2021

The Prime Minister lays out a cautious easing of lockdown

On Wednesday 24 February 2021, the government announced further elements of the recovery support package so children and young people can catch up on missed learning and development due to the pandemic.

Pupils’ return to face-to-face education in schools and colleges on 8 March 2021 will be supported with a new £700 million (€820 million*) package, focusing on an expansion of one-to-one and small group tutoring programmes, as well as supporting the development of disadvantaged children in early years settings, and summer provision for those pupils who need it the most.

A new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools, building on the Pupil Premium, will be provided to schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.85, ECB, 30 March 2021.

Establishment of new Institute of Teaching

On 2 January 2021, the DfE announced the establishment of a new Institute of Teaching in England to provide teachers and school leaders with prestigious training and development throughout their career.

The national initiative will deliver evidence-based approaches to teacher training, and also include mentoring and early career support, alongside leadership courses and continued professional development, building on existing high-quality provision.

Turing scheme to support thousands of students to study and work abroad

On 26 December 2020, the DfE announced the launch of the Turing scheme to support thousands of students to study and work abroad. The Turing scheme will be backed by over £100 million (€116 million*), providing funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on placements and exchanges overseas, starting in September 2021.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.86, ECB, 12 March 2021.

2020 

Teachers set to receive pay rises

In July 2020 the Education Secretary accepted all recommendations from the report of the School Teachers’ Review Body, an advisory non-departmental public body, which makes recommendations on the pay, professional duties and working time of school teachers in England, to raise the starting salary for new teachers by 5.5% and increase the upper and lower boundaries of the pay ranges for all other teachers by 2.75%. These recommendations are equivalent to a 3.1% increase in the overall pay bill.

10 year transformative school rebuilding programme

In June 2020 the government announced a 10 year transformative ten-year school rebuilding programme. The rebuilding programme will start in 2020-21 with the first 50 projects, supported by over £1 billion (€1.08 billion*) in funding.  Investment will be targeted at school buildings in the worst condition across England – including investment in the North and the Midlands.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 11 September 2020.

Social workers to work in schools to support vulnerable children

In May 2020, the Education Secretary announced a £6.5 million (€7.03 million*) project to place social workers in more than 150 schools. This is part of a wider funding package of nearly £10 million (€10.8 million*) to boost the educational outcomes of vulnerable children, social workers will now be able to support teaching staff in identifying the children most at risk. This announcement follows evidence of rising domestic abuse incidents during the Coronavirus pandemic, and the effectiveness of social workers in identifying those children most vulnerable to harm.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 11 September 2020

Additional support for children with complex needs

In May 2020, the Department for Education announced a £37 million (€39.9 million*) settlement that will help low-income families with seriously ill or disabled children with the cost of equipment, goods or services, through Family Fund.£10 million (€10.8 million*) of the total has been committed specifically in response to the unique difficulties presented by the Coronavirus pandemic, helping parents educate and look after disabled or critically ill children who are staying at home more than usual.

Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 11 September 2020

Specialist teacher qualifications

On 13 March 2020, the Secretary of State for Education announced three new specialist qualifications for teachers (at a conference of the Association of School and College Leaders, ASCL). The three qualifications, about which further details are not yet announced, will include:

• a new specialist National Professional Qualification in Teacher Development, for teachers with responsibility for supporting the training and development of others, including early career teachers
• a specialist qualification for teachers who are subject ‘leads’ or responsible for improving teaching practice in a subject or phase of education
• a specialist qualification for teachers whose roles focus on behaviour management and pupil wellbeing.

National plan for music education 

The Department for Education (DfE) held a call for evidence during February and March 2020 to inform its ‘refresh’ of the national plan for music education, which was first published in 2011. The original plan established a network of music education hubs, which work in and beyond schools to give children the opportunity to sing and learn instruments.

The new plan will reflect advances in technology affecting the way music is created, recorded and produced, and draw on feedback from musicians, experts in the music industry and specialist teachers, as well as reflecting on young people’s experiences.

The call for evidence featured specific questions on areas including special educational needs and disability (SEND) and inclusivity, music technology, and the music education hubs. DfE is currently (March 2020) analysing the responses and experiences put forward to the call. The responses and experiences put forward will help inform changes to the plan which will then be fully consulted on. The refreshed national plan will be published in autumn 2020.

National roll-out of reception baseline assessment

In February 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed that all pupils starting in the reception class (ISCED 0) at primary school from September 2020 will take the new national reception baseline assessment (RBA). The confirmation came after a validity report based on a national pilot confirmed that the new assessments provide an accurate assessment of a pupil’s starting point from which to measure the progress he or she makes in primary school. The report found that:

• the assessment is representative of a range of literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills and knowledge appropriate to the age and development of children at the start of reception
• the assessment results provide a fair and accurate measure of pupil performance – including for those with special educational needs and disabilities
• pupil performance is comparable within and across schools.

