Friday Five: T Level reform, 300,000 ‘missing’ from education, DfE teacher survey, care-experienced in HE and £740m for SEND

1. Government announces T Level reform

The government is reforming the T Level qualification in an attempt to reduce bureaucracy and boost the number of students taking up the qualification. As well as making it easier for employers to provide industry placements, students will be able to complete up to 20% of their placements remotely, with this figure rising to 50% for Digital T Levels.

The announcement comes off the back of recent findings that just 1% of 16-17 year olds took up the government’s flagship technical qualification in 2022, and only two-thirds of 2021/22 entrants completed the course within the two-year timeframe. The government has invested over £1.8bn in the qualification to date.

For full details of the changes, read here

2. Up to 300,000 ‘missing’ from education

Up to 300,000 children were ‘missing’ from education in 2023, according to a report published by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) this week – a 40 percent increase on 2017. The number of children registered as home-educated has also doubled to 95,000, meaning that up to 400,000 children are estimated not to be in school.

EPI finds that some groups of children are at a higher risk of leaving the school system permanently:

• Gypsy/Roma pupils (50%) and Traveller pupils (75%)
• Persistently disadvantaged pupils and permanently excluded pupils (both almost 1 in 5)
• Care-experienced pupils (1 in 8)

The report recommends that schools be required to record reasons for removing pupils from their rolls, and that the government integrate data from a range of sources beyond education to achieve a more accurate register of ‘children not in school’.

The full report is here

3. DfE survey captures new insights on teachers’ views

Early findings from this year’s Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey have been released by the Department for Education. The survey, now in its third wave, measures teachers’ views on issues such as pay, workload, student behaviour and professional development. Here are some of their initial results:

• Teachers and leaders reported working long hours, with leaders working an average of 56.6 hours per week and teachers 48.1 hours in 2024. 
• Only 45% of teachers felt that student behavior was good, a substantial fall from 58% in 2022.
• The majority (58%) of teachers and leaders expressed dissatisfaction with their salaries, though this was an improvement on last year (69% in 2023).
• 34% of teachers and leaders were considering leaving the English state school sector, with high workload and stress being the main reasons.

For detailed findings, read here

4. Reforms needed to support care-experienced young people in HE

A new report from the Social Market Foundation (SMF) has revealed the barriers faced by care-experienced young people accessing higher education. They found that care leavers are three times less likely to attend university than the general population – at just 14%. SMF suggests that existing support for care-experienced students is inconsistent, as it often depends on discretionary funding.

To address this, the report calls on the government to reintroduce non-repayable grants for care-experienced and estranged students – equivalent to the average parental contribution. To encourage greater enrolment and to reflect the additional costs of support, SMF also suggests that universities be given a minimum of £1000 per care experienced student per academic year.

The full report is available here

5. £740 million announced in SEND funding

The Department for Education has announced £740 million in funding for schools to create new specialist places for students with SEND. The funds will allow schools to adapt their buildings to improve accessibility, and create specialist facilities to accommodate students with a greater range of needs. The government has confirmed that allocations will be made in Spring, along with guidance published on how councils can use the investment to improve provision in mainstream schools.

The announcement follows the National Audit Office (NAO) report in October, which described the SEND system as ‘financially unsustainable’ and recommended ‘whole-system reform’. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said “Building a system where more children with SEND can attend mainstream schools is central to our plans”.

For full details, read here