Friday Five: NPF, teacher recruitment, international students, EHCPs, skills

1. France’s New Popular Front proposes making school completely ‘free’

France’s New Popular Front (NPF) alliance confounded expectations with their performance in the French elections last weekend. One of their flagship policies is to make school completely ‘free’ for all pupils. Under the plans, the Government would cover the costs of all curricular schooling, extracurricular activities, supplies, food, and transport for pupils. The Montaigne Institute estimates this would cost roughly €13 billion, which the NPF say would be funded by tax increases on the highest earners.

More detail on the policy is here (in French)

2. Philipson launches initiative to recruit 6,500 new teachers 

The new Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has pushed ahead with Labour’s manifesto promise to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis with a drive to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers. This marks an expansion of the DfE’s ‘Every Education Shapes A Life’ campaign. Alongside this, Phillipson plans to meet with union leaders and other educational stakeholders. The recruitment initiative, to be funded by adding tax to private school fees, was a key Labour election pledge.

Read the press release here.

3. Social Market Foundation report calls for balance in policies for international graduate students

A new report by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) has emphasised the need for a strategic plan to manage the expansion of international students in the UK. The report argues that while international students contribute economically and boost the UK’s soft power, there are challenges such as displacement of home students, accommodation shortages, and an over-reliance on international student fees to fund the higher education sector. 

The report calls for a nuanced approach, including imposing temporary limits on international student growth in areas with housing shortages, increasing teaching grants to compensate for reduced international income, diversifying student nationalities and study levels, and easing visa costs. The authors also call for a systematic review of the graduate route visa and improved data collection on the nature of work done by student dependents to be able to appropriately acknowledge their economic and fiscal contribution. 

Read the full report here. 

4. FFT Education Datalab explore the rise of Education, Health, and Care Plans

Exactly 575,963 young people in England have Education, Health, and Care plans (EHCPs). First introduced in 2015, the number of young people with an EHCP has more than doubled. Across both Year 11s and Year 7s, there is now a much higher prevalence of autism, speech, language, and communication (SLCN) needs and social, emotional, and mental health needs (SEMH) than in 2008/09.

The full data analysis is here.

5. Policy Connect blog explores the political values underpinning skills policy

In a blog this week, Policy Connect’s Dr. Peter Wilson argued that the political values behind outcomes can hugely shape what skills policy looks like. He highlights the apparent trade-off between a skills policy that prioritises growth and one that is designed to reduce inequality. While a growth-focussed skills policy might in theory target funding at individuals in senior leadership positions, this would not be how funds would be allocated in a skills policy designed primarily to tackle inequality. Ultimately, Wilson argues that an open discussion of skills outcomes, and the political values that underpin them, can help improve policymaking in this area.

The UK’s skills education landscape is a focus for us at CfEY. Our work with Policy Connect explored the critical role that Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) can play in improving the UK’s skills pipeline.

The blog is here; our work on HTQs is here.

That’s all for this week! If you found this blog useful, please be sure to share/tweet it and follow @theCfEY, @Barristotle, and @conorcarleton for future editions.