From 2022/23, the national curriculum assessments pupils normally take at the end of Key Stage 1, age 6-7, (commonly known as SATs) will be removed. In future, pupils’ progress will be measured from their RBA scores to the end of Key Stage 2 (age 10-11).

See the 2019 item in this article for the background to the development of the RBA.

Roll-out of T Levels

See the item in ‘National Reforms in Vocational Education and Training and Adult Learning’. 

New standards for National Leaders of Education

In February 2020, the DfE published a set of standards setting out its expectations of designated National Leaders of Education (NLEs). These are outstanding headteachers who, together with the staff in their national support school, use their skills and experience to support schools in challenging circumstances and work to increase the leadership capacity of other schools.

The standards cover the requisite knowledge, experience and attributes of those supporting under-performing schools to improve, and are an outcome of an external evaluation of the NLE programme commissioned in May 2019.

There are three NLE standards:

1. Professional credibility – e.g. NLEs must demonstrate secure knowledge of all aspects of educational and school leadership and management practice, and a strong track record as leaders in their own schools.
2. Problem solving and influencing for improvement – e.g. NLEs must be able to design well-targeted plans for improvement, evaluate progress in implementing them, and identify impact.
3. Capacity building and knowledge transfer to ensure sustainability – e.g. NLEs must be able to help school leaders to develop a strong and positive culture and to shape well-planned, evidence-informed professional development for teachers.

The DfE will begin designation of a new cadre of NLEs, with a specific remit to support school improvement, from autumn 2020.

Behaviour hubs

The DfE is introducing a new programme of behaviour hubs, informed by the 2017 Bennett review of behaviour in schools, Creating a culture: how school leaders can optimise behaviour. The programme will begin in September 2020 and run for an initial period of 3 years, with £10 million (€10.85 million*) of funding.

In February 2020, the Department invited schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs) with exemplary behaviour cultures to apply to join the behaviour hubs programme to support schools and spread good practice. The aim is, through the hubs, to work in partnership to equip other headteachers and senior leaders with the skills to improve their approach to behaviour management.

The programme will be open to schools who have received an Ofsted ‘requires improvement’ judgement, and these ‘partner schools’ will have access to support from a ‘lead’ exemplary school or MAT. This support might include:

• training led by expert advisers as well as lead schools
• bespoke advice
• mentoring
• support to develop and implement an action plan
• open days at lead schools to observe good systems and approaches in action
• networking events to share experiences and good practice
• online resources developed by the behaviour advisers to support schools.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 24 March 2020.

Teaching school hubs

As part of a review of its approach to education system leadership, in February 2020 the Department for Education (DfE) launched a ‘test and learn’ phase for a new teaching school hubs initiative. These hubs are intended to provide a new way to help under-performing schools to:

• make the most of their resources
• boost professional development opportunities for teachers
• recruit and retain staff.

Six initial hubs have been designated following an application process which began in 2019. Each designated school will act as a regional hub and receive funding to support between 200 – 300 other schools in its local area for three years. The initiative will provide direct access for struggling schools to the expertise of local school leaders with a track record of improving challenging schools. Support could include delivering tailored professional development for teachers, hosting observations and visits, or deploying system leaders to offer advice and guidance to local schools.

The DfE plans to roll out teaching school hubs nationally later in 2020.

National School Breakfast Programme

In January 2020, the Department for Education announced that it will fund the National School Breakfast Programme, launched in 2018, for a further year until March 2021.

The programme, jointly run by the charities Family Action and Magic Breakfast, aims to help schools in disadvantaged areas to establish self-sustaining breakfast clubs. It is estimated to have reached 1800 schools so far, and the additional funding will enable these school breakfast clubs to continue and new ones to begin.

The scheme is being evaluated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), and the evaluation report will be published in autumn 2020. It follows an earlier EEF evaluation of Magic Breakfast, which suggested that supporting schools to run a breakfast club is linked to improved performance at Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7).

‘Levelling up’ per-pupil funding

In December 2019, in response to a consultation on implementing mandatory minimum per-pupil funding levels, the Government committed to ‘level up’ minimum per-pupil funding. This will mean that funding per pupil for secondary schools will be £5000 (€5474*) from 2020/21 and that, for primary schools, it will be £3750 (€4105*) in 2020/21 and £4000 (€4379*) in 2021/22. This commitment was reiterated in the December 2019 Queen’s Speech. 

Under the national funding formula (NFF), which is the method used to determine how much core funding is allocated to mainstream, state-funded schools in England, each school receives a basic amount for each pupil (with different amounts for different ages), and extra funding for pupils with additional needs. They also receive ‘school-led’ funding, which is based on the characteristics of the school itself. In January 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) published guidance for schools on the NFF, which indicates that every school will receive at least 1.84% more funding per pupil in 2020/21, reflecting the ‘levelling up’ commitment.

Schools can view their specific funding allocations online.

