Today, the government published guidance on screen time for under-5s. EPI's Director for Early Years, Inequalities and Wellbeing @drtammycampbell.bsky.social asks: does it meet the needs of parents, carers, and children?

Screen time for under‑fives is a hot topic for policymakers, parents and researchers. New EPI analysis shows how common, and how intensive, screen use is during a crucial stage of infant development, highlighting how the home environment shapes early screen exposure.

Of all the bad/stupid policies I’ve covered as an education journalist over the years, one that’s hit our family most blatantly is these automated letters which are issued by schools if a child’s attendance drops below a certain level.

"If the safeguarding principles of professional curiosity and challenge are lost to the white noise of such a zealot-like approach, we have truly lost our way." Hackney safeguarding chair Jim Gamble lambasts DfE's school behaviour ambassador Tom Bennett. chscp.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Thought-provoking and useful exploratory analysis from Rebecca. Resonance with last week’s @hackneycouncil.bsky.social's Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review and @annafazack.bsky.social‘s investigations.

What does the reliance on private providers in early education and care mean for children in England? Dr Tammy Campbell analyses the latest DfE statistics to ask if this shift is desirable for public spending and children's experiences. Read the full blog: epi.org.uk/publications...

"Efforts to tackle the disadvantage gap in education will only be successful within a wider effort to address the causes and effects of poverty." Read EPI's response to the Government's Child Poverty Strategy: epi.org.uk/comments/epi...

The phonics screening check is so closely correlated with month of birth that it can be argued that it is a test of age rather than decoding.

Today’s Curriculum and Assessment Review highlights mixed opinions on the Phonics Screening Check. This aligns with EPI research, which found mixed views - as well as no positive evidence that the Check's introduction improved later reading results: epi.org.uk/publications...

Free School Meals need review to better serve disadvantaged children.  The final report in our @nuffieldfoundation.org-funded project examining FSM as a measure, argues that relying on FSM as a single proxy doesn't reflect the complexity of children’s experiences. news.sky.com/story/why-th...

Our new report, funded by @nuffieldfoundation.org, shows significant variation in how free school meals (FSM) and free early years meals (FEYM) are accessed across schools and local authorities (LA) in England. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

📺EPI Director @drtammycampbell.bsky.social on @itvnews.bsky.social earlier, giving a cautious welcome to the changes to FSM eligibility www.itv.com/watch/news/w...

🔊Comment: EPI's @drtammycampbell.bsky.social comments on the the expansion of free school meal eligibility.

Though, as experts including @drtammycampbell.bsky.social and @carlcullinane.bsky.social told me, a proper system of auto-enrolment will be the crucial next step in ensuring those children actually receive the free meals

@kerriscooper.bsky.social and I wrote this @edupolicyinst.bsky.social blog on the 'two child limit' a while ago - sad that it's more relevant that ever

🚨For anyone that missed our 2025 Annual Lecture with @annavignoles.bsky.social looking at education and skills inequalities in the UK, you can now watch the recording here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR06... epi.org.uk/events/educa... With thanks to @britishacademy.bsky.social for kindly hosting us.

The reality of claiming PIP: a 🧵 1) To claim PIP you have to describe in excruciating detail all the ways you cannot function. This means that you are forced to think in very detailed terms exactly how disabled you are, which often has a devastating effect on the mental health of the applicant 1/?

💬 The EPI’s @drtammycampbell.bsky.social outlines the key findings from a major report into free school meals and puts forward the case for auto-enrolment (and why it would not solve all issues)

📢 Today, the Education Policy Institute (EPI), funded by @nuffieldfoundation.org published a new report exploring the strengths & weaknesses of Free School Meals (FSM) and Pupil Premium (PP) as measures for identifying disadvantaged pupils in England. Read full report👇 epi.org.uk/publications...

Op-ed: the government should continue to investigate the ways that FSM registration is used; who it represents, includes and excludes; the workings of policies and practices relying on FSM; and how pupils and families can more effectively be supported and provided for... www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Join us for our next #CASE #SocialExclusionSeminar on 5 March. Whitney Crenna-Jennings @edupolicyinst.bsky.social will be speaking on children missing from education Find out more: sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/ev... Sign up via Eventbrite: eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-wom...

