Tag: Department for Education

The speech made by Stephen Morgan, the Education Minister, on 28 August 2024.

Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister Lee. I’m delighted to be speaking here today.

This is my first visit to the Republic of Korea and I am glad to be developing our Global Strategic Partnership – the mutual respect, shared values and commitment to global cooperation at the heart of that Accord is evident in this room today. I’ve been so impressed by your welcome, and the exciting discussions I’ve had already on technology in education.

It’s incredible to me how far things have come since I was at school. Growing up in the 1980s, all we had was one computer in the corner of the classroom.  At my secondary school we had dial-up internet, with those distinct sounds the computer would make to tell you it was ‘going online.’ That same school now offers 3D printers and CAD design software for pupils’ projects. They are working to give every child access to a digital device, so they can extend learning beyond the classroom – ways to learn keep expanding – with the development of new hardware and software. We have to keep pace, so that our children can get the most out of their education.

The new UK government wants to learn from other nations’ approaches to Artificial Intelligence, as well as share our thinking. Optimising AI in education will support our mission to spread opportunity to every child in our country. AI has lots of applications. There’s so much excitement about how it’s already transforming many aspects of our lives. But I think the best reason to be excited is the reason we’re here today.

AI is not just about streamlining transactions or optimising chatbots. AI has the power to enhance education – the best thing a society can give its children. If we can enable it, AI will add value to young people’s futures.

Teachers are, of course, the most important part of a successful education system. But their job now involves much more than teaching a room of children: everything from developing lesson plans to marking homework and we are excited by the ways AI could reduce that load. It is capable of assessing pupils’ progress, allowing teachers to tailor lessons to the needs of particular classes. Its high-quality feedback on an individual’s work could boost their learning. It could lighten the workload and free-up teachers to focus on teaching.

Of course, we can only make these gains if schools are ready for these new digital tools. That means ensuring all their technology meets our digital and technology standards for schools. And equipping every single one with a fast, stable and secure internet connection.

And here I want to pay tribute to the Republic of Korea, for having achieved near 100% connectivity and device access in your schools. We want to replicate your success to ready our own classrooms for the future. Our Connect the Classroom programme has already provided over £200 million of upgrades to over 3,000 schools, allowing over 1 million pupils to get online safe and securely. Expanding digital access is critical to breaking down the barriers to opportunity that hold children back. It will deliver better life chances for all our children. I look forward to working with our schools once they’re back from the summer, to upgrade even more classroom internet connections.

But let’s step back from the exciting big picture for a moment. The perspective of parents whose children will use AI at school is really important. We have listened to parents and pupils around the UK to understand how they feel. Naturally there were concerns about safety. And about over-reliance on something that gathers data, but does not possess knowledge. But there was also agreement that AI could positively support teachers with their work. This feedback is at the heart of our approach to AI in education. We want to kick-start the development of high-quality, teacher-facing tools to assist in the classroom and beyond – specifically in lesson-planning, marking and feedback.

The [wellbeing and retention of teachers]Education staff wellbeing charter – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) is a really important issue in the UK, as I know it is in the Republic of Korea. Offering AI tools that support the teaching profession will lead to better outcomes for teachers and their pupils. Our research also showed that parents want government to regulate AI education products. There was consensus on the need for mandatory quality assurance of tools developed for schools, so they know which products are trustworthy. There is a problem in acting on what we’ve learned so far. When we ran tests on standard generative AI tools, it became clear that they aren’t yet good enough. They can’t mark well or give good feedback. Time and again, performance wasn’t fit for purpose. The bottom line is that AI tools need to be good enough and safe enough to use in education.

So, how can we sharpen them? The quality of generative AI tools depends on the content that underpins them. Our testing showed that performance in education tasks significantly improves when they’ve been built on pre-processed, encoded education content. In fact, when we encoded the national curriculum for AI tools’ use, their subsequent performance in marking and feedback rose from 67% to 92%. That is really significant and has informed our next steps.

Today, in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, I am announcing a £3 million content store of pre-processed education data. This library of information will be ready for use with AI. It will include our national curriculum, as well as other high quality educational content, guidance and evidence. With parents’ permission, it will also contain some pupil and teacher content.

Responsible developers will be given access, in order to build high quality, safe and effective AI tools for education. This bedrock of trustworthy content will reduce the time and cost of creating these tools, and incentivise further product development.

The content store will add to the UK’s flourishing tech market, and support our mission to build sustained economic growth. And to kick-start industry engagement, the UK government will provide a £1 million catalyst fund. This will be used to commission marking and feedback tools, built using the content store.  The fund will support up to 8 bids to create proof-of-concept products, based on the data within this unique resource.  Innovate UK will launch the competition next month, and we expect to award the first funding in November 2024.