The DfE’s September 2017 policy document provides the background to the development of the NFF, while a  House of Commons Library briefing (CBP-8419), updated following the December 2019 general election, provides further information on school funding.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.91, ECB, 26 March 2020.

Consultation on regulating independent educational settings

The Department for Education (DfE) has launched a consultation proposing changes to the way it regulates independent educational settings, including independent schools.

The consultation document explains that the current definition of what constitutes an ‘independent school’ does not encompass settings which are providing education, which is full-time and to children of compulsory school age, but that have a curriculum that is too narrow for the setting to constitute a ‘school’. As such, these settings do not come within the scope of current requirements for registration as a school or for regulation. The DfE is concerned that, if such provision is organised during the normal school day, it prevents children from also attending a school that meets the requirement to deliver a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum.

The consultation proposes:

• expanding on the categories of full-time institutions that will be regulated in the same way that independent schools are currently regulated, and defining what is ‘full-time’
• changing the basis for how the courts determine appeals against enforcement action
• revising the system for making changes to the registered details of independent educational institutions.

A blog post from Ofsted in September 2019 explored how the inspectorate investigates and prosecutes unregistered schools.

Proposal to reintroduce routine inspection for outstanding schools

From January to February 2020, the inspectorate, Ofsted, held a consultation seeking views on its proposal that schools and colleges judged ‘outstanding’ should no longer be exempt from routine inspection.

The exemption had been in place since 2012 and as of early 2020 it applied to about 3600 outstanding schools and about 60 outstanding colleges and other organisations delivering publicly-funded education and training. Ofsted remained able to inspect such settings in particular circumstances, such as where a complaint or Ofsted’s own risk assessment process identified concerns, but as of 2019 there were over 1000 exempt settings that had not been inspected for a decade or longer.

Ofsted believes that the exemption is beginning to result in a loss of confidence in the ‘outstanding’ grade and that an up-to-date independent assessment of quality and performance in these settings is required. This would also be timely, given the introduction from September 2019 of its new Education Inspection Framework (EIF).

The consultation ran until 24 February.

Ofsted proposes changes to inspection of initial teacher education

Ofsted also launched a consultation on its proposals to change how it inspects initial teacher education (ITE) in January 2020. This is to bring the inspection of ITE more in line with its approach to school inspection under the 2019 Education Inspection Framework (EIF).

This consultation seeks views on a proposed new framework that applies to all phases of ITE, including early years, primary, secondary and further education, and will operate from September 2020. The draft framework includes:

• two key judgement areas: quality of education and training, and leadership and management
• a new ‘focused review’ methodology for gathering evidence during an inspection, similar to the ‘deep-dive’ methodology applied in the EIF
• a one-stage model of inspection, which includes time for inspectors to visit the training provider and partnership settings, schools or colleges
• a shorter notification telephone call and a longer, more detailed planning call with ITE partnership representatives prior to the inspection
• spring and summer term inspections only, avoiding the autumn term when the ITE programme curriculum is in the early stages of implementation with a cohort of newly enrolled trainees.

The consultation closes on 3 April 2020, following which Ofsted will finalise and publish the framework in summer 2020.

Plans to increase teacher starting salaries announced

The Secretary of State for Education has submitted proposals to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to increase teachers’ starting salaries to at least £26,000 (€28,230*) in September 2020, with higher rates for those in the London area. This is the first stage in the Government’s plan to meet its commitment to increase teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000 (€32,573*) by September 2022, with the aim of ensuring that the pay offer for teachers is competitive in the graduate labour market.

The proposals outline an above inflation pay increase of 2.5% to the pay ranges for experienced teachers, headteachers and school leaders, with early career teachers’ salaries increasing by up to 6.7%.

The Department for Education (DfE) has conducted analysis that suggests that the proposed changes to the pay system could result in the retention of 1000 more teachers per year by 2022/23.

The STRB will respond with its recommendations on teacher pay later in 2020.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.92, ECB, 24 March 2020.

Engagement model to assess pupils working below the standard of tests

The Department for Education (DfE) has published finalised guidance for the engagement model, a new form of assessment for pupils working below the standard of the national curriculum tests and not engaged in subject-specific study. This model has been introduced following the Rochford Review (2016) and will replace the previous system of P scales.

The model has five areas of engagement - exploration; realisation; anticipation; persistence; and initiation, which aim to allow teachers to assess pupils’ engagement in developing new skills, knowledge and concepts in the school’s curriculum by demonstrating how they are achieving specific outcomes. The areas represent what is necessary for pupils to fully engage in their learning and reach their potential and the model looks to encourage schools to measure each pupil’s progress independently, according to his or her individual profile of needs. It can also be used as a baseline tool to track and support ongoing progress.

The engagement model will become statutory from the 2020/21 academic year, but schools will have autonomy over how they implement it.

