Tag: Department for Education

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 November 2023.

Over 500 respondents contributed to the Department for Education’s call for evidence on generative AI.

Education professionals, Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology specialists, and ed-tech experts are embracing the opportunities offered by AI in the education sector, according to the results of the government’s first ever Call for Evidence on Artificial Intelligence in Education, published today.

Results show that many respondents recognise the benefits of AI and some are already using AI tools to streamline administrative tasks, create subject-specific resources and provide personalised support for learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Other opportunities cited include the creation of more interactive lessons, and additional support for learners for whom English is an additional language.

The respondents range from educators in schools, colleges and universities, to research bodies including The Alan Turing Institute and Jisc.

The report will provide a base to inform future policy on AI, and the government is already supporting the sector to realise the potential of AI in education.

In October, the government announced an additional investment of up to £2 million in Oak National Academy to create new teaching tools using AI, followed by a two-day hackathon hosted by the Department for Education in collaboration with Faculty AI, the National Institute of Teaching, which brought together teachers, leaders, students and technology experts to experiment with AI.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

Artificial intelligence is here to stay and it’s already changing the way we work and learn. To take advantage of this transformative technology, it’s crucial we get our approach to it right.

It’s heartening that many education professionals are already seeing the tangible benefits of AI – something I witnessed myself at our AI hackathon earlier this month – while remaining alert to its risks.

The results of the call for evidence give us a crucial evidence base to inform our future work on AI, helping us make the right decisions to get the best out of generative AI in a safe and secure way.

Michael Webb, Director of Technology and Analytics at Jisc, said:

It’s encouraging to see from this report how many institutions are already embracing AI, and how staff are using it in creative ways to improve education.

The findings also help us understand the types of support and guidance staff need in order to make the best use of the technology going forward. This will enable us to ensure that the right skills training is in place, along with guidelines around safe, ethical use of AI.

The Technology in Schools Survey, also published today, sets out how technology is used in schools and where they need support to use technology effectively. To improve access to technology, the Department for Education is investing up to £200 million to upgrade schools that fall below Wi-Fi connectivity standards in 55 Education Investment Areas, and working with commercial providers to enable all schools to have access to a high-speed connection by 2025.

Morgan Briggs, Policy Research and Strategy Manager at The Alan Turing Institute, said:

The use of generative AI in the education sector is a critically important area that deserves significant attention, and we welcome the Department for Education’s continued focus on it.

There are multiple ways in which generative AI could benefit the sector – but simultaneously, there are concerns and risks that must be addressed. These include dependency on commercial generative AI, the possible infringement of rights, the spread of bias and misinformation, and plagiarism.

To realise the full potential of these tools, it will be crucial to engage children and young people in the development and deployment of generative AI in education.

Sir Antony Seldon, founder of AI in Education and Headmaster of Epsom College, said:

It is great that the Department for Education is being proactive in its approach to artificial intelligence.

It’s crucial that the government is alive to the risks and opportunities AI offers to the education sector, and this Call for Evidence, which we were pleased to contribute to, will form an essential part of that.

While respondents are broadly optimistic about the benefits AI could bring, they also recognise risks around harmful content, intellectual property protection and concerns about accuracy.

The Government’s AI Regulation White Paper set out the first steps towards establishing a regulatory framework for AI, including working with UK regulators on how they might need to regulate the technology given its cross-cutting nature and impact on various sectors, including education.

The government committed to evaluate and adapt the UK’s regulatory approach as AI evolves, and the insights from this call for evidence will continue to shape policy in this emerging area.

Earlier this year, the UK also convened the world’s first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, which brought together world leaders, businesses, and civil society to build consensus on international action to ensure safety at the frontier of AI.

This drive to harness the potential of AI comes as new analysis is published by the government on the impact of AI on Jobs and Training.

The report illustrates how the education system and employers will need to adapt to ensure the workforce has the skills necessary to benefit from this emerging technology, which the Department for Education is supporting through a number of training opportunities, including skills bootcamps, apprenticeships and the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.

The Department for Education has also today published research trialling the use of AI to explore how it could be used to support the civil service by providing summaries and analysis. AI was used to analyse the 38 Local Skills Improvements Plans as part of a pilot project with Faculty AI.

In spring, the Department for Education will publish the results of the hackathon, further supporting the department’s work to understand how AI could safely transform the education sector.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 23 November 2023.