We believe this initiative to be world-leading – the first government-approved repository of high-quality education material optimised for AI product development. It will stimulate the production of safe, legally compliant, evidence-based tools, relevant to our teachers’ needs.

Now let me come to safety. This work will solve one half of the problem, ensuring that AI tools are good enough to use in schools. But how will we know if they’re safe enough?  We need to build a shared understanding of what ‘safe’ means when it comes to AI in education. We must protect pupils from harmful content, and make sure their personal data and intellectual property is secure.  That means thoroughly exploring all the risks and how to manage them. So, while the content store and catalyst fund are accelerating product development, we will lead the conversation on safety. We will work with experts, educators and tech firms to set out how the risks of AI can be managed. By working together, we can ensure that the products used in our schools are safe – and build a market based on efficacy and safety.

In the coming months I will be inviting stakeholders to a ministerial roundtable, to build a shared commitment to AI product safety. We will use these insights to devise and publish minimum expectations for the safety of AI products in education.

So in conclusion. the UK is a country of makers and doers, people who spot technical and commercial opportunities and bring their value to the whole world.  We want to continue this tradition by leading the conversation on AI safety and efficacy, alongside our partners here today.

The UK government believes strongly in our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. I know that harnessing the power of AI will help us to achieve that by delivering growth for our economy now and helping our educators to give children and young people the best start in life to secure prosperity for the future.

I want to thank our hosts, the Republic of Korea, for founding this summit and enabling these important conversations to take place. Your leadership is bringing about meaningful collaboration, which will benefit both our teachers and our children.

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 August 2024.

The UK government announced a new project today that will enhance the ability of AI generative tools to learn from a new bank of lesson plans and curriculums.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be better at helping teachers mark work and plan lessons under a new project announced by the UK government today.

The project, backed by £4 million of government investment, will pool government documents including curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil assessments which will then be used by AI companies to train their tools to generate accurate, high-quality content. The content, such as tailored, creative lesson plans and workbooks, can then be reliably used in schools.

The content store is targeted at technology companies specialising in education to build tools that will help teachers:

• mark work
• create teaching materials for use in the classroom
• assist with routine school admin

It comes as new research shows parents want teachers to use generative AI to have more time helping children in the classroom with face-to-face teaching – supporting the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. However, teachers and AI developers are clear that better data is needed to make these technologies work properly, which this project looks to help with.

Science Secretary Peter Kyle said:

We know teachers work tirelessly to go above and beyond for their students.

By making AI work for them, this project aims to ease admin burdens and help them deliver creative and inspiring lessons every day, while reducing time pressures they face.

This is the first of many projects that will transform how we see and use public sector data. We will put the information we hold to work, using it in a safe and responsible way to reduce waiting lists, cut backlogs and improve outcomes for citizens across the country.

Minister for Early Education Stephen Morgan said:

We are determined to break down the barriers to opportunity to ensure every child can get the best possible education – and that includes access to the best tech innovations for all. Artificial intelligence, when made safe and reliable, represents an exciting opportunity to give our schools leaders and teachers a helping hand with classroom life.

Today’s world-leading announcement marks a huge step forward for AI in the classroom. This investment will allow us to safely harness the power of tech to make it work for our hard-working teachers, easing the pressures and workload burdens we know are facing the profession and freeing up time, allowing them to focus on face-to-face teaching.

The content store, backed by £3 million, is a first-of-its kind approach to processing government data for AI, as the UK government forges ahead with using technology to transform public services and improve people’s lives across the country.

It includes a partnership with the Open University, who will share learning resources as part of the project.

This follows Department for Education tests, published today, which show that providing generative AI models with this kind of data can increase accuracy to 92% – up from 67% when no targeted data was provided to a large language model.

Minister Morgan announced the project today during a speech to international education ministers at the Global Education Innovation Summit (GEIS) in Seoul, Republic of Korea.  The three-day event, on the theme of ‘classroom revolution led by teachers with AI’ will see the launch of the Global Education and Innovation Alliance, of which the UK will be one of the founding members.

He told the delegation the world-leading initiative will mark the first government-approved store of high-quality education material optimised for AI product development and will stimulate the production of safe, legally compliant, evidence-based tools, relevant to our teachers’ needs.

Almost half of teachers are already using AI to help with their work, according to a survey from TeacherTapp, but current AI tools are not specifically trained on the documents that set out how teaching should work in England.