Bill to make school uniform policies mandatory

The Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill 2019-20 was introduced to the House of Commons by Mike Amesbury MP in January 2020. The Bill, which has government support, requires statutory guidance to be published on how schools should design and implement their uniform policies, and the House of Commons Library has published a briefing on it (CBP-8813).

There is currently no legislation in place relating to school uniform in England. Schools are not required to have a uniform policy and school governing bodies decide what a school’s uniform policy should be.

The Department for Education (DfE) does, however, strongly encourage schools to have a uniform, believing that it ‘can play a valuable role in contributing to the ethos of a school and setting an appropriate tone’. It expects schools to take account of DfE guidance, which also states that a school’s uniform policy should be clearly set out, be subject to reasonable requests for variation, and that any changes should take into account the views of parents and pupils.

MP Amesbury presented the Bill in the context of regular expressions of concern about the cost of school uniform in recent years. In 2015, the Government announced that it would legislate to put current best practice guidance on a statutory footing, including the discouragement of exclusivity arrangements with retailers for the supply of branded uniform items, but no relevant legislation had as yet been laid before Parliament.

Opportunity North East programme

In January 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) published the Opportunity North East (ONE) delivery plan.

The Opportunity North East programme launched in October 2018, and is intended to tackle the specific problems in the North East of England. While the region has some of the best performing primary schools in the country, secondary school performance is significantly below other regions, and fewer 18-year-olds attend the country’s most prestigious higher education institutions (HEIs) than those from any other part of the country. The North East also has one of the highest proportions of young people not in education, employment or training after age 16.

The Government is investing £24 million (€26.27 million*) in the programme, which aims to address five key challenges identified through consultation with stakeholders and data analysis:

• improving pupils’ transitions from primary to secondary school
• delivering targeted school improvement support to ‘unlock the potential’ of participating secondary schools
• improving teacher recruitment, retention and development
• increasing the percentage of young people from participating schools who enter sustained education, employment or training after leaving school
• increasing the rate of applications and entry to higher education by young people in the North East.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.91, ECB, 26 March 2020.

2019 

Opportunity Areas programme extended

In November 2019, the Education Secretary announced that the Government was extending funding for the Opportunity Areas programme until August 2021.

Opportunity Areas have been identified as the most challenged in terms of social mobility in the Social Mobility Index, a tool published by the Social Mobility Commission. The Index provides a comparison of the chances children have of doing well in adult life, according to where they grow up. Six areas were designated as Opportunity Areas in October 2016, and a further six in January 2017. Delivery plans have been published for all 12 opportunity areas.

Increased government funding is available in the Opportunity Areas to support local education providers and communities to address their biggest challenges, and to develop local partnerships between early years providers, schools, colleges, universities, businesses, charities and local authorities, to ensure that all local children have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The areas also have priority access to other government support including the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund, which is focused on supporting the development of teachers and school leaders in challenging areas.

In addition, a network of ‘research schools’ has been established in the Opportunity Areas under a £3.5 million (€4.06 million*) programme operated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Research schools use their own expertise and experiences to provide strong leadership and guidance to schools in each Opportunity Area, with the aim of supporting their colleagues to use research to improve pupil outcomes.

*Exchange rate used: €1 = £0.86, ECB, 08 November 2019.

Core content framework for initial teacher training 

The Department for Education published a new core content framework for initial teacher training (ITT) in November 2019. It replaced the framework previously issued in July 2016, as part of the Government’s response to the Carter review of initial teacher training.

The framework defines in detail the minimum entitlement of all trainee teachers, setting out the content that ITT providers and their partnerships must draw upon when designing and delivering their ITT programmes.

The framework aligns with the Early Career Framework, which will be rolled out nationally in September 2021. The aim is to establish an entitlement to a structured package of support for all new teachers at the start of their careers.

Reducing teacher workload 

In October 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) published the Teacher Workload Survey 2019. This survey was first undertaken in 2016 and forms part of a campaign to assess and reduce the workload of teachers, particularly as caused by unnecessary data collection requirements and administration.

The findings of the 2019 survey suggest there has been a reduction since 2016 in teachers’, middle leaders’ and senior leaders’ reported working hours. However, despite the reductions in average working hours, most respondents said they still felt they spent too much time on planning, marking, data management and general administrative work. In addition, about seven out of ten primary respondents and nine out of ten secondary respondents still reported that workload was a ‘fairly’ or ‘very serious’ problem.

The Department for Education also updated its School Workload Reduction Toolkit in October 2019, which is designed to help schools manage the workloads of their teachers effectively.

Other materials which DfE has made available include:

• published reports from school research projects on reducing teacher workload
• advice from the teacher workload advisory group on removing unnecessary workload associated with data management
• guidance (November 2018) on addressing workload in initial teacher education (ITE). This contains principles, considerations and examples of practical support to help ITE providers reduce the workload faced by trainee teachers and their school partners
• the interim report (February 2017) of the Teachers Working Longer Review, covering the health and deployment implications of teachers working longer as a result of the increase in normal pension age
• guidance documents to support schools: Flexible working in schools and Staffing and employment: advice for schools.