29% of children scored full marks in their Multiplication Table Check in 2023, up from 27% in 2022.

Standards in schools continue to rise as more primary aged children are learning their times tables and boosting their future maths skills, new data reveals today (Thursday 23 November).

These results build on this Government’s success in driving up standards in schools. In its second year, the times table national data has shown that more children scored full marks in the check than last year with 29% of eligible pupils in 2023 up from 27% in 2022. Overall attainment rose among all eligible children with an average score of 20 out of 25 marks for those who took the check.

Disadvantaged children also scored higher this year getting on average 18 out of 25 marks, up by +0.4 points on 2022. Both boys and girls scored higher than last year.

The success in this year’s scores follows on from a culmination of reforms introduced since 2010 to drive up standards including changes to the mathematics curriculum, reflecting international best practice from countries such as Singapore and China, and the introduction of a network of Maths Hubs to boost the quality of teaching in schools across the country.

Schools Minister, Damian Hinds said:

“Every stage of school is an opportunity to set children up to succeed and ensure they are learning the skills they need for life.

“Mastering times tables by age 9 will make sure children can tackle more complex maths later on in life as well as help them with everyday adult activities.

“That is why it’s so exciting that these checks show more children are learning their times tables in primary schools alongside our phonics screening check which has seen an increase in results since last year. Together our reforms are driving up standards in our schools hand in hand with the hard work of teachers.”

The multiplication tables check was made compulsory in primary schools from 2022 to help ensure children aged 8 to 9 know their times tables up to 12 off by heart. Pupils knowing their times tables will make more complex mathematics in the future like algebra and long division simpler to process and give children the platform they need to move on to more advanced mental arithmetic.

The multiplication table checks results show:

• Of pupils who took the check, the average attainment score was 20.2
• 25 (full marks) was the most common score (29% of eligible pupils achieved this score)
• London was the highest performing region, with an average score of 21.1
• South West was the lowest performing region, with an average score of 19.7
• Over 620,000 students took the check in the summer

The results from the data published today will provide teachers with standardised information to help to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided.

The government is driving improvements in maths across the education sector from primary school up to post-18. In 2019, primary pupils achieved their highest ever score in the TIMSS international test, and Ofsted recently found a ‘resounding, positive shift in (primary) mathematics education.’ The Maths Hub’s flagship Teaching for Mastery offer was expanded to 75% of primary schools by 2025, in line with the government’s wider strategy on maths. The mastering number programme, which aims to support children in early primary school master the basics of arithmetic, is also expanding to 8,000 primary schools by 2024.

Last month, the Prime Minister made a huge announcement about the future of post-16 education in England. In an overhaul of the system, the launch of the Advanced British Standard will give young people the skills they need for the future and revolutionise how maths is taught in our schools. Under the new plans, every student will for the first time be required to study some form of maths and English to age 18. This will help reverse the long-term trend whereby too many students – particularly the most disadvantaged – leave school without achieving the minimum standard in literacy and numeracy.

More broadly, standards of education have risen sharply since this government entered office in 2010, with 89% of school rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, up from just 68% in 2010. The results published today are another small example of how this government’s long-term reforms are delivering a brighter future for the next generations.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 16 November 2023.

The Department has asked Ofqual to make arrangements to continue providing formulae and equation sheets for GCSE exams in 2024.

Students set to sit their GCSE exams in 2024 could receive additional support materials, as the Department for Education (DfE) asks Ofqual to make arrangements to continue providing formulae and equation sheets for one more year.

Following a consultation, the proposal would see students provided with enhanced formulae and equation sheets to support them in mathematics, physics, and combined science GCSEs, as was the case for 2023 exams. This means students will not have to memorise formulae, as they need to in a normal year.

These proposed arrangements recognise the disruption this cohort of students experienced during their secondary education due to national school closures during the pandemic while these pupils were in year 7 and 8.

Ofqual is launching a consultation on this today (Thursday 16 November) to get insight from the sector on introducing this expectation, and it will run for two weeks, ending on 30 November 2023 at 11:45pm.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan said:

“Young people taking GCSEs next year will be the last who experienced two years of national closures during secondary school and it’s right that we recognise that with some additional support.