Chris Goodall, a teacher and head of digital education in the Bourne Education Trust, first started using AI when he was teaching business in November 2022. In this role, Chris experimented with using ChatGPT to develop a range of lesson activities, such as personalised case studies, to complement his lessons.

Chris now supports teachers in the Trust, across over 26 primary, secondary and specialist schools, to use AI to enhance their lessons and cut down the time they spend on admin. With his support, teachers have used generative AI to evaluate their curriculum materials and develop case studies and activities to create engaging lessons. For example, teachers at Auriol Junior School illustrated a teacher-written guide encouraging students to read more books with AI-generated text, cartoon creatures and music. This guide encouraged students to become a ‘literacy monster’ and made the programme more engaging.

Chris Goodall, a teacher and head of digital education in the Bourne Education Trust, said:

AI has been a hugely powerful tool for me and my colleagues at the Bourne Education Trust. It allows us to create engaging, personalised learning experiences for our students while also significantly reducing the time taken to create them. Personally, I’ve used AI to quickly generate scaffolded activities, adapt materials for students with special educational needs, and create more engaging lessons that are accessible to all. The time saved allows school staff to focus on what matters most, interacting with students and providing individualised feedback and support.

The content store will take this to the next level by offering easy access to high quality evidence based and legally compliant education materials. Developed with input from educators it supports effective teaching practices and fosters collaboration and innovation.

This initiative demonstrates how AI, when implemented responsibly and ethically, can support and empower teachers to create more dynamic, personalised learning experiences for students.

Ian Cunningham, the chief technical officer of TeachMateAI, a company that makes AI tools to help teachers, said:

TeachMateAI already saves teachers over 10+ house of time each week through our AI tools, but we are ambitious about what more we can do to support teachers and schools. The AI education store has the potential to enable us and other developers to produce highly accurate tools for the sector in a much more efficient way, reducing cost, compute and the time it takes us to bring new products to market.

The Department for Education is also today committing to publishing a safety framework on AI products for education, due later this year. Minister Morgan will meet education technology companies before setting out clear expectations for the safety of AI products for education.

Professor Ian Pickup, Pro Vice Chancellor, Students, at The Open University, said:

We’re excited to be a founding strategic partner in this initiative alongside DfE. Since our founding in 1969, we have remained at the forefront of innovation in education. As part of this mission, we have provided free, open-access materials via OpenLearn since 2006, and see the deployment of AI as a means through which even more learners can benefit from the transformative power of education.

By making content accessible to new educational technology tools, we foresee a future where learning materials can be best matched to personal needs, where learning tasks can be pitched at the right level for student success, and where students can progress at a pace that is right for them.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 22 August 2024.

Over a million students are celebrating receiving GCSE and vocational qualification results today (Thursday 22 August), as young people across the country prepare to move on to the next stage of their education.

The proportion of entries achieving top grades (grade 7 and above), and standard passes (grade 4) are consistent with last year as, for the second year in a row, grading has returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Regional gaps in attainment remain significant. London and the North East continue to be the highest and lowest performing regions respectively, with the difference in grades 7 or above between up to 10.7ppt , compared to 9.3ppt in 2019.

Schools Minister, Catherine McKinnell said:

“I want to congratulate both students and teachers on their achievements today despite the many challenges they’ve had to overcome over the past few years to get here.

“While this is a moment to celebrate, I am deeply concerned about the inequalities in our education system with where you live and what type of school you attend still being too big an influence on your opportunities.

“Our review of the curriculum will break down barriers and ensure art, sport, music and drama are no longer the preserve of a privileged few.”

Whilst more students entered art and design this year compared to last, entries to all other arts subjects are lower than in 2019.

Arts are a vital part of students accessing a broad and balanced curriculum and along with culture and sport, are essential in supporting children and young people to develop life skills and creativity.

The government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review has been launched to drive high and rising standards for all pupils and tackle the barriers which hold them back. The review will bring together leading education experts, leaders and staff, so every child benefits from a curriculum that is broad and rich, and ensuring the arts and music are no longer the preserve of a privileged few.

Technical Awards – which 43% of students last year took alongside GCSEs – play an important role in accessing these subjects, with qualifications in a range of areas from graphic design and music to engineering and sports.

Girls continue to outperform boys, however at grade 4 and above the gap (6.6 ppt) has narrowed compared to 2023 (6.8ppt) and 2019 (8.9ppt).