Further information is available on the ‘Reducing School Workload’ section of the DfE website.

Review of support for children with additional needs 

In September 2019, the Education Secretary announced a review of support for children with additional needs.

The review will look at the how the system has evolved since the introduction, in 2014, of education, health and care (EHC) plans. It is aimed at ensuring that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being prepared for adulthood, including for employment. The issues the review will consider include:

• better helping parents to make decisions about what kind of support will be best for their child
• making sure support in different local areas is consistent and ‘joined up’ across health, care and education services, and that high-quality health and education support is available across the country
• striking the right balance of state-funded provision across inclusive mainstream and specialist places
• aligning incentives and accountability for schools, colleges and local authorities to make sure they provide the best possible support for children and young people with SEND
• understanding what is behind the rise in education, health and care (EHC) plans and the role of specific health conditions in driving demand.

Education Inspection Framework introduced

A new Education Inspection Framework (EIF) was introduced in September 2019, replacing the Common Inspection Framework (CIF).

It sets out how Ofsted inspectors will inspect registered early years settings, maintained schools, academies, and further education and skills provision. Under the new Framework, inspectors make judgements on four areas:

1. quality of education
2. behaviour and attitudes
3. personal development
4. leadership and management.

The ‘quality of education’ judgement replaced ‘outcomes for pupils’ and ‘teaching, learning and assessment’ in the CIF, giving a single, broader judgement. The CIF judgement on 'personal development, behaviour and welfare' has been divided into two separate judgements, 'personal development' and 'behaviour and attitudes'.

The changes in the framework were aimed at giving greater recognition to education providers’ work to support the personal development of learners, as well as placing the focus of inspection on the real substance of education: the curriculum (which forms part of the judgement on the quality of education).

The publication of the EIF followed a consultation on the draft framework, which ran from 16 January to 5 April 2019. The Government’s response, and updated inspection handbooks were issued on 29 July 2019.

In February 2020, Ofsted announced an extension to the transition period during which schools in the process of updating their curriculum plans in line with the new inspection framework will not be penalised if they are inspected before their refreshed curricula are fully in place. The period has been extended from one to two academic years, until July 2021.

Reception baseline assessment

A national, voluntary pilot of a new reception class baseline assessment began in September 2019.

The ‘reception baseline’ is designed as an assessment to be taken by pupils during their first half term in reception (the academic year in which they turn 5). When it becomes statutory in September 2020, the assessment will be used as a starting point from which to measure the progress of a cohort (group of pupils) by the end of primary education (age 11).

The reception baseline is not intended to:

• provide ongoing formative information for practitioners
• be used to measure performance in the early years, evaluate pre-school settings or hold early years practitioners to account
• provide detailed diagnostic information about pupils’ areas for development.

The time required to administer the reception baseline is approximately 20 minutes per pupil. The assessment consists of practical tasks, using physical resources, and an online scoring system for the practitioner to complete as the pupil engages with the tasks. It assesses maths and literacy, communication and language.

Further details on the purpose, format, content and cognitive demand of the assessment are set out in the assessment framework issued by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) in February 2019.

Tests for prospective teachers 

In July 2019, the Government announced that it would be introducing a new approach to assessing the numeracy and literacy of prospective teachers, to replace the existing skills tests.

From October 2019, teacher training providers became responsible for ensuring that prospective teachers meet the high standards of literacy and numeracy required to be a teacher. Under this new system, trainees are benchmarked against a defined set of skills they are expected to have by the end of their initial teacher training.

This decision was taken following a review of the skills test and after engaging with universities, schools, candidates, teachers and representative bodies. The review found that the tests do not provide appropriate assurance of the maths and English skills of teacher trainees.

Developing young people’s character and resilience 

Under the auspices of the Department for Education (DfE), the Chair of the Character Advisory Group, issued a call for evidence on 27 May 2019, on the development of character and resilience in young people. The call for evidence sought views on the importance of character and examples of good provision and practice used by schools, colleges and other education settings. It closed on 5 July 2019.

Following the call, DfE published the character education framework in November 2019. This has the status of non-statutory guidance and is intended for school leaders and teachers considering the rationale for character education and personal development, and the practicalities of provision and delivery. The guidance contains a range of benchmarks against which schools can evaluate the nature and quality of their current provision and determine their aspirations for future development.

Report of school exclusions review published 

On 7 May 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) published the report of the review of school exclusions (Timpson Review). The review was set up in March 2018 and included a call for evidence which ran from March to May 2018. It explored how headteachers used exclusion in practice, and why some vulnerable groups of children were more likely to be excluded.

