Steve Besley's Education Eye: week ending 24 April 2026

What's happened this week?

Important stories across the board:

Falling pupil rolls and the impact on schools, preparing young people for employment, and a new complaints system for freedom of speech in universities. All among the top headlines this week.

In other news, MPs’ education questions this week ranged over SEND, apprenticeships, students and the cost of living, and falling rolls again.

And among the stranger headlines of the week, the i-newspaper revealed that condoms and funerals are among the more unusual items hit by rising prices resulting from the Middle Eastern war.

Here’s some details.

In schools, three stories have been making news.

First, falling pupil rolls.

A new report from the NAO this week laid bare the impact, financial as well as educational, of falling rolls on schools.

On finances, given schools are heavily per-pupil funded, the report concluded “that a projected reduction of 56,300 fewer primary school pupils in 2027 could mean that schools receive £288 million less in per-pupil funding.”

The drop in pupil numbers varies by region and as the report notes some local areas have taken remedial action including merging, downsizing, repurposing, even closing some schools, but the potential financial hit to schools could amount to £1bn over the next three years, the report reckoned.

On education, the report pointed to concerns about any impact on education quality.

“DfE recognises a correlation between school occupancy and educational quality but has not carried out any research or assessment of the possible impacts,” the report said.

The report acknowledged that the government has started to take action, its recent Estates Strategy being a prime example, but concluded that “despite primary school pupil numbers falling for several years, there is no clear approach to help the sector to decide when to respond.”

It made a number of recommendations particularly around data collection, good practice sharing and collaborative working.

The NAHT urged the government to use ‘the population changes to deliver positive benefits’ and bodies like the NFER are working with partners to look at, for example, multi-grade teaching as an option.

Second, funding and more concerns.

This time from the Sutton Trust which reported on new survey evidence conducted by the NFER showing that despite recent increases, ‘schools are struggling with squeezed finances.’

The worry is that the squeeze is hitting the most vulnerable areas the hardest. Cuts to TAs, SEND, disadvantaged pupils for example.

The NAHT said “schools are having to make horrible choices” while the Trust called for “a rebalancing of the national funding formula back towards the most disadvantaged communities, and restoring the pupil premium back to its 2014/15 levels.”

And third, mobile phones.

The general secretary of the ASCL reckoned ‘it may not change much’ in that most schools already have policies in this area but the government confirmed plans to give schools statutory backing for banning mobile phones on the premises.

It’ll be done through an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

‘Give legal force to what schools are already doing,’ the minister explained to MPs this week.

The Times called it ‘a smart move,’ some headteachers called for greater clarity on how it’ll all work while teenagers, well some, reckoned ‘everyone will find a way round it.’

The national consultation on children’s online safety runs until 26 May.

In FE, the government published the funding rates for the new apprenticeship unit short courses while a YouGov survey among teachers for the government, found too much emphasis in the school curriculum being put on passing exams and not enough on preparing young people for employment.

Interestingly, nearly three-quarters of respondents reckoned it was possible to broaden the curriculum to allow for skill development while still maintaining academic standards.

Time to dust off the last few curriculum reports.

In other news, Ofqual called for views on the regulation and design of the proposed new suite of L2 and 3 vocational qualifications comprising V Levels and Foundation and Occupational Certificates.

It followed a ‘policy steer’ from the Education Secretary setting out broad design details for these qualifications covering size, content, assessment and timing.

And the Education Policy Institute endorsed the call for mix and match qualifications such as V Levels as it reported on post-16 choices and the lessons learned about guidance and opportunity post-pandemic.

Finally, concerns about youth unemployment have continued with the latest labour market data this week providing what the recruitment company Indeed called, ‘a troubling picture for young people.’

Meanwhile the Centre for Young Lives called for “a fundamental shift towards a system-wide approach to tackling the NEET challenge.”

In essence it called for funded pilots in a number of local areas ‘to test and learn a model of early intervention and support for young people.’

In HE, the government set out plans to strengthen freedom of speech in English universities.

According to the Education Secretary, “there are far too many cases where academics and speakers are being silenced, inciting an unacceptable culture of fear and stifling the pursuit of knowledge”.

A new complaints system for all students will come in from September with the OfS able to fine universities for breaches from next April.

The Freedom of Speech Act was passed last year but the government needed time to clarify that students should use the Office of the Independent Adjudicator if they had concerns.

Elsewhere, “thirty years of work has left us with a higher education system no better off and significantly less well governed than when we started.”

That was the verdict of John Blake who examined the last 30 years post-Dearing model of HE in his first paper for Wonkhe’s Post-18 Project.

Like many, he called for a major reset. “We should start again: a new review, a new system, and a better chance for success,” he concluded, listing 17 recommendations including funding, governance and pedagogy.

And, finally good luck to Alexander Betts.

He’s the Oxford professor hoping to beat the record for fastest male marathon runner, dressed in academic garb, in Sunday’s London marathon.

The record stands at 3hours, 31 mins.

The biggest problem apparently is keeping the mortar board on securely while running. “Wind and movement are not conducive to the mortar board staying in place,” he breathlessly reported.

