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Category: Education

  • Alex Burghart – 2022 Statement on the Level 2 and Below Qualifications Update

    Alex Burghart – 2022 Statement on the Level 2 and Below Qualifications Update

    The statement made by Alex Burghart, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 2 March 2022.

    Consultation on level 2 and below qualifications

    I am pleased to announce the next stage of the review of post-16 qualifications in England. It is vital in a fast-moving and high-tech economy that education closes the gap between what people study and the needs of employers. Priorities change rapidly and we need an education system that is dynamic and forward looking. It must deliver the skills we will need in the future to strengthen the economy, not only as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic but as we move forward in the 21st century.

    We set out our plans for the reform of level 3 qualifications in July 2021, and we are now consulting on proposals to reform level 2, level 1 and entry level qualifications. The current landscape at level 2 and below is complex, with over 8,000 qualifications approved for funding for students aged 16 and above. While many of these qualifications are likely to be excellent, it is not a consistent picture. It is hard to tell which ones are high quality and will lead to good outcomes. Improving the quality of qualifications at these levels will contribute to levelling up our country and building back better.

    We recognise the diversity of the cohort studying at level 2 and below. Individuals who take these qualifications will have very different backgrounds, achievements, needs, aspirations and motivations. They are also more likely to be taken post-16 by students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs or disabilities. These students can have complex needs ranging from emotional, behavioural and mental health issues; physical disabilities; cognitive or developmental conditions; and others including hearing impairments and sensory issues. It is more vital than ever that these students can benefit from high-quality provision that provides the support they need to unlock their potential and benefit from great progression opportunities. Our proposed landscape will serve all students better.

    Our proposals aim to streamline and improve the quality of qualifications at level 2 and below for both 16 to 19-year-olds and adults. At the end of 2020, 21% of 16-year-olds were in full-time education studying at level 2 and below1. These qualifications are also important for adults, who in 2018-19 accounted for around 57% of ESFA-funded enrolments at these levels2. We want to ensure that all qualifications that receive public funding in future are high quality, have a clear purpose and will lead to strong progression outcomes, with every student having a range of options leading into either employment or further study—or, for a small minority of students, independent living.

    The proposals I am setting out today are open for consultation until 27 April. They have been developed following an extensive call for evidence which ran from November 2020 to February 2021. I am very grateful to those who engaged positively with, and responded to, this exercise.

    As previously set out, GCSEs, functional skills qualifications (FSQs) and essential digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) are not in scope for this consultation.

    Proposals—Level 2

    We propose that qualifications at level 2 should prepare students for further study or training at level 3 where possible, including T-Levels (through the T-Level transition programme), other level 3 technical qualifications and apprenticeships. With employers at the heart of their design and by aligning to employer-led standards, some level 2 qualifications will also provide a great opportunity to move directly into skilled jobs in some sectors.

    For 16 to 19-year-olds studying at level 2 who are aiming to get a job at level 2, we propose a two-year study programme to prepare them for the world of work.

    Proposals—Level 1 and below

    We propose the focus of study for most learners at level 1 and below should be progression to a qualification at level 2 or above that provides entry into a skilled occupation, or progression to a work-based pathway such as supported internships, traineeships and apprenticeships. Basic skills qualifications in English, maths and digital will continue to be vital for many of these students.

    Proposals—Personal, social and employability qualifications

    We recognise that some students will leave education with their highest achievement being level 1 or entry level, and for a small minority their main aim will be independent living. Personal, social and employability provision is an integral part of study for many of these students, and we propose to set national standards and core content for these qualifications to be designed against. Aligning these qualifications with national standards will ensure greater consistency and confidence in their quality. As part of the consultation, we are specifically seeking views from employers about the value and recognition of these qualifications.

    Consultation response on basic digital skills

    We consulted in the call for evidence on proposals to remove public funding approval from basic digital skills qualifications at level 2 (ICT user and ICT functional skills qualifications). We are publishing our response alongside the consultation, which confirms and sets out our decision to remove public funding approval from all level 2 ICT user qualifications and all level 2 ICT functional skills qualifications.

    I look forward to further engagement with the sector on these reforms. In response to this consultation, I will set out the next steps for implementing reforms at level 2 and below.