The DfE has agreed in principle to all of the report's recommendations which included that:

• DfE should update statutory guidance on exclusion to provide more clarity on the use of exclusion.
• DfE should ensure there is well-evidenced, meaningful and accessible training and support for new and existing school leaders to develop, embed and maintain positive behaviour cultures.
• DfE should make schools responsible for the children they exclude and accountable for their educational outcomes.
• DfE and Ofsted, the inspectorate, should remove the incentives for schools to 'off-roll' pupils (where they are removed from school rolls without formal exclusion).
• Ofsted should recognise those schools which use exclusion appropriately and effectively; succeed in supporting all children to remain positively engaged; and reserve permanent exclusion for the most serious cases or where strategies to avoid it have failed.

The House of Commons Library issued a briefing (CBP-8444) on 'off-rolling' in February 2020.

Identifying schools for support

On 3 May 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) issued its response to a consultation which it had held from January to March 2019 on identifying schools for support.

The consultation was aimed at finding clear and simple ways of identifying schools that were showing signs of needing educational support. Specifically, it proposed that all schools judged as 'Requires Improvement' by the inspectorate, Ofsted, would be eligible for support, and that schools with two consecutive 'Requires Improvement' judgements would be eligible for more intensive support.

In its response, DfE confirmed that it would be implementing its proposals in full. From the 2019/20 school year, it will no longer publish coasting and floor standards for schools, and these measures will no longer be used to identify schools for intervention, support, or any other purpose. Instead, it will use the Ofsted 'Requires Improvement' judgement as the sole method for identifying schools eligible for a proactive, offer of support.

DfE issued further information regarding the support offer on 19 July 2019, and schools were able to access support from September 2019.

Elective home education 

In April 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) responded to a consultation which it had held from April to July 2018 on greater oversight of children whose parents elect to educate them at home. The consultation also sought comments on revised guidance documents.

In its response, DfE announced a follow-up consultation on proposed legislation to establish a register, maintained by local authorities, of children not attending mainstream schools. The consultation, which ended on 24 June 2019, also sought views on proposed associated duties on parents and the proprietors of certain educational settings, and on proposed legislation to establish a duty on local authorities to support parents who educate children at home. At the time of writing (March 2020), the Government had not yet issued a response.

DfE issued revised non-statutory guidance documents on elective home education in April 2019. Further information is available in a House of Commons Library Briefing, Home education in England (July 2019).

Review of post-16 qualifications at Level 3 and below 

The Department for Education (DfE) began a consultation in March 2019 as the first stage of its review of post-16 Level 3 qualifications and below. The review excludes A Levels, GCSEs and the new T Level (technical) qualifications. The consultation, which ran from 19 March to 10 June 2019, asked for views on the high level principles, and outlines proposals for the removal of funding approval for unreformed qualifications.

In February 2020, the DfE published guidance detailing how the Education and Skills Funding Agency will remove funding approval from qualifications with low and no publicly-funded enrolments, and identifying over 5,000 such qualifications for withdrawal from August 2021. Providers of these qualifications can apply to retain funding approval if they can provide evidence of increased public demand for the qualification, or if its discontinuation would adversely affect a specific group of students or providers, a subject or occupational sector, or a geographical area.

The move is intended to help ensure that students gain a clearer understanding of the qualifications on offer.

Integrated Communities Strategy 

In February 2019, the Government published its response to a consultation on its Integrated Communities Strategy, which it had held between March and June 2018. At the same time, it issued an Integrated Communities Action Plan, confirming the actions it will take as a result of the consultation to deliver stronger, integrated communities. Actions related to education include:

• continuing to support teachers to promote British values across the curriculum including, for example, through providing additional examples of good practice
• assessing the potential impact of all new free school applications on the intake of neighbouring schools, to meet strengthened expectations for free schools to promote integration
• developing advice for admission authorities in the Integration Areas on different models of admission arrangements, which can be used to enable them to prioritise applications from a wider, more representative area. Once refined, this advice is to be shared more widely
• continuing to support an expanded national school linking programme to promote linking arrangements between different kinds of schools, with further evaluation to identify and share learning about the impacts of the programme on supporting integration.

Teacher recruitment and retention 

In January 2019, the DfE launched its Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, which outlines the following four priorities.

• Priority 1 focuses on helping leaders to create supportive school structures to help tackle teacher workload.
• Priority 2 aims to improve support for teachers at an early stage in their careers, including the national introduction, from September 2021, of an Early Career Framework providing a two-year package of structured support.
• Priority 3 intends to ensure that a career in teaching remains attractive to teachers as their careers and lives develop, for example, by developing specialist qualifications to support clearer non-leadership career pathways.
• Priority 4 focuses on simplifying the process of becoming a teacher, including the introduction of a new ‘one-stop’ application service for initial teacher training (ITT). The DfE launched a pilot of this service in January 2020, for applicants in the South West of England, before it is rolled out nationally from October 2021. Universities providing teacher training can join the pilot from October 2020.