This year results also show that:

• 22.6% of English 16-year-old entries achieved a grade 7 and above, similar to 2023 (22.4%) and 0.8 ppt higher than 2019 (21.8%)
• 70.4% achieved grade 4 and above, similar to 2023 (70.3%) and 0.5ppt higher than in 2019 (69.9%)
• Regional gaps in attainment remain significant. London and the North East remain the highest and lowest performing regions with the difference in grades 7 or above between the regions remaining stable at 10.7ppt for all ages, compared to 9.3ppt in 2019.
• Secondary selective schools continue to have the highest proportion of grades at 7 or above (60.3% at all ages) followed by independent schools (48.4%) and academies (21.2%).
• Apart from art and design, all arts subjects have seen a decrease in 16-year-old entries since 2019. The largest declines are in performing and expressive arts (-28.7%) and Drama (-14.4%), with both subjects having also seen decreases in entries from 2023.
• Entries in PE from 16-year-olds have also declined by 2.9% since 2019.

Students collecting results today will progress to one of many high-quality options including A levels, hundreds of apprenticeship routes, vocational technical qualifications (VTQs) or T Levels.

Starting this September, more high-quality T Levels will be rolled out, including in fields like Animal Care and Media, equipping students with valuable qualifications and practical experience to succeed in future industries.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 15 August 2024.

76% of English 18-year-old applicants have been accepted into their first choice of university.

Hundreds of thousands of young people across England are celebrating their A Level, T Level and vocational technical qualifications (VTQ) results today (15 August 2024) as the Education Secretary thanked teachers and congratulated students.

It comes as 32.1% of all English 18-year-olds have been accepted into university with 75.7% of applicants being accepted into their first choice university up from 71.6% in 2023 and 74.5% in 2019. The gap between the most and least disadvantaged 18-year-olds in England has widened as has the gap in regional entry rates.

This year results also show that:

• 27.8% of UK entries for A levels achieved a grade A and above, higher than in 2023
• 76.4% of UK entries achieved a grade C and above, higher than 2023
• 7,380 T Level students received their results today – over twice as many as last year – as the third cohort completed the high-quality technical qualification with 88.7% achieving a pass or above
• almost 250,000 certificates were awarded for those completing their Level 3 vocational and technical qualifications
• 25.3% of 18-year-olds from the North East have secured a university place on results day compared to 42.5% of 18-year-olds from London. This gap is now 17.2 percentage points, which is worse than 15.3 in 2023 and 10.5 in 2019

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson said:

Students should be incredibly proud of their hard work over the last two years and their achievements today – I know many will be planning their next step, whether that’s university, venturing into the world of work or starting an apprenticeship.

I want to thank our wonderful teachers and staff right across the country who have worked tirelessly to support those getting their results under really challenging circumstances.

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to make sure that all young people, wherever they are from, have the knowledge and skills to seize opportunity.

The figures today show that regional disparities are still a concern as the gap between the highest and lowest performing regions has grown since 2023, with London having 31.3% of grades at A or above and East Midlands only 22.5%.

Independent schools also continue to have the highest proportion of A grades and above and have again seen large increases this year.

As a first step to tackling these entrenched inequalities, the government has pledged to recruit 6,500 new teachers with the expansion of the flagship teacher recruitment campaign, getting more teachers into shortage subjects and supporting regions that face the largest recruitment challenges.

A review of the curriculum and assesment has also been launched to drive high and rising standards for all pupils and tackle the barriers which hold them back, particularly those with SEND or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Sir Kevan Collins has also been appointed to advise the government on school standards focusing on finding solutions to the biggest barriers to opportunity for children, including teacher shortages and high absence rates.

The Education Secretary is also co-chairing a taskforce to tackle child poverty because of the wide-reaching implications the scourge of poverty has. The government will also provide free breakfast clubs and improved mental health support to help the children who need it most to not only be in school, but achieve.

If students have not received the grades they were hoping for or have not made up their mind yet, UCAS reported there were just under 30,000 courses available through clearing, as of this morning, many of which are at the most selective universities.

Students can also call the National Careers Service on 0800 100 900 for advice on their next steps.

There are also a wide range of alternative options available including degree apprenticeships or higher technical qualifications that offer young people the chance to gain the skills they need to build successful careers.

For more information and to explore all the other exciting options available to young people go to: Skills for Careers (education.gov.uk)

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 August 2024.

The Department for Education (DfE) and the Welsh Government has today confirmed a change to the maximum Plan 2, Plan 5 and PG loan interest rate which will be 8% in August 2024.

The applicable rate of RPI to student loans from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024 is 13.5%. This means that the maximum interest rate applicable to Plan 2 loans and the interest rate for PG loans is 16.5%, and the interest rate applicable to Plan 5 loans is 13.5%.  However, as the comparable prevailing market rate (PMR) is lower than this, an interest rate cap of 8% will be applied to all Plan 2, Plan 5, and PG student loans in August 2024.