    Update on level 3 implementation

    In July 2021 we set out our plans for the reform of level 3 qualifications. In November, recognising the need to allow sufficient time for awarding organisations and providers to prepare, we announced an extra year for the reforms to be implemented. To support this, we are also moving the pathfinder for approving qualifications in the digital route into the first full cycle of approvals for other technical qualifications. The pathfinder would have seen the introduction of reformed qualifications in the digital route for 2024, ahead of our other reforms. These approvals processes will now be merged and first delivery of reformed qualifications will be from 2025.

    1 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ac2c9345-145c-46d0-aabc-055e9f92936b

    2 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/933584/Ad-hoc_3_Level_3_and_below_-_contextual_information.pdf

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on Political Impartiality in Schools

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on Political Impartiality in Schools

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 21 February 2022.

    Last week, the Department for Education published non-statutory guidance on schools’ legal duties on political impartiality, as set out in sections 406 and 407 of the Education Act 1996, part 2 of the schedule to the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 and many academies’ funding agreements.

    These requirements have applied to schools for many years, and most schools are experienced in meeting them. However, the Government are aware that a number of recent issues have raised concerns and have made some teachers less confident to apply them in practice. Therefore, we have developed this guidance, working with the sector to ensure it is comprehensive and helpful.

    Teaching about complicated and sensitive political issues can be challenging, but it is important that teachers can cover the full range of political issues they need to with confidence. The guidance is clear that it is not seeking to limit the range of political issues and viewpoints schools can and do teach about.

    It is important that children are supported in their education to understand a range of perspectives and form their own views, without being unduly influenced by the personal views of those teaching.

    This is what helps children and young people go on to become active citizens who can engage in our democratic society and who have an understanding and respect for legitimate differences of opinion.

    This guidance will offer assurance to most schools that their legal duties in this area are being met without issue and help them continue their good work. For other schools the guidance should help them put in place the necessary processes to ensure adherence going forward.

    Importantly, this guidance should also help all parties—including parents, carers, and others—to understand how schools should go about meeting their legal duties, allowing issues around impartiality to be taken seriously and resolved calmly through dialogue.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on Education and Living With Covid-19

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on Education and Living With Covid-19

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 21 February 2022.

    Today, I would like to set out what the Government’s ‘Living with covid-19’ strategy means for education and childcare settings. As we move towards the endemic stage of covid-19, it is right that we empower people to make sensible decisions and trust in our fellow Britons to be sensible and look out for each other.

    As of 21 February, all staff, students and pupils of secondary age and above in mainstream education and childcare settings are no longer advised to continue regular twice-weekly testing. This change is in line with the very latest public health advice, and because we now know that the risk of severe illness from covid-19 for most children, young people and fully vaccinated adults is much reduced.

    Staff and students of secondary age and above in SEND settings, Alternative Provision settings, and SEND units within mainstream settings or equivalent in FE colleges are advised to continue twice-weekly testing. Staff in residential units in Children’s Social Care (Open and Secure Children’s Homes) and children of secondary age and above in Open Children’s Homes are also advised to continue twice-weekly testing. Children and young people arriving in Secure Children’s Homes should test on arrival.

    The education testing delivery channels will remain open so that staff and students of secondary age and above can access tests if needed to respond to local public health advice, in particular in relation to outbreaks. Staff and students are also able to access test kits from their local pharmacy or via www.gov.uk.

    Mainstream settings will be advised to use any remaining stock of test kits to ensure access for students and their workforce in response to an outbreak if advised to do so by their local health protection teams.

    From 24 February, the Government will remove the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test. Adults and children who test positive will continue to be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for at least five full days, and then to continue to follow the guidance until they have received two negative test results on consecutive days. In addition, the Government will:

    No longer ask fully vaccinated close contacts and those aged under 18 to test daily for seven days, and remove the legal requirement for close contacts who are not fully vaccinated to self-isolate.

    End self-isolation support payments and national funding for practical support, and the medicine delivery service will no longer be available.

    End routine contact tracing. Contacts will no longer be required to self-isolate or advised to take daily tests. Staff, children and young people should attend their education settings as usual. This includes staff who have been in close contact within their household, unless they are able to work from home.

    End the legal obligation for individuals to tell their employers when they are required to self- isolate.