Further information on teacher supply and retention is available in this December 2019 House of Commons Library briefing (CBP-7222).

2018 

Children and young people’s mental health provision 

On 25 July 2018, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education issued their response to the consultation on ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper’.

The proposals in the consultation, which ran from 4 December 2017 to 2 March 2018, included:

• creating a new mental health workforce of community-based mental health support teams
• encouraging all schools and colleges to appoint a designated lead for mental health
• the piloting of a new four-week waiting time for National Health Service (NHS) children and young people’s mental health services in some areas.

The Government's response confirmed that it would trial all three of these elements in new trailblazer areas, identifying the first wave to be operational by the end of 2019, and rolling out the new approach to a fifth to a quarter of the country by the end of 2022/23. In December 2018, the DfE announced that new mental health support teams will be based in and near schools and colleges in 25 areas, and will start giving support in 2019.

The House of Commons Library published a briefing (CPB-7196) on this topic in July 2019.

Improving teacher qualifications and career progression 

In May 2018, the Department for Education (DfE) published its response to a consultation which it had run between 15 December 2017 and 9 March 2018, on strengthening Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and improving career progression for teachers.

The proposals for a strengthened QTS included:

• an extended induction period with QTS awarded at the end
• development of a structured Early Career Framework (ECF) setting out what all teachers need to know and areas for development
• stronger mentoring provision for new teachers.

Proposals to support career development for teachers once they have gained QTS included:

• expansion of professional qualifications to include specialisms to promote specialist career pathways
• a range of options to help embed a culture of continuing professional development
• a pilot fund for work-related sabbaticals.

The response from DfE outlined details of the next steps, which included:

• publishing details about the ECF
• publishing mentor standards for newly qualified teacher mentors, based on the existing initial teacher training (ITT) mentor standards
• taking forward proposals to develop specialist qualifications
• developing criteria for the teacher sabbaticals pilot.

Schools that Work for Everyone consultation 

In May 2018, the Government issued its response to the consultation ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’, held from September to December 2016.

The consultation had sought views on a range of measures including removing existing restrictions on admissions criteria for new schools. The Government’s response included the following points.

• Universities and independent schools with the capacity and capability to sponsor an academy or establish a free school would be strongly encouraged to do so.
• Universities and independent schools that do not have the capacity and capability to sponsor an academy or free school would be expected to support state schools through sustainable and reciprocal partnerships in the areas of teaching, curriculum, leadership or other targeted partnership activity.
• Legislation preventing the creation of new selective schools would remain in place.
• The Government and the Grammar School Heads Association (GSHA) have agreed a formal Memorandum of Understanding setting out action to taken to widen access to selective schools and to provide support to non-selective schools.
• The Government would continue to support the expansion of existing good or outstanding selective schools through the Selective Schools Expansion Fund (SSEF). Selective schools wishing to expand would be required to demonstrate that they are working with non-selective schools in their local area, that there is a need for additional places, and that they are committed to increasing access for disadvantaged pupils. In December 2018 the government announced the first 16 schools to benefit from the SSEF.
• The 50% cap on faith-based admissions in new faith free schools would be retained.

School accountability 

The Department for Education (DfE) issued Principles for a clear and simple school accountability system in May 2018. These are high-level principles on how the accountability system for educational performance operates and how the different organisations involved fit within it. They were published following DfE’s recognition that, within a system of accountability, school leaders need clarity and transparency on:

• when they will and will not be subject to action as a result of the accountability system
• the consequences of the accountability system
• the roles of different actors.

Other principles included are that DfE:

• will not pursue forced conversions to academy status other than in instances of school failure as judged by Ofsted, the inspectorate
• will identify schools that are underperforming and would benefit from an offer of support. Such schools will be identified based on transparent and objective criteria, and a clear threshold will be set that will trigger such support.

Select Committee inquiry into Fourth Industrial Revolution

On 1 May 2018, the House of Commons Education Committee began an inquiry into the challenges posed, and opportunities presented, by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is characterised by the emergence of a range of new technologies including artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet of things. The changes are likely to have a major impact on both productivity and the labour market, with low- and medium-skilled jobs most at risk.

The inquiry will examine how best to prepare young people to take advantage of future opportunities by looking at the suitability of the school curriculum. It will also look at the role of lifelong learning and how best to help people ‘climb the ladder of opportunity’ in the future.

The Committee has published its oral and written evidence.

Oversight of out-of-school education settings 

On 10 April 2018, the Department for Education (DfE) issued a report on a call for evidence on out-of-school education settings, which had run from 26 November 2015 to 11 January 2016.

