HEP Talks

The Education Brief: Wednesday 8 July 2026 - Top stories include: Religious education is set to become part of the national curriculum for the first time. Pearson is under mounting pressure after Key Stage 2 SATs results were delayed. Two years into Labour’s term, and TES’ analysis on school data points tells a mixed story. New EEF guidance on inclusive teaching warns that some adaptations can low...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 1 July 2026 - Top stories include: What would an Andy Burnham government look like for education? Teach First’s flagship government-funded training route is being renamed Teach Lead Change . NFER analysis finds disadvantaged primary schools are seeing pupil numbers fall faster. ASCL recorded a nearly £480,000 deficit last year, citing rising demand for member support...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 24 June 2026 - Top stories include: 100 heads inspected under Ofsted’s new framework were largely negative about the experience. SATs marking ran beyond an extended deadline after technical problems with Pearson’s system. The Education Select Committee questioned ministers on several pressing school issues. Ofsted chief inspector Martyn Oliver told MPs he is “very co...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 17 June 2026 - Top stories include: School leaders cautiously welcome government plans to block under-16s from social media. The DfE is set to publish five new enrichment benchmarks for schools, covering arts, sport, nature, civic life and life skills, alongside a £132.5 million “Every Child Can” scheme. The government is consulting on proposed content for a new GCSE...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 10 June 2026 - Top stories include: The government is launching a review of children’s screen time for new guidance in the autumn. DfE guidance says Experts at Hand support for SEND pupils in mainstream settings should usually be time-limited. Teacher numbers in England have fallen by nearly 2,000 year on year. Half of state primary pupils are now taught in academies...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 3 June 2026 - Top stories include: The Milburn review warns that education is failing too many young people falling into NEET. School insurance claims are projected to rise above £180 million within three years. Updated DfE guidance says schools can use AI to help draft official documents. Girls are more than twice as likely as boys to take a modern foreign language...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 20 May 2026 - Top stories include: Every mainstream state school has now become an academy in one English council area. The King confirmed that SEND reform will be taken forward through a new Education for All Bill. Schools warn that proposed changes to KCSIE 2026 are too much, too quickly. Bridget Phillipson has launched a new international SEND alliance. Most schoo...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 13 May 2026 - Top stories include: The revised Early Career Framework is landing better with new teachers. The DfE has paused physics and languages bursaries for overseas teacher trainees. The NEU is preparing to formally ballot teachers and support staff for strike action. Sixth form college teachers win a contractual right to planning, preparation and assessment ti...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 6 May 2026 - Top stories include: School leaders are warning that the timeline for new enrichment benchmarks is unrealistic. NAHT leaders have backed an indicative ballot on industrial action over pay. Suspensions are continuing to rise in primary schools but have begun to fall in secondaries. A DfE review suggests its flexible-working scheme struggled to reach the s...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 29 April 2026 - Top stories include: The DfE has cut its projected need for new teacher trainees by 23 per cent for 2026-27. Schools have begun scaling back language provision due to plans to scrap the EBacc. A Sutton Trust survey shows over 40 per cent of leaders are reducing SEND support. Most teachers do not feel equipped to support pupils with emotionally based s...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 22 April 2026 - Top stories include: NEU members have signalled strong support for industrial action over pay and school funding. Academy trust chief executive pay is continuing to climb, but with a gender gap at the top. The DfE is set to make its school mobile phone guidance statutory. Ofqual’s chief regulator warned that scrapping essays because of AI cheating is...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 15 April 2026 - Top stories include: Councils will now lead bids for the next phase of the school-based nursery capital programme. A NASBTT survey suggests teacher training providers are under real strain. The number of exam grades challenged at appeal fell by 18.3 per cent in 2024-25. Research suggests high-achieving disadvantaged pupils begin to fall behind in seco...