Plan 2, Plan 5, and PG student loan interest rates are reviewed monthly and, if required, capped for the duration of the calendar month.

The level of the cap is determined by taking the average interest rate for comparable unsecured personal loans across a 12-month period ending three months prior to the month the cap comes into force.

This is action is taken where necessary to ensure that the maximum interest rates applicable to Plan 2, Plan 5 and PG student loans are either below or equal to PMR.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 August 2024.

Large and small companies recognised for their apprenticeship programmes, creating opportunities and driving growth.

• Public and private sector employers celebrated for boosting career opportunities as government launches Skills England
• 100 large employers and 50 SMEs across the country recognised for the quality of their apprenticeship programmes
• Over 44,000 apprenticeships were started with employers ranked in the 2024 Top 100 and Top 50 SME lists

Employers up and down the country have been recognised by the government for their outstanding commitment to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships support businesses of all sizes to develop the skilled workforce they need to grow, while helping people of all ages and backgrounds to earn while they learn and get ahead in their chosen career. The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 Small and Medium Employers (SMEs) league tables showcase the very best apprenticeship programmes over the past 12 months.

Employers are ranked not just on the number of apprentices they take on, but for their commitment to diversity and apprenticeship achievements. Their dedication to delivering high-quality apprenticeships plays a crucial role in boosting the skills and career opportunities of people from all backgrounds and helping the economy to grow.

For the fourth time, the British Army has been named the country’s number one apprenticeship employer for 2024. The accountancy and business advisory group, DJH, has been named this year’s top SME apprenticeship employer.

The celebration follows the launch of Skills England, which aims to unite businesses, trade unions, mayors, and training providers to address national and local skills needs and boost opportunity while driving economic growth.

Skills are crucial to growth, with a third of productivity gains in the past two decades attributed to improved skills. Under Skills England, reforms to the apprenticeship levy will allow businesses more flexibility to use levy funds on necessary training for skills. This will protect apprenticeships, ensuring opportunities for young people and lifelong upskilling and retraining for workers.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

Congratulations to all the employers across the country which have been recognised for their brilliant apprenticeship programmes.

Apprenticeships provide opportunities for people from all walks and the employers ranked in this list are crucial to our plans in supporting people to get better jobs and grow the economy.

With the launch of Skills England, we will bring together businesses with trade unions, mayors and training providers to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs.

First compiled in 2020, the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers celebrates England’s outstanding apprenticeship employers, recognising their commitment to creating new apprenticeships, the diversity of their apprentices, and the number of apprentices who successfully achieve their apprenticeships.

Over 71,000 apprenticeships were started at employers that entered for the 2024 rankings, accounting for more than a fifth of all starts in England, helping to fill skills gaps and create a future talent pipeline.

The employers in this list represent a range of industries & business sectors, from professional services, health and social care and retailing, to construction, technology and manufacturing.

Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO ADC Gen, and head of the British Army, said:

We’re proud of our apprentices and the recognition we’ve received. Apprenticeships offer people the chance to earn while they learn, gaining skills and confidence that benefit them beyond their time in the army.

Our soldiers are not just in the British Army; they are the British Army! Everything we can do to upskill them makes us a better Army, which is what the nation would expect.

DJH was the frontrunner in the Top 50 SMEs. This category was introduced to credit the essential work of smaller businesses in providing apprenticeship opportunities, particularly to young people and those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Chris Rawlinson, Head of Learning and Development at DJH said:

We are proud to be recognised as the number one SME Employer of Apprentices – this ranking is a testament to our commitment to learning and development, and our ongoing investment in the future.

We are dedicated to recruiting and nurturing trainees from locals schools, colleges and universities, recognising that these individuals are the future of the business.

We ensure that our apprentices not only gain the necessary technical skills but also develop vital soft skills, helping our apprentices to reach their full potential and build successful careers within the industry.

Over the past three years, more than 1,500 apprenticeship employers from a wide range of industries and business sectors have entered for the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 SME Apprenticeship rankings.

The Top 10 Apprenticeship Employers for 2024 are:

1. The British Army
2. BT
3. Royal Navy
4. Royal Air Force
5. London Ambulance Service
6. BAE Systems
7. The Go-Ahead Group
8. Mitchells & Butlers
9. Tops Day Nurseries
10. PwC

The Top 5 SME Apprenticeship Employers for 2024 are:

1. DJH
2. Roe Brickwork
3. LB Group
4. Lee Marley Brickwork
5. Rosedene Nurseries

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 29 July 2025.