“GCSEs are young people’s passport to their next stage of education and we must ensure students have the opportunity to show what they know and can do, and ultimately meet their potential.”

An Ofqual spokesperson said:

“In response to the Department for Education’s announcement that students taking exams in 2024 will not need to memorise the usual formulae and equations for GCSE maths, physics and combined science, Ofqual is now seeking views on the use of formulae and equation sheets for these exams in 2024.

“Students, teachers, school and college leaders, unions, exams officers, exam boards, employers and further education institutions are encouraged to take part in the consultation.”

2024 will be the final year where enhanced formulae and equation sheets will be available, returning to normal exam arrangements in 2025.

The department’s decision on arrangements for 2025 reflect that those pupils will have had the opportunity to benefit from more time in secondary school with support from teachers and interventions such as the national tutoring programme, compared to students from the previous two cohorts.

In September, Ofqual confirmed its two-year transition to pre-pandemic grading is now complete. Normal grading arrangements will continue for GCSEs, AS, A levels and Vocational and Technical Qualifications (such as Pearson’s BTEC Nationals and OCR’s Cambridge Technicals) in 2024.

The government has invested nearly £5 billion to support students’ recovery from the impact of the pandemic, including £1.5 billion for tutoring programmes and almost £2 billion in direct funding, largely targeted at those that need help most.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 10 November 2023.

People across the country set to benefit from more skills training, with £200 million to help them launch careers in key industries.

People seeking careers in growing sectors such as green energy, digital and construction will be able to access improved skills training, helping them secure good jobs closer to home.

More than £200 million has been announced today, 10th November, to support colleges and universities to offer more training opportunities in key industries, such as the growing green sector. Investment is being targeted to address the specific skills needs of each region, which local businesses and employers have identified as priority sectors in their local skills improvement plans (LSIPs), giving them access to the skilled workforce they need to grow.

Demand for green skills is set to rise as the government works to create energy security and the UK heads towards net zero. The government’s net zero growth plan predicts that the transition to a green and sustainable future will support hundreds of thousands of exciting green job opportunities in areas such as heat pump installation and solar panel maintenance, electric vehicle manufacturing and environmental consultancy.

During green careers week (6 -11 November), the government is investing in a range of projects so communities can equip people with the green – as well as digital, construction and manufacturing – skills they need to futureproof the workforce.

The funding will also make sure more people can access higher technical qualifications – that sit between A level, T levels and degrees – to gain in demand skills including digital, health care and engineering as an alternative to a traditional three-year degree. HTQs are designed in close collaboration with employers, so they equip students with the skills they need to go onto further study or straight into a good job.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

This investment is about boosting local industries, building people’s skills and ultimately futureproofing our economy and the career prospects of the next generation.

Our local skills projects will bring together regional organisations, businesses and education providers to respond to the specific needs of employers, building an increasingly skilled workforce and growing local economies.

Whether it is green skills, construction, engineering or digital, thousands more people can now gain the skills they need to secure good jobs closer to home. These are long-term plans that will ensure every area can have a brighter future.

MidKent College in Kent has been awarded funding to build a new training facility to provide hands-on experience in retrofit energy efficiency measures, renewable and sustainable energy solutions. The new courses will cover a range of areas including thermal imaging, aerial survey and mapping and will utilise virtual reality capabilities to develop simulated engineering challenges, construction processes and techniques, supporting people to gain the skills needed to launch green careers.

Simon Cook, Principal and CEO at MidKent College said:

We’re thrilled that construction and building services businesses across Kent & Medway will benefit from this investment in retrofit technology and training. We know from our conversations with employers that growing skills for sustainable construction practices and improving the energy efficiency of existing housing stock are priorities for the sector here in the Southeast.

We’re incredibly proud that this new facility will work seamlessly with our Home Energy Centre and Sustainable Construction Skills Factory at the heart of our Maidstone campus, and alongside our own efforts to make the campus carbon neutral by 2030.

Minister of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Graham Stuart said:

The UK’s world-leading climate ambitions and our net zero target demand a workforce to match.

Whether it’s manufacturing electric vehicles, installing heat pumps, or building wind turbines, this funding will help train the tens of thousands of skilled workers needed to power our green industrial revolution and grow the economy.

Jane Gratton, Deputy Director of Public Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

Businesses are crying out for more people with technical skills to fill the great jobs we have today and new ones in the developing green economy.