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 25 March 2026 - Top stories include: Schools serving disadvantaged communities are being marked down more often by Ofsted. More than 330 primary schools have now been funded to open new nurseries as part of the school-based nursery programme, which from May will be led by local authorities. Suspensions and exclusions have fallen overall this year, but rates are risin...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 18 March 2026 - Top stories include: The English hubs programme will be expanded into secondary schools from September. United Learning could become England’s first 100-school multi-academy trust. New research suggests the former “gifted and talented” programme may have widened inequality. Ofsted is piloting recruiting groups of school leaders as part-time inspectors...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 11 March 2026 - Top stories include: An evaluation finds the English Hubs Programme had a “substantial” impact on pupils’ outcomes. The government has delayed the defunding of BTECs to autumn 2027. Tes’ latest Teacher Wellbeing Report highlights SEND support and workload as biggest pressures. SEND complaints upheld by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ro...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 4 March 2026 - Top stories include: Tes analysis suggests that, at current rates, full academisation could take decades. Legal experts warn parental complaint reforms “stop short” of giving schools the powers they need to enforce them. GCSE maths and science students in England will keep getting equation and formula sheets in exams until at least 2030. The government...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 25 February 2026 - Top stories include: Reform UK appointed Suella Braverman as its new education and skills spokesperson. Julie McCulloch has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Education Policy Institute. Music hubs “highly valued” by schools and families face growing funding and staffing pressures. This week’s deep dive: The Schools White Paper: Every...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 11 February 2026 - Top stories include: Peers have backed a statutory ban on smartphones in schools in a House of Lords vote. Most teachers and leaders don’t think their schools overuse suspensions. Nearly eight in ten councils say they could be pushed towards insolvency with SEND deficits. The government says it will write off 90% of councils’ historic SEND deficits...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 4 February 2026 - Top stories include: Ofsted’s new inspections are driving a rise in workload for headteachers and SENCos. White disadvantaged girls are seeing the sharpest fall in GCSE attainment. Plans in the upcoming schools White Paper will push settings “beyond their comfort zone.” Disputed data suggests one in six schools are running shorter than the 32.5-hour...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 28 January 2026 - Top stories include: Disadvantaged white pupils are the group most likely to fall furthest behind after primary. Ministers are launching a trial of AI tutoring tools in England’s schools. Extending free school meals to all pupils in families on universal credit is expected to bring in around 500,000 pupils, as well as a major funding gap. A new repo...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 21 January 2026 - Top stories include: All school staff will receive SEND and inclusion training, backed by £200 million from the DfE. Ofsted will start checking every school’s mobile phone policy during inspections. New DfE complaints guidance tells parents to keep complaints respectful and off social media, and to use AI “with caution.” Nearly three-quarters of tea...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 7 January 2026 - Top stories include: Ofsted has published the first batch of school “report cards” under its new inspection framework. Labour is pressing ahead with plans for Ofsted inspections of multi-academy trusts. Data on the effectiveness of RISE school improvement teams will be published this year. Daniel Kebede warned the NEU would “absolutely” strike if the...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 7 January 2026 - Top stories include: Margaret Mulholland argues schools have already made real progress on inclusion. Sir Martyn Oliver has told headteachers to think carefully about their approach to mobile phones. London’s universal primary free school meals scheme has had no measurable impact on pupil attainment in its first year. More than 400 schools across the...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 17 December 2025 - Top stories include: A safeguarding review triggered national dispute over strict behaviour policies. Headteachers are warning of an “exponential rise” in AI-generated parental complaints. Google DeepMind is developing a DfE-approved version of its Gemini chatbot. The DfE will scrap 46 free school projects, with a further 58 special and AP schools...

The Education Brief: Wednesday 10 December 2025 - Top stories include: The government is set to overhaul how disadvantage funding is allocated with income data. The DfE has unveiled how its newly merged behaviour and attendance hubs will operate. The DfE refused to release the full ICO audit that found it had broken data protection law. London wants to expand free school meals. HEP Updates: Book s...