School teachers and leaders will receive a fully funded 5.5% pay award, reflecting the vital contribution they make to children’s life chances.

The decision means the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) have been accepted in full.

Schools will receive almost £1.2 billion in additional funding to cover their costs, fully funding the pay award for teachers and support staff in financial year 2024 to 2025 at a national level.

The investment marks an important step on the path towards the government’s pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers.

As the Chancellor has set out, the poor position of the public finances means that a number of programmes must be cancelled across government – including the Advanced British Standard.

Today’s pay award reflects the value the government places on the country’s 6 million public servants, and the cost to the country of not accepting public sector pay awards.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

The Chancellor has laid out a grim picture – our public finances are in a devastating state and tough choices need to be made to help rebuild the foundations of the economy.

But while the impact teachers have on children and young people’s life chances can’t be measured in pounds and pence, those working in education must be in no doubt about their value.

Teachers lay the foundations of children’s lives. An investment in them is an investment in the next generation, and this government is determined to make sure every child – whatever their background – has the opportunity to succeed.

The Education Secretary has recognised the delay in confirming pay and funding arrangements for next year due to the timing of the general election.

The 5.5% award will apply from 1 September and is equivalent to an increase of over £2,500 for the average teacher, which would take the median salary for 2024 to 2025 to over £49,000.

The pay award applies to maintained schools, with academies continuing to have freedom over their pay and conditions.

The government is also today announcing further steps to reduce teachers’ workload, reset relations with the sector and make teaching an attractive profession again.

Alongside the pay award, the requirement for schools to use the performance related pay system – which can lead to schools and teachers going through an overly bureaucratic process to agree individual teachers’ pay rises – will be removed from September.

The government will also clarify that teachers can carry out their planning time at home, improving flexible working for staff.

Today’s award builds on the Education Secretary’s work to reset the relationship with education workforces since taking up post, including a letter to all education workers in week one in the role, a reception with almost 200 stakeholders, and a webinar with up to 14,000 front line staff.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 26 July 2024.

Interim Office for Students chair appointed as Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 is stopped.

The role of the Office for Students will be refocussed to prioritise the financial stability of the higher education sector and deliver better quality and outcomes for students, the government has announced.

Analysis from the Office for Students earlier this year showed increased financial challenges for the sector, with many institutions needing to make significant changes to their funding model to avoid facing a material risk of closure.

The OfS’ refreshed focus follows the publication of an independent report today – Fit for the Future: Higher Education Regulation Towards 2035 – which recommends that the regulator closely monitors the financial sustainability of all higher education providers.

The government has also appointed a new interim chair of the OfS, Sir David Behan, who will be tasked with ensuring that the regulator concentrates its efforts on these key priorities following the publication of his review into the organisation.

Under plans announced today, the Secretary of State for Education has also stopped the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 and re-affirmed the government’s firm commitment to freedom of speech, with universities expected to deliver on their duty to protect it. The Education Secretary will consider options for the Act in the long term, including repeal.

The move to stop implementing the Act reflects widespread concern that the legislation is disproportionate, burdensome and damaging to the welfare of students while not addressing hate speech on campuses.

The new rules would have exposed higher education providers to costly legal action that would impact teaching and learning. Groups representing Jewish students have also expressed concerns that sanctions could lead to providers overlooking the safety and well-being of minority groups.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

For too long, universities have been a political battlefield and treated with contempt, rather than as a public good, distracting people from the core issues they face. The steps announced today will sharpen the focus of the Office for Students, with greater emphasis on ensuring the financial stability of the sector.

We are absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom, but the Free Speech Act introduced last year is not fit for purpose and risked imposing serious burdens on our world class universities.

This legislation could expose students to harm and appalling hate speech on campuses. That is why I have quickly ordered this legislation to be stopped so that we can take a view on next steps and protect everyone’s best interests, working closely with a refocussed Office for Students.

Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said:

We welcome the Secretary of State’s decision to halt the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, pending consideration of repeal.

The Union of Jewish Students has been clear that the act, while well-intentioned, risked enabling antisemitic extremists to access university campuses by severely impacting the ability of universities to block their presence – we strongly support UJS’s concerns and reflected this in our Jewish Manifesto for the 2024 General Election.

This halt will enable the government to consider how to ensure that freedom of speech is protected without allowing free rein to purveyors of hate speech.

Additionally, the OfS plans to introduce strengthened protections for students facing harassment and sexual misconduct, including relating to the use of NDAs in such cases by universities.

The Fit for the Future: Higher Education Regulation Towards 2035 report published today finds that the case for bold regulation of higher education is clear and that the OfS should concentrate on four key priorities in the short term: monitoring financial sustainability, ensuring quality, protecting public money and acting in the interests of students.