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

The top headlines of the week:

• ’OfS free speech complaints scheme to start in September’ (Monday)
• ‘DfE set to make school phone ban guidance statutory’ (Tuesday)
• ‘Officials too slow to act on falling pupil numbers in England, says watchdog’ (Wednesday)
• ‘Schools forced to cut back on support for SEND pupils in England, poll finds’ (Thursday)
• ‘Big drop in DfE target for new teacher trainees’ (Friday)

General:

• Keep Britain Working. The government reported on progress being made as part of its Keep Britain Working Review with the so-called 3-year Vanguard phase which along with a Workplace Health Intelligence Unit will work with regions and providers to ‘transform workplace health and inclusion in the UK.’
• Profit warnings. EY-Parthenon published the latest data on company profit warnings for the first quarter of this year, showing a ‘marked rise’ in warnings in light of the Middle Eastern conflict, with software and industrial support services along with the travel and construction industries among the hardest hit.
• Labour market. The ONS published its latest estimated data on the UK labour market pointing to a largely flat picture with unemployment down in the months to February but economic inactivity particularly among the young up and vacancies down with pay growth slowing.
• Industrial Trends. The CBI published its latest industrial Trends Survey showing a significant drop in manufacturing output in the three months to April, pointing to ‘warning signs flashing’ about such factors as energy costs and general sector pessimism.
• Children’s Homes. The consultancy Public First highlighted issues around unregistered children’s homes in a new report, finding the shortage of suitable places and the rising complexity of need among the factors causing a massive rise in such places, calling for changes to registration and regulation as a way forward.
• Cyber security. The head of the National Cyber Security Centre highlighted the range of new cyber challenges facing the country as he addressed the CYBERUK Conference, suggesting that cyberspace was now ‘part of the contested space between peace and war.’

HE:

• Freedom of speech. The government confirmed delayed plans for university staff, visitors and others, though not students, to be able to lodge complaints with the regulator from September about freedom of speech and for the OfS to be able to impose fines from next April.
• Building the future. Ian Sollom, Lib Dem MP and Spokesperson for Universities and Skills reflected in a comment piece for HEPI on the challenges currently facing HE, putting forward three options for the future including undertaking managed consolidation, relying on international students and/or adopting a lifelong learning model, with the Party favouring the third of these options.
• Dearing Review. John Blake, director of Wonkhe ‘s Post-18 Project, called for a major review of post-18 education as he published a new paper for the Project, looking into the state of English HE following the Dearing Review some 30 years ago, and finding it ‘simply not working.’

Tweets and posts of note:

• “The job of a teacher really feels more and more like trying my best to make students less stupid while all other forces in their life--parents, peers, technology, administration, etc.--do their best to help them remain as stupid as possible” -@JamesAFurey.
• “Waiting for the government to ban phones in schools feels a little like when a kid doesn't want to do something with their friends and they say "my parents won't let me" rather than just saying no” - @MBDscience.
• “The government just made the smartphone ban in schools a legal requirement. Good and I’m sure everyone working in education will welcome it. But the real problem isn’t what’s happening in schools, it’s what’s happening on the phones at home” -@I<a< a=""> href="https://x.com/ICT_MrP">CT-MrP.  </a<> 
• “Digital exams will be a disaster for schools & for education in this country. It will be costly, will make teaching worse & be a nightmare for schools to implement” -@Mr-Raichura.
• “Former Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman has launched a scathing attack on current inspector Sir Martyn Oliver in The Spectator. She claims Oliver “has little interest in education” and warns that “almost all real scrutiny” of what schools teach has been stripped back” –@TTRadioOfficial.
• “I read an analysis today showing that it costs a third more (!) in real terms to employ a young person today than six years ago” -@daisychristo.
• “DfE data suggesting that pupils are up to 55% more likely to be absent on their birthday, peaking in year 8. Students on their birthday at school” -@tombennett71.

A selection of quotes that merit attention:

• “Leave passwords in the past – passkeys are the future” – latest advice from the National Cyber Security Centre.
• “Today’s inflation figures show the first impact of the war on British household budgets – but further rises in food and energy bills are still to come” – the Resolution Foundation responds to the latest inflation figures.
• “A cocktail of increased employment costs and regulations, coming at a time of record low business confidence, has made hiring new staff a significantly less attractive proposition for employers” – the IoD responds to the latest labour market figures.
• “The urgency is clear, which is why we are strengthening protections and empowering the regulator to restore our world-class universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration and growth” – the government considers fines for universities failing to protect freedom of speech.
• “I am immensely proud of what colleagues across the Agency have accomplished, and of the way we have worked with our partners and stakeholders through a challenging period for the sector” – Vicki Stott steps down as Chief Exec of the QAA.
• “I welcome the opportunity to work with this outstanding group of world-leading universities, and with other higher education mission groups, as we continue to advocate for the importance of universities to the UK’s success, nationally and globally” – Professor Evelyn Welch prepares to become chair of the Russell Group.
• “It is deeply concerning that, despite pupil numbers declining since 2018, DfE has been slow to respond to the challenge and has not assessed the implications for education quality, particularly for the most disadvantaged pupils” – the chair of the Public Accounts Committee responds to the NAO report on falling rolls.
• “We will work with the sector to develop a framework for the use of mainstream school space, including pressures such as demographic change, and we intend to publish that in the autumn” – the Education Secretary responds to an MP’s question about falling rolls and the use of school space.
• “We’ve listened to concerns about how we support headteachers in delivering on this policy and we have listened to parliament” – the government announces legislation to support the ban on mobile phones in schools.
• “I think it would be better [to ban social media] for under-13s because when you get into year 10 and year 11 (pupils aged 14-16), you'll be fine because you're so focused on studying that you don't have as much time to look at it" – a 16 yr old view on passing the phone ban down.
• “The mere thought of tapioca makes me feel nauseous still” – readers to the i-newspaper reflect on school dinners.

Everything else you need to know ...

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