It’s vital that everyone can access the training they need locally to grasp these opportunities.

Business-led LSIPs are setting out the skills needs and opportunities, and this new funding will ensure the right training solutions are put in place.

As part of the government’s work to support more people to gain the skills they need to secure rewarding careers, the British Chambers of Commerce and other employer representative organisations were commissioned to lead work to develop local skills improvement plans, published in the summer, so the training on offer better meets the current and future skills needs of local areas.

The investment in local areas announced today is just one way the government is boosting skills, alongside a huge range of other high-quality programmes including T levels, free courses for jobs and Skills Bootcamps.

Last year, the government delivered over 40,000 Skills Bootcamp starts, exceeding its ambitious target. Skills Bootcamps are free courses lasting up to 16 weeks, with an offer of a job interview on completion.

They are available across the country in a wide range of in demand subjects, including heat pump engineering and electric vehicle maintenance, and are another example of how the government is helping get more people into green careers.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 30 October 2023.

£2 million investment in Oak National Academy to improve and expand Artificial Intelligence tools for teachers.

Every teacher in England is set to benefit from new resources powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), supporting them to plan lessons and build classroom quizzes, and helping to reduce workloads.

The Government is investing up to £2 million in Oak National Academy, which was established to support teachers with high-quality curriculum resources online, to create new teaching tools using AI – marking the first step towards providing every teacher with a personalised AI lesson-planning assistant.

This follows a pilot of an AI-powered quiz builder and lesson planner. Thousands of teachers have already signed up to use these tools, helping them to create individualised content that is tailored to teaching their pupils and based on Oak’s high-quality curriculum content.

This new cash boost will help Oak to improve these tools further before making them available to teachers across England for free.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:

AI has extraordinary potential to reform our education system for the better, with considerable value for both teachers and students.

Oak National Academy’s work to harness AI to free up the workload for teachers is a perfect example of the revolutionary benefits this technology can bring.

This investment will play a defining role in giving our children and the next generation of students a better education and a brighter future.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:

Throughout my career, I have seen the positive impact that technology can have, which is why it is great we’re harnessing the potential of AI and supporting Oak National Academy to develop new resources for teachers.

Whether it’s drafting lesson plans or producing high-quality teaching resources, I am confident that by tapping into the benefits of AI we will be able to reduce teachers’ workloads so that they can focus on what they do best – teaching and supporting their pupils.

Teachers have provided positive feedback from the initial testing, noting the tools’ ability to help them to speed up planning and refine existing materials.

One Year 4 teacher from Berkshire, who used the Quiz Designer stated: “Oak’s AI tool has massively improved the quality and variety of quizzes I can create. And it’s much faster than making them myself from scratch.”

A secondary school teacher in Devon stated: “Oak’s AI lesson planner offers a really helpful starting point if stuck or low on inspiration and I was particularly impressed at how good it is at highlighting common misconceptions.”

With 30,000 teachers already using Oak every week, the resources will support teachers to save valuable time on planning.

Building on Oak’s commitment to make resources available on Open Government Licence, the project will also provide access to Oak’s curriculum resources for edtech companies experimenting with AI to build from this high-quality content. This means that any school, publisher or AI developer can be confident that any content produced through these tools will be accurate, safe, and high-quality.

Oak National Academy Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Matt Hood OBE, said:

Teachers spend hours each week searching for resources and planning their lessons. Oak National Academy is already helping cut workload with our free, high-quality teaching resources, but we believe we can supercharge this by harnessing safe AI – giving teachers even more scope to adapt their resources and freeing them up to spend more time directly with their pupils.

We’re excited to build on our initial work and start to develop improved AI lesson planning tools, bringing the benefits to even more schools, and to help other organisations to innovate and create their own AI products, built off our safe, high-quality educational materials.

Today’s (30 October) announcement coincides with the start of a two-day AI hackathon hosted by the Department for Education, in collaboration with Faculty AI, the National Institute of Teaching, and the AI in Schools Initiative. The event will bring together teachers and leaders from schools and trusts across England to experiment with AI.

Over the coming months, the Government will continue to work with teachers, and experts on the Workload Taskforce to develop solutions to minimise the time teachers spend working beyond their teaching hours. This will support its ambition to reduce working hours for teachers and leaders by five hours per week.

