Policy Watch

Education’s always changing, and it can be hard to keep track. Policy Watch is the easy way to make sure you stay up to date with the latest developments.

Keep up with what’s happening in education policy

Policy Watch is our regular policy update service, covering national and international developments in the world of education. We try to keep things simple, sharing the latest news and information with you through weekly updates, monthly summaries, papers and events.

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The latest from Policy Watch

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  • Highlights of the week ending 25 March

    This week the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill returned to the Lords. When the Commons, the Government were able to overturn amendments made by Peers, namely a four-year funding removal delay to those qualifications deemed to overlap with T Levels. Once again, the Lords defeated the Government, this time voting through an amendment that would see a three-year delay to the removal of funding, with a fourth should there be no employer consultation on the decision). The Bill makes its way back to the Commons on Monday for MPs to consider the change. The Lords accepted a Government proposal to increase the number of careers advice interactions. We await to see the response to the latest Lords’ amendment relating to the defunding of qualifications and whether there is scope for compromise, as there was on careers advice.

  • Highlights of the week ending 18 March

    Monday saw Education Questions in the Commons, with the usual mixed bag of topics from MPs, including the future of BTEC, National Tutoring Programme & education catch up, access to higher education, and home schooling. Robin Walker also set out, in a statement, the announcements made by the Secretary of State last Friday, around NTP funding and a new curriculum body.

  • Highlights of the week ending 11 March

    The Secretary of State, Nadhim Zahawi, trailed the upcoming Schools White Paper in his address to the ASCL annual conference, reiterating his focus on literacy and numeracy. He announced that Oak National Academy will become a new arms-length curriculum body (a move questioned by some in the sector) and a continuation of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). The sector awaits the first education White Paper since 2016 with interest .

  • Highlights of the week ending 4 March

    It has been a busy couple of weeks since the last Policy Watch with several significant (and long awaited) announcements being made. Ministers finally responded to Sir Philip Augar’s review of higher education finance, with changes proposed to repayment thresholds and terms. Many worry that this could prevent those from disadvantaged backgrounds entering HE. The details of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement were more warmly received as the policy has the potential to support reskilling. The Government also announced it would not be pursuing a post-qualifications admission system at the current time. And this week, the OfS set out its plans for tackling poor quality provision. After waiting for so long, if nothing else the sector has some clarity.