The government accepts his core recommendations, recognising that strong regulation is crucial to ensuring a stable future for the UK’s world-leading higher education sector, which is a key engine at the heart of growth plans.

Sir David said the OfS and the government should work together to manage financial sustainability, sharing intelligence and data proactively to protect students. He has also recommended the OfS introduces an integrated assessment of quality, creating a regulatory model that incentivises ongoing improvement for all students, and that the body is given consumer protection powers in order to defend students’ interests.

Sir David Behan said:

It has been a privilege to lead the review of the OfS and I now look forward to delivering the changes the review recommends, importantly financial sustainability, quality, student interest and value for money.

A spokesperson for Universities UK said:

Sir David Behan’s review is thorough and we welcome many of its recommendations. Its findings underline the importance of an independent regulator for higher education in England and the need for a focus on the financial sustainability of the sector.

This will continue to strengthen the sector’s relationship with the OfS and ultimately help deliver better outcomes for students. We have already observed an improvement in the OfS’s relationship with the sector and this review will help consolidate this.

We look forward to working closely with both the department for education and the Office for Students in the coming months.

The higher education sector is encouraged to engage proactively with the OfS to help shape future regulation as the government seeks to build a balanced and sustainable funding model, fostering a more inclusive and resilient higher education sector that benefits all students.

Notes to editors

• To stop the implementation of the Freedom of Speech Act the Secretary of State has revoked the second commencement regulations made under it. She will rapidly review the legislation and confirm long-term plans as soon as possible.

Provisions in the second commencement regulations made under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 which have now been stopped:

From 1 August 2024:

• Extending the duties on registered HE providers and constituent institutions in England to require them to take reasonably practicable steps to secure freedom of speech within the law for their staff, students, members and visiting speakers, and to promote the importance of lawful freedom of speech and academic freedom.
• Creating duties on students’ unions at many registered HE providers to secure freedom of speech within the law for their members, staff and visiting speakers
• Creating a statutory tort for breach of specified freedom of speech duties, enabling individuals who have suffered loss to seek legal redress
• Creating a free to use complaints scheme to be operated by the OfS, enabling staff, students, members or external speakers to raise complaints about providers or students’ unions breaching their duties under the Act to secure or promote freedom of speech within the law
• Enhancing protection for academic freedom by extending coverage to include recruitment and promotion of academics
• Banning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) by registered HE providers in relation to complaints to the provider of sexual misconduct, bullying or harassment.

From 1 September 2025:

• Introducing new registration conditions for registered higher education providers on freedom of speech and academic freedom (requiring them, for example, to have in place suitable codes of conduct).
• Introducing new transparency measures in relation to overseas funding to enable the OfS to assess whether that funding might pose a risk to freedom of speech or academic freedom.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 22 July 2024.

New body launched to bring together key partners to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions.

The Prime Minister and Education Secretary have announced the launch of Skills England to bring together the fractured skills landscape and create a shared national ambition to boost the nation’s skills.

The Education Secretary has also today (22 July 2024) appointed Richard Pennycook CBE, former chief executive of the Co-operative Group and lead non-executive director at the DfE, as the interim Chair.

Skills are crucial to economic growth, with a third of productivity improvement over the last two decades explained by improvements to skills levels.

But between 2017 and 2022 skills shortages in this country doubled to more than half a million, and now account for 36% of job vacancies.

Skills England will bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions, providing strategic oversight of the post-16 skills system aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy.

Supporting local areas to develop the skilled workforces they need – in particular across construction and healthcare – is fundamental to the government’s mission to raise growth sustainably. By working with the Migration Advisory Committee, Skills England will also help reduce reliance on overseas workers.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

Our skills system is in a mess, which is why we are transforming our approach to meet skills needs over the coming decades.

They will help to deliver our number one mission as a government, to kickstart economic growth, by opening up new opportunities for young people and enabling British businesses to recruit more home-grown talent.

From construction to IT, healthcare to engineering, our success as a country depends on delivering highly skilled workforces for the long-term. Skills England will put in place the framework needed to achieve that goal while reducing our reliance on workers from overseas.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

Our first mission in government is to grow the economy, and for that we need to harness the talents of all our people to unlock growth and break down the barriers to opportunity.

The skills system we inherited is fragmented and broken. Employers want to invest in their workers but for too long have been held back from accessing the training they need.

Skills England will jumpstart young people’s careers and galvanise local economies. It will bring businesses together with trade unions, mayors, universities, colleges and training providers to give us a complete picture of skills gaps nationwide, boost growth in all corners of the country and give people the opportunity to get on in life.