Next month, the Department for Education will also publish the results of its AI call for evidence. Launched to gather views from educational professionals on the risks, ethical considerations, and possibilities of AI in education, the results will support the government’s work to identify AI’s potential and ensure it advances in a safe, reasonable, and fair way.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 27 October 2023.

More nursery and early years places and spaces to be delivered, with an online childcare eligibility checker to give information about new support.

Parents up and down the country can see for the first time from today (27 October 2023) exactly what additional childcare support they will be entitled to over the coming months and years thanks to the government’s largest ever investment in childcare.

The updated eligibility checker on childcarechoices.gov.uk is now live, and allows parents to access personalised information on the support available to them, including which of the new transformational childcare offers they will be eligible for depending on the age of their child and earnings.

The website will also give parents the opportunity to sign up for regular updates letting them know when they should take action to make sure they are getting the support they are entitled to. This includes when the new 15 free hours for two-year-olds shortly becomes available for sign-ups, with the offer beginning in April 2024.

This comes as the government rolls out the next stage of delivery of its childcare plan which is set to save working parents using 30 hours of childcare, up to £6,500 per year.

£100 million is being made available for local areas to support childcare settings in their areas to increase their physical space, anticipated to add thousands of new places across the country.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:

No one should have to choose between having a career and having a family, so I’m determined that every parent who wants it should have access to the childcare they need.

Flexibility is at the heart of our plans to transform childcare for families, whether it’s offering quality childcare out of school hours or making sure there are more early years places where they’re needed most.

This is the largest investment in childcare in our history, so I encourage people with young children or those thinking about starting a family to visit the Childcare Choices website to find out what they’re eligible for.

Local authorities are also today receiving details of their allocation from the £289 million wraparound childcare fund, to make sure families of primary school children can access childcare between 8am and 6pm.

Funding is being distributed to all local authorities on the basis of anticipated need, plugging gaps in the existing market.

It will help deliver the government’s aim that by 2026, no matter where parents live, they should be able to access wraparound childcare for primary-age children in their local area.

This measure comes as the Department for Work and Pensions recently announced an increase to the money parents receiving Universal Credit can claim per month for childcare, which is now up to £951 for one child or £1,630 for 2 or more children.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Mel Stride, said:

Boosting employment is key to growing our economy, and the extra money provided for parents on Universal Credit will give them the flexibility and security they need to find a job, support their children and reap the benefits of work.

I encourage every parent to access this resource to see what help is available and to talk to one of the thousands of work coaches in our jobcentres who are there to help them find work or enhance their skills.

The childminder start-up grant scheme has also been confirmed to open for applications by Thursday 30 November 2023. This grant of £600 for those who choose to register with Ofsted and £1,200 for those who choose to register with a childminder agency will help to boost the numbers of childminders working to offer parents more flexible childcare.

As well as this investment, the Department for Education has also today published the response to the recent early years foundation stage (EYFS) consultation. The majority of proposed changes will go ahead, to boost the early years workforce and encourage more people to consider childcare as a rewarding career by removing unnecessary regulatory burdens.

For example, the government will now allow managers to decide whether students and apprentices can count in ratios where appropriate. This will empower managers and allow trainees to build more valuable experience so they can flourish in their early years career.

A small number of proposed changes that consultation responses suggested would not help achieve the government’s aim of removing unnecessary burdens will not proceed, with no changes to staff:child ratio requirements outside of core hours.

Combined, this work demonstrates the government’s continued commitment to delivering the record investment in childcare in a way that makes sure childcare is high-quality, affordable and fits around parents’ working lives.

This commitment and the government’s overall approach to childcare will be discussed at this year’s early years British Irish council. Minister Johnston will host the annual meeting which will see delegates discuss the topic of childcare and solutions to the challenges being faced across member administrations. The meeting will be attended by representatives from the UK government, Irish government, devolved governments and crown dependencies.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 25 October 2023.

Funding for over 460 new children’s social worker apprenticeship opportunities across the country.

Recognising the vital role social workers play in supporting some of the most vulnerable children and families, local authorities will today be allocated a share of £11.7 million to hire up to 461 extra social work apprentices, as part of government plans to build a social worker workforce fit for the future. The extra funding will bolster the workforce and better support the most vulnerable families and children across the country.