DfE had proposed a regulatory system for out-of-school settings, by which is meant any institution providing tuition, training or instruction to children and young people aged under 19 in England that is not a school, college, 16-19 academy or registered childcare provider. The regulatory system would have included:

• a requirement on relevant settings to register
• power for a body to inspect settings
• power to impose sanctions where settings were failing to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

In its response, DfE decided not to proceed with this model, which might have placed unnecessary regulatory burdens on settings and limited parents’ choices on how to educate their children. The Government had already announced in March 2018, as part of its Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper, its intention to strengthen existing capacity to identify and tackle concerns in out-of-school settings. This would be done by supporting and working with a number of local authorities to demonstrate the benefits of multi-agency working, sharing best practice on different ways of working together and intervening using existing legal powers in settings of concern.

Supporting children at risk of exclusion 

In March 2018, the Secretary of State for Education announced proposals to improve education for children with additional needs and the experiences of children in alternative provision.

Children educated in alternative provision are less likely to achieve good GCSE grades and are less likely to be in education, employment or training post-16.

The proposals outlined included:

• an externally led review of exclusions to look at how the use and levels of exclusions vary from school to school, focusing on those children who are more likely to be excluded
• a ‘roadmap’, setting out how the Government will transform alternative provision to make sure these education settings provide high-quality teaching, and an education that meets the individual needs of young people in their care
• an Alternative Provision Innovation Fund to test and develop projects that support children back into mainstream or special schools, and also support young people as they move from alternative provision in to training or further education at post-16
• a call for evidence on how to improve educational outcomes for children in need of additional help or protection, including children in care.

The review considered the exclusion of groups of pupils that are identified in the national data as more likely to be excluded. These include those ethnic groups highlighted in the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website; pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible for free school meals in the last six years; pupils with special educational needs; looked after children; and children in need (as defined under s17 of the Children Act 1989).

The call for evidence ran until 1 July 2018.

Incentives for ex-service personnel to retrain as teachers 

In March 2018, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD)  jointly announced a bursary scheme to encourage ex-service personnel to retrain as teachers. The scheme became operational from September 2018.

The bursary is paid in the final two years of a three-year course. To be eligible, applicants:

• must be undergraduates
• need to have left full-time employment in the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Navy in the past five years
• must be interested in studying and qualified to study the priority subjects of secondary maths, biology, chemistry, physics, computing or modern foreign languages
• must meet the appropriate initial teacher training (ITT) eligibility criteria.

Trials of multiplication tables check in Year 4 

The School Standards Minister announced in February 2018 that trials were to begin of the multiplication tables check. The on-screen check will take about five minutes and enable teachers to monitor a child’s progress in a consistent and reliable way. A national sample of schools had been selected to participate in the trials, to ensure that the check is robust, accessible and minimises any additional burden on schools as a new assessment.

The trial came ahead of the national voluntary rollout of the multiplication tables check for all Year 4 pupils (aged 8/9) from June 2019, before it becomes mandatory in June 2020.

Plans to introduce the check were announced in 2017, as part of the Government’s response to its primary assessment consultation. 

Increasing the number of students studying advanced maths 

In February 2018, the School Standards Minister and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced the Advanced Maths Premium, a new fund to help schools and colleges increase the number of students studying maths after GCSE.

The premium is also aimed at supporting institutions to increase the number of girls and those from disadvantaged backgrounds taking advanced maths qualifications.

Tests for prospective teachers 

In February 2018, the Schools Standards Minister announced changes to the arrangements for professional skills tests for aspiring teachers, which they must pass in order to begin initial teacher training.

More rigorous professional skills tests were introduced in 2012 for prospective teachers. These tests assess the core skills necessary for them to fulfil their professional role in schools, rather than the subject knowledge needed for teaching. They evaluate whether prospective teachers are competent in numeracy and literacy, regardless of their specialism.

The measures announced, which were aimed at reducing unnecessary administrative and financial barriers, were that:

• prospective teachers may attempt the test three times, before incurring any costs, rather than one as previously
• the lock-out period that previously prevented candidates from re-taking tests for two years if they had been unsuccessful in two resits, was removed.

Support for disadvantaged children – eligibility criteria

Changes to the eligibility criteria for entitlements for disadvantaged children became necessary with the national rollout of Universal Credit, a single payment for people who are looking for work or who are on a low income, and which replaced six existing benefits.

The three entitlements concerned were:

1. the Early Years Pupil Premium, additional funding for early years settings to improve the education they provide for disadvantaged three and four-year-olds
2. free school meals for disadvantaged school-aged children
3. the free early education entitlement for two-year-olds, which offers children from less advantaged backgrounds 15 hours a week, or 570 hours a year, of free (government-funded) early years education.

In February 2018, the Government issued its response to two consultations on the entitlements. The first consultation was on eligibility for the Early Years Pupil Premium and for free school meals, which had run from 16 November 2017 to 11 January 2018; the second was on eligibility for the free early years entitlement, which had run from 4 December 2017 to 15 January 2018.

For all three entitlements, the Government introduced income thresholds to determine eligibility. Transitional arrangements to protect those who were eligible under the previous criteria were set out in the response document.

Article last reviewed March 2021.