From @allenjoseph.bsky.social and @wcrennajennings.bsky.social: 'reliable waiting time data for children’s mental health services do not exist...researchers, policymakers and leaders should be brave enough to admit what they don’t know.' blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp... @lseblogs.bsky.social

Nice chart from @mrjpandrews.bsky.social showing how schools serving more economically disadvantaged pupils are likely to be scored low according to current 'accountability' measures

🚨New EPI event summary paper from @kerriscooper.bsky.social : How can we reduce food poverty for under-fives? Building on recommendations with expert input. Read the full article here👇 epi.org.uk/publications...

Move in the right direction, but could go further?

If your lab/team does fact checks or code reviews, do you have any tips for how to make it a less painful process? #academiasky

In related work, we explored food poverty among under fives - and recommend that the government should work towards universal free meals in early years settings whilst supporting the sector to be able to implement this. epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 24: Our @nuffieldfoundation.org project is exploring what underpins fluctuations in the percentage of children registered for FSM at across time, cohorts, stages, and places. Read our evidence review here: epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 16: Children are much less likely to be registered for FSM in early primary, meaning they miss out on activities and provision, and their school misses out on pupil-premium funding. Read the full report here: epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 15: Our research into the Phonics Screening Check scrutinised national data and surveyed teachers. Among many interesting patterns we find that older teachers report spending less time prepping in the period leading up to the assessment Read the full publication here epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 10: Only 8 per cent of students on the T level transition programme in 21/22 progressed on to a T level, and almost a third of those who did then dropped out by the end of the their first year. #EPIAdventCalendar You can read the full report 👇 epi.org.uk/wp-content/u...

📅Day 13: Important features for predicting increased FSM under-registration. The larger the phrase, the more important it was. Read the full report here 👇 epi.org.uk/publications...

What kind of society would willingly traumatise its children in the name of education? John Harris says as claims about practices in two flagship London schools are investigated, it’s time to stop and think about what schools are really for www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

BBC London lunchtime news, for which this was the lead story, reported that Hackney Council's Independent Safeguarding Children Commissioner has announced a safeguarding review "in response to concerns raised about Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy".

This is really upsetting

This is absolutely huge from the Scottish Parliament. Combined with the Scottish Child Payment it means a family with 3 children on Universal Credit will be *£7k* per year better off than if they lived in England. And we know that will make a massive difference www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politic...

V thorough, balanced, and interesting article with many parallels to our recent @edupolicyinst.bsky.social Phonics Screening Check research epi.org.uk/publications...

We are pleased to announce that EPI researchers Allen Joseph and Whitney Crenna-Jennings have been awarded the ONS Impact of Analysis Award for their research on Early adult outcomes for suspended pupils.

Our Director for Post-16 and Skills @davidrobinsonedu.bsky.social, yesterday gave evidence to the Education Select Committee on the reform of Level 3 qualifications. He highlighted key findings from EPI's latest report on T Levels. You can read the full report here: epi.org.uk/wp-content/u...

📝 NEW: Today, the Education Policy Institute publishes its report on Children Missing from Education We explore estimates, trends, and the characteristics of children missing from school. Read the full report: epi.org.uk/wp-content/u... 👇 Key findings below:

'We find that the number of children ‘missing from education’ increased by 40 per cent from 2017 to 2023' schoolsweek.co.uk/the-knowledg...

Welcome to all the folks who gave me a follow recently! Here’s a wonderful starter pack on some brilliant humans interested in Childhood Studies and Children’s Rights. Let me know if you’d like to be added to this 🎈

The UK's labour market statistics are not reliable - and that's a really big deal. Calculating the employment rate based on HMRC jobs data and the estimated population matches the LFS prior to Covid-19...but not since. Find out why that matters here ⤵️ https://buff.ly/4fz1ifQ

The response that UKLA gas submitted to the government's Curriculum and Assessment review is now available to see on our website. ukla.org/resources-an...

159,380: Another new record in numbers of homeless children living in temporary accommodation in England. Up 5% on three months ago and 15% on a year ago www.gov.uk/government/s...

Phonics screening check: why this test taken by six-year-olds in England just isn’t needed

Why do we have free meals for early primary children but not for our pre-school children? We know nutrition in early years is vital for healthy development and we know under-fives face higher risk of food poverty - my piece in @schoolsweek.bsky.social schoolsweek.co.uk/early-years-...