Over 1,000 new trainee social workers have also been recruited, and will be supported in their initial education this academic year through the fast track to social work and step-up programmes.

Supporting children’s social workers is an integral part of the ambitious, wide-ranging children’s social care implementation strategy. Backed by £200 million over the next two years, the strategy will transform the current care system to focus on more early support for families, reducing the need for crisis response at a later stage.

Building on the commitment to reduce the overreliance on agency social workers, the government has today also published its response to the consultation on agency child and family social worker workforce. The response sets out proposed national rules to improve the stability and quality of the social worker workforce, with the aim of increasing transparency around the use and cost of agency social workers.

Care leavers will also be celebrated this week as part of care leavers week, which begins today, with a series of events hosted by the government, including an event at 10 Downing Street for ministers to meet with and celebrate care leavers. Minister Johnston will also visit West Ham Football Club to see their Future Programme in action. The programme helps care experienced young people develop skills, access new experiences and connects them to their communities.

David Johnston, Minister for Children and Families, said:

A strong social care workforce is key to achieving our ambition to reform the children’s care sector.

Children’s social workers play a vital role in helping the country’s most vulnerable families, which is why we’re boosting training opportunities and strengthening rules on using agency staff.

This care leavers week we want to shine a light on the inspirational care workers who have overcome challenges.

Recognising the need for high-quality training, the government has appointed the first wave of early adopter local authorities for the early career framework training programme which will support children’s social workers as they join and develop in the profession.

The local authorities, including Birmingham and Tower Hamlets, are now working with the department to co-design the programme, alongside an expert writing group that is drafting the framework itself.

The government is also supporting local authorities to provide positive working environments, to attract and retain children’s social workers to these important roles. A national virtual hub is to be created containing resources to support local authorities to improve working conditions, workload, health and wellbeing and organisational culture and the national workload action group is looking into unnecessary drivers of bureaucracy to promote more time with children and families.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 23 October 2023.

Education Secretary’s letters make crystal clear that schools must share relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum material with parents.

The Education Secretary is writing today, 24 October, to all schools in England to make clear that they can and should share relationships, sex and health (RSHE) curriculum materials with parents.

In addition, she has penned an open letter to parents – which encourages them to have confidence in their right to know what their children are seeing and being taught in the classroom.

The letter makes clear that companies providing teaching resources cannot use copyright law to forbid schools from sharing materials, and any attempt to do so through contract terms would be unenforceable and void.

If a provider were to attempt to forbid sharing with parents when asked, schools should continue regardless, because a blanket ban would contradict the clear public interest in parents being aware of what their children are being taught.

In the event that a school is faced with contractual clauses, the Education Secretary is backing schools defending parents’ rights with a practical sample letter that all schools can adapt and send to external providers making clear such clauses are void on the grounds that they are unenforceable.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

No ifs, no buts and no more excuses. This government is acting to guarantee parents’ fundamental right to know what their children are being taught in sex and relationships education.

Today I’m writing to schools and parents to debunk the copyright myth that parents cannot see what their children are being taught.

Parents must be empowered to ask and schools should have the confidence to share.

Parentkind’s Chief Executive Jason Elsom said:

Parentkind welcomes the Department for Education’s timely move to strengthen parental rights in the teaching of RSHE. The key to children receiving appropriate and beneficial relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) teaching is full transparency with parents.

When we polled parents on RSHE earlier this year, a clear picture emerged. Parents wanted to be consulted by schools in advance and agreed that the teaching of the subject was important.

Our research clearly demonstrates that when parents are consistently informed about RSHE in advance, they are significantly likelier to have confidence in the curriculum and be supportive of the content. This move should help to reassure parents about the content and provision of RSHE.

The Education Secretary first wrote to all schools in England in March in light of concerning reports of the teaching of inappropriate materials as part of the RSHE curriculum.

This letter was clear that the government was initiating a thorough review of the curriculum supported by an independent panel, but that in the meantime schools should not enter contractual conditions that prevent them sharing RSHE materials.

The new letter provides the most categorical position on the application of copyright law in this area to date – as part of the government’s overriding approach to empower both teachers and parents to defend their rights.

It makes clear that where parents cannot attend a presentation or they are unable to view materials via a “parent portal”, such as a school website, schools may provide copies of materials to parents to take home on request, providing parents agree to avoid copying the content or sharing it further.