    As part of the Government’s decision in January 2022 to move back to Plan A, face coverings are no longer recommended in classrooms, teaching spaces and communal areas. Directors of Public Health may recommend temporarily re-introducing precautionary measures such as face coverings or testing in individual settings or across an area, informing my Department of their intention to do so to ensure any extra measures are proportionate.

    We have now exceeded our public commitment to deliver 300,000 CO2 monitors, with over 360,000 monitors delivered in the autumn term. We are also making up to 9,000 air cleaning devices available to all of those settings that need them. Over 6,000 have already been successfully delivered to eligible settings; the majority of the remaining deliveries will be completed by the end of February. And we continue to share advice and best practice on how settings can ensure that their occupied spaces are adequately ventilated, including a short video clip we recently filmed with Professor Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings.

    From my previous role as vaccines Minister, overseeing one of the fastest roll outs in Europe, I know the importance of the vaccination programme in the fight against covid-19. Vaccinations remain our very best line of defence and I continue to encourage all eligible staff and students aged 12 and over to take up the offer of a vaccine to protect themselves and those around them. The recent extension of the programme to all five to 11-year-olds will enable all school-aged children to be vaccinated. The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of covid-19 as we learn to live with this virus. This group will be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer vaccine eight weeks apart—a third of the amount used for adult vaccinations. The Government have also announced today that we have accepted the advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to offer, from spring, an additional covid-19 booster jab to people aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and people aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed.

    Vaccines are critical as a first line of defence, and antivirals now form a vital part of our approach as we learn to live with covid-19 by preventing the most vulnerable from being hospitalised. The Government have therefore agreed deals to secure a total of 4.98 million patient courses of oral antiviral treatments in our efforts to reduce the impact of covid-19 and the Omicron variant across the UK.

    While we make this shift to living with covid-19, we know that education and childcare settings may continue to experience workforce pressures. To help with this, the covid-19 workforce fund has now been extended, providing financial support to eligible schools and colleges for costs incurred due to staff absences from Monday 22 November 2021 until Friday 8 April 2022. The fund is available to support schools and colleges facing significant staffing and funding pressures in continuing to deliver high-quality face-to-face education to all pupils.

    Updated guidance for all education and childcare settings will be published in line with the implementation of the ‘Living with covid-19’ plan.

    Finally, I want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of the education and childcare settings who have continued to provide provision and support to children and young people throughout the pandemic.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Comments on Education Investment Areas

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Comments on Education Investment Areas

    The comments made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, on 1 February 2022.

    The most valuable resource on the planet is the human resource. Investing in people to get on in life and receive the best possible education is core to the mission of this government, and we are determined to help people gain the knowledge and skills needed to unleash their potential.

    This white paper sets out our blueprint for putting skills, schools and families at the heart of levelling up. It focuses on putting great schools in every part of the country, training that sets you up for success in a high-skilled, well-paid career and ensuring no one misses out on opportunities simply because of where they live or their family background.

    Raising our expectations and aspirations for children, as well as creating a high-skilled workforce, will end the brain drain that sees too many people leaving communities in order to succeed. These plans will help create a level playing field and boost the economy, both locally and nationally.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on Student Loan Repayment Thresholds

    Michelle Donelan – 2022 Statement on Student Loan Repayment Thresholds

    The statement made by Michelle Donelan, the Minister for Higher and Further Education, in the House of Commons on 28 January 2022.

    I am announcing details of the repayment threshold and interest rate thresholds that will apply to post-2012 (plan 2) student loans, and the repayment threshold that will apply to postgraduate (plan 3) student loans, for financial year 2022-23.

    Plan 2 student loan repayment threshold

    I can confirm today that I intend to bring forward regulations that will keep the repayment threshold for plan 2 student loans—the income level above which post-2012 student loan borrowers are required to make repayments—at its current level for the financial year 2022-23. The threshold will be maintained at its financial year 2021-22 level of £27,295 per year, £2,274 a month, or £524 a week. The post-study interest rate thresholds that apply to plan 2 loans will also be kept at their current levels in accord. For financial year 2022-23, the lower interest rate threshold will remain at £27,295—to align with the repayment threshold—and the upper interest rate threshold will remain at £49,130.

    It is now more crucial than ever that higher education is underpinned by just and sustainable finance and funding arrangements, and that the system provides value for money for all of society at a time of rising costs. This Government have already confirmed that we will freeze maximum tuition fee caps again for the 2022-23 academic year, the fifth year in succession that we have held fee caps at current levels.

