MPs say rising deficits spell trouble for universities while Blair backs expansion
Higher education providers face long-term, systemic, pressures on their financial sustainability and viability, with the proportion of providers with an in-year deficit having increased in every one of the past four years. This has risen from 5 per cent in the 2015 to 2016 academic year, to 32 per cent in 2019-20. Against this backdrop […]
Low Ofsted ratings leaves schools ‘stuck’ in spiral of low outcomes
Schools that have received a series of below good Ofsted grades often end up in a cycle of challenging circumstances and limited improvement, a new report warns. A new study, “‘Stuck’ schools” funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has explored the underperformance of 580 schools in England that consistently received less than good Ofsted inspection grades […]
Record exam entries, public support and a fresh vision—why is the government ignoring RE?
Has a school subject ever been so badly let down by the government? Reading the latest data review into the subject, you could make a pretty good case for that subject being RE. GCSE entries up by a third in a decade. A 50 per cent percentage increase in A-level entries since 2003 – beating […]
Refurbish school uniforms to ease family budgets
Nearly 2,500 years ago the Greek politician and general Pericles said: “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you” and in my time as a politician I have learnt that, alas, there is virtually nothing that escapes politics and regulation. This is now the […]
10s of millions in taxpayers’ money ‘propping up’ badly managed academies
Around 43 per cent of state-funded schools now operate as academies, educating over half of pupils in England across over 2,700 academy trusts, and the Department for Education (DfE) aims for all state-funded schools to become part of a family of academy trusts. But in a report today the public accounts committee (PAC) says a […]
Disadvantaged students up to eight months behind peers
MPs have today expressed doubt about the success of the government’s post pandemic catch-up programmes in education, saying that disadvantaged pupils remain embroiled in an “epidemic” of educational inequality. In its new report, the cross-party education select committee finds that delivery partner Randstad is not delivering on its targets, and call on the Government to prove […]
We need a National Plan for religious education
What sort of society do we want to live in? This is the question we should always return to when it comes to education policy. Freedom of speech, respect for the beliefs of others, the spirit of debate – these have long been pillars of British society. Teach these values explicitly in our schools and from the outset […]
Nadhim Zahawi is wrong—our education system needs less balance
The push to treat all perspectives as equal damages our democracy Next month I start a job teaching law at Oxford. My first class is about a well-known case. I recently read two articles about it, taking sharply contrasting perspectives. One is evidenced, peer reviewed, and identifies the key issues accurately (I know because I […]
Teacher-assessed grades masked ‘real’ learning losses for disadvantaged students
A new report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has said that teacher-assessed grades masked the “real” learning losses faced by disadvantaged students in particular during the pandemic. It also found that the government has failed to improve the relative outcomes of students in long-term poverty after a decade of […]
Government warned to ‘not leave young behind’ as entry level apprenticeship take up collapses by 72 per cent
A new report has urged the government “not to leave the youngest behind” as its conclusions revealed a 72 per cent fall in entry-level apprenticeship uptake since 2014. Analysis of government data by the London Progression Collaboration (LPC) – an initiative to boost apprenticeship starts in the capital – has revealed a major decline in […]