The Education Secretary and departmental officials have been listening closely to parents and teachers as part of the thorough review into the RSHE curriculum and will publish the updated guidance for full public consultation later this year.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 October 2023.

Minimum service levels (MSLs) to protect children and young people’s education are set to be introduced in schools and colleges, the government has announced today (Friday 20 October).

The proposals will put in place protections for children, young people and parents to ensure education can continue during any future strike action.

The announcement follows the disruption during industrial action last academic year, which resulted in over 10 days of action in schools, leading to 25 million school days that were lost cumulatively, impacting children and families across the country.

This was despite the efforts from many school leaders and teachers to keep classrooms open and government guidance stating that teaching for pupils studying for exams and vulnerable children should be prioritised.

The Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, has today written to union leaders inviting them to discuss proposals on a voluntary basis in the first instance. In her letter she is clear that should a voluntary agreement not be reached the government is committed to using powers granted through the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act that was introduced earlier this year. Such a move would lead to a consultation and is expected to include a range of models for MSLs in education, for parents, teachers, and other stakeholders to provide views on.

Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan said:

Last year’s school strikes were some of the most disruptive on record for children, and their parents. We cannot afford a repeat of that disruption – particularly as schools and teachers continue to work so hard to help children recover from the pandemic.

I am asking the teaching unions to engage with us and agree to put children and young people’s education first – and above and beyond any dispute.

Proposals to introduce MSLs in schools and colleges follows the announcement made by the Secretary of State to consult on MSLs in universities, to limit the impact of industrial action on students.

The introduction of MSLs will bring education in line with other key public services such as healthcare and transport. MSLs will provide a better balance between the right of workers to strike, and the importance of education.

In July, school teaching unions suspended their strikes when the government announced the largest pay award in 30 years for teachers, alongside meeting its manifesto commitment of increasing starting salaries to a minimum of £30,000.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 12 October 2023.

Primary school pupils show improvement in their reading ability as attainment in this year’s reading assessment increases since last year.

Education standards continue to improve as new statistics on the phonics screening check published today (12 October) show 79% of five- and six-year-olds met the expected standard, up from 75% last year.

Phonics is a body of knowledge that is necessary for pupils to learn to read and spell, at whatever age. Young children learning to read are taught how to recognise the sounds that each individual letter makes, as well as the skill of blending the individual sounds together to read.

Improvements in children’s reading ability in English primary schools builds on the international success earlier this year, when England came fourth for primary reading proficiency, out of 43 countries that tested children of the same age in the highly anticipated Progress in International Reading Literacy Study.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Teaching children to read using phonics has been a key part of this government’s focus on driving up school standards over the past 13 years, and our children are now the best readers in the west.

Today’s results reflect the hard work of our teachers and show strong progress as pupils continue to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

The phonics screening check was first introduced in 2012 when only 58% met the expected standard. Since 2012, there has been a 21% point increase in attainment in the check, highlighting the government’s commitment to raising standards across the board.

Literacy and numeracy are the cornerstones of a world-class education. Last week, the Prime Minister announced plans to build on this at post-16 through the new advanced British standard, which will bring together the best of A Levels and T Levels into a single new qualification and make maths and English mandatory.

Raising standards in primary schools is a key priority for this government to set children up with the best start in life. The government established the network of English hubs to support schools to ensure all children are given a strong start in reading. It also introduced a validated list of phonics programmes to ensure schools have access to high-quality programmes.

The £60 million English hubs programme was rolled out in 2018 and is designed to develop expertise in teaching reading in schools. The lead schools work with partner schools by modelling best practice and providing expert teachers to help them raise standards through phonics.

Our network of 40 maths hubs is supporting schools across the country to improve maths teaching based on mastery teaching approaches used by some of the highest performing parts of the world.

The key stage 1 attainment statistics were also published today, showing the number of pupils meeting the expected standards in reading, writing, maths and science increasing from 2022.

This year:

• 70% of pupils met the expected standards in maths, up from 68% in 2022
• 68% of pupils met the expected standard in reading up from 67% in 2022
• 60% of pupils met the expected standard in writing, up from 58% in 2022
• 79% of pupils met the expected standard in science, up from 77% in 2022.

Since 2010, the proportion of schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted has increased from 68% in 2010 to 88% based on latest data.