The organisation will identify the training for which the growth and skills levy will be accessible – an important reform, giving businesses more flexibility to spend levy funds on training for the skills they need, which employers have long been calling for.

Skills England will be established in phases over the next 9 to 12 months to create a responsive and collaborative skills system.

The Skills England Bill announced this week will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to Skills England.

This sits alongside work to simplify and devolve adult education budgets to mayoral combined authorities to ensure that they can address their adult skills needs directly and support growth in their areas.

Next steps for establishing Skills England:

• The first phase of Skills England’s launch involves setting up the organisation in shadow form within the DfE, and starting work on an assessment of future skills needs while building strong relationships with employers. A permanent board, Chair and CEO will be appointed in due course.
• The route for employers to shape skills training is currently offered by the IfATE. IfATE’s functions will transfer to Skills England, as part of the new organisation’s broader remit. IfATE will continue its important work in the interim as the transition of functions to Skills England is finalised.
• Skills England will hold responsibility for maintaining a list of levy-eligible training to ensure value for money, and that the mix of government-funded training available to learners and employers aligns with the identified skills needs.
• The government will also bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education to break down barriers to opportunity, support the development of a skilled workforce, and drive economic growth through our industrial strategy.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 July 2024.

A broader, richer, cutting-edge curriculum that drives high and rising schools standards and sets all young people up for life and work will be central to the government’s vision for education, as it launches its wide-ranging Curriculum and Assessment Review today.

Spanning from Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 5, the independent review will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, an expert in education policy, including curriculum and social inequality.

The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people, and the barriers which hold children back from the opportunities and life chances they deserve – in particular those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, or with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.

Following the review, all state schools – including academies who currently do not have to follow the national curriculum – will be required by law to teach the national curriculum up to age 16, giving parents certainty over their children’s education.

This was confirmed in the King’s Speech earlier this week, as the government will introduce a children’s wellbeing bill in the next year to legislate for a variety of its education policies.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

The launch of this review is an important step in this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, deliver better life chances and enable more young people to get on.

Our dedicated school and college staff deliver better life chances for countless children but for too long they have been held back by a curriculum and assessment system that fails to prepare enough of our children for work and for life.

That is why this government, alongside leading education experts, leaders and staff on the frontline, will breathe new life into our outdated curriculum and assessment system.

Our renewed curriculum, built on a foundation of high and rising standards, greater access to cultural learning and crucial work and life skills, will set up all our children to achieve and thrive in the workplaces of the future, and throughout their lives.

The government’s ambition is for a curriculum that delivers excellent foundations in reading, writing and maths, and ensures every young person gets the opportunity to develop creative, digital, and speaking and listening skills particularly prized by employers.

The review will also seek to make sure children benefit from a curriculum that represents them and their families, regardless of background, and equips young people to shape our response to the challenges of our changing world.

The review will build on the hard work of teachers who have brought their subjects alive with knowledge-rich teaching, to deliver a new national curriculum which is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative.

The review will look at ensuring all young people aged 16-19 have access to rigorous and high-value qualifications and training that will give them the skills they need to seize opportunity as well as ensuring they are ready for the changing workplace.

It will also look at whether the current assessment system can be improved for both young people and staff, while protecting the important role of examinations.

Professor Becky Francis said:

Ensuring all young people access a rich and fulfilling curriculum and meaningful qualifications is core to supporting them to thrive at school and later in life.

It’s a real privilege to lead this important review, which has huge potential to build a cutting-edge curriculum that works for pupils and teachers alike.

I know how stretched schools, colleges and their staff are. So it’s particularly important to me to consider how any changes could contribute to staff workload and to avoid unintended consequences.

Crucially, I want to make sure that the review and its recommendations are driven by evidence and a commitment to high standards for all our young people, irrespective of background.

The views of experts, parents, teachers and leaders will be pivotal to the recommendations and a call for evidence will be launched in September. The review will also take written evidence from key stakeholders and undertake a national roadshow, meeting and taking input from staff on the frontline.

The launch of the review marks one of the government’s first steps towards an education system driven by high and rising standards, where background is no barrier, and every young person leaves school or college with the best life chances.

In recognition of the pressure schools and colleges are already under, and the further strain that wholesale reform can bring, the review will seek evolution not revolution, and will be alive to the trade-offs required to deliver high and rising standards alongside greater breadth – in particular any recommendations that would increase workload.

Professor Francis will be supported by an expert group made up of individuals with experience right throughout the education system.  The review will publish recommendations in 2025.