    The ongoing fee freeze is reducing the burden of debt on students and is helping to make higher education more affordable for them. However, the overall cost to taxpayers of the system is rising. Since 2018, the repayment threshold for plan 2 student loans has increased each April in line with changes in average earnings. If we do not keep the threshold at its current level, it would rise by a further 4.6% in April 2022.

    Maintaining the repayment threshold at its current level, alongside the ongoing freeze in fees, will help to ensure the sustainability of the student loan system, while keeping higher education open to everyone who has the ability and the ambition to benefit from it, including the most disadvantaged.

    We will also shortly set out further plans for addressing the student finance recommendations made by the independent panel that reported to the review of post-18 education and funding.

    Postgraduate (plan 3) student loan repayment threshold

    I can also confirm today that the repayment threshold for postgraduate student loans will remain at its current level of £21,000 per year, £1,750 a month or £404 a week for financial year 2022-23.

    Postgraduate loan outlay is forecast to increase in coming years, and 30% of borrowers holding a master’s loan (academic year 2020-21 entrants) are not expected to repay their loans in full. We must ensure that postgraduate loans remain sustainable and that is why we are also retaining the current repayment threshold for postgraduate loans.

  • Robin Walker – 2022 Comments on Modern Language GCSEs

    Robin Walker – 2022 Comments on Modern Language GCSEs

    The comments made by Robin Walker, the Schools Minister, on 14 January 2022.

    Studying languages opens up a world of new, exciting opportunities for people and is hugely important for a modern global economy.

    That’s why we want more young people to take up modern language GCSEs, and these evidence-based changes aim to do just that – making these qualifications more well-rounded and accessible, and helping more young people to enjoy learning languages.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Comments About 310,000 Children Being Out of School

    Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Comments About 310,000 Children Being Out of School

    The comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 11 January 2022.

    Schools are facing a renewed wave of Covid chaos with staff and pupil absences rising sharply. Yet the government is still dragging its feet on the action needed to keep kids learning.

    Thousands of schools are lacking any ventilation support leaving children learning in freezing classrooms, Ministers are unable to say how many people have responded to their teacher volunteer drive and hundreds of thousands of secondary pupils haven’t had their first vaccine. It is incompetent, complacent, and inadequate.

    Ministers must now step-up to secure our children’s learning and their futures, with a serious plan to tackle workforce absences and ventilate schools to keep children learning together in class.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Comments on Ventilation in Schools

    Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Comments on Ventilation in Schools

    The comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 5 January 2022.

    Vaccination, ventilation and testing are key to ensuring children and staff can continue to learn together in school, but Ministers are again falling short with a lack of tests, only half of eligible children vaccinated and just a fraction of the ventilation systems our schools need.

    Labour called for decisive action to be taken over the Christmas break to get these problems solved but the government has again failed to get ahead of the virus.

    We’ve got a new Education Secretary, a new team of government ministers, but our children are still being treated as an afterthought with chaotic, last-minute announcements hampering their education. It is incompetent, complacent, and inadequate.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2018 Comments on Supporting Children with SEND

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2018 Comments on Supporting Children with SEND

    The comments made by Nadhim Zahawi, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, on 29 March 2018.

    We want every child to have the support they need to unlock their potential, whatever their background and no matter what challenges they face. Our new Education, Health and Care Plans are putting the views of young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families at the heart of the process so they can help shape the support they receive.

    It’s been a huge task to transfer every young person to one of these plans but local authorities have risen to the challenge with almost 222,000 cases reviewed and I congratulate them for it. We are now working with councils to make sure they carry out the remaining reviews and the new EHC plans are of the highest quality.

    To complement this work we are also opening new special free schools across the country that will provide tailored support for over a thousand children to ensure they have access to the excellent education that every child deserves.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2018 Comments on Improving Children’s Services

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2018 Comments on Improving Children’s Services

    The comments made by Nadhim Zahawi, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, on 15 March 2018.

    Social workers do an incredible job providing some of our most vulnerable children in our society with life-changing care and support.

    This investment for our Partners in Practice Programme will help the fantastic work councils are doing to deliver high-quality services and make a real difference to children’s lives.

    I am also pleased to support the Local Government Association to drive good leadership, which is crucial if we want to support and encourage frontline staff to deliver excellent care for children and young people.