioner on likely reformed SEND plans.
• “We’re not advocating this because we’re digital maniacs – we’re advocating it because we genuinely believe that the system will be greatly improved,” – the Chief Exec of AQA on digital exams.

Everything else you need to know ...

What to look out for in the next couple of weeks: