The gov't opted against student finance changes in the Spring Forecast, despite ongoing debate over growing debt and the precarious state of the HE sector. @rcruikshanks.bsky.social and @davidrobinsonedu.bsky.social argue 3 core principles must guide reform: 1️⃣ Sustainability 2️⃣ Equity 3️⃣ Clarity

It’s official! @juliemcculloch.bsky.social is joining @edupolicyinst.bsky.social as Chief Executive from May. We are delighted and excited as we begin our second decade. epi.org.uk/comments/jul...

"If we build it – a stronger team around the child that doesn’t require an EHCP – they will come, and EHCPs will gradually revert to being a less frequently required backstop." Read @jojohutchinson.bsky.social on SEND reform and the schools white paper: epi.org.uk/publications...

How are MATs using AI across teaching, learning, and administration? Our latest report - supported by @nuffieldfoundation.org - finds that limited evidence on AI’s impact leaves multi‑academy trusts navigating a “wild west” market. Read the full report: epi.org.uk/publications...

Opportunity to become our new CEO and lead us into our [feels old] second decade. Applications open until early in the new year.

A really helpful unpacking of the concerning early years results from our Annual Report, from @msemilyhunt.bsky.social

Today the @edupolicyinst.bsky.social has published our latest assessment of educational inequalities in England. It’s a rich report but some of our most concerning findings relate to the early years where we find a deepening crisis: epi.org.uk/annual-repor...

Two collaborators for the price of one, @mrjpandrews.bsky.social and Prof Claudine Bowyer-Crane, discuss pandemic learning impacts from our EPI and NIESR research projects in this episode of More or Less…

Our Chief Executive, @natalieperera.bsky.social speaks on BBC Breakfast today about findings from our latest report on the disadvantage gap, highlighting that absence is a leading cause of the performance gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.

And, 5 years on from lockdown, @mrjpandrews.bsky.social speaks to More or Less about the impact on learning and inequalities.

📻On BBC Radio 4 Today, our Chief Executive @natalieperera.bsky.social discusses the findings from our latest report on rising levels of school absence and the widening disadvantage gap for pupils. You can listen the full interview here at 44.30👇 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

"If disadvantaged pupils had the same level of absence as their peers, the gap at age 16 would be over 4 months smaller. In fact, absence fully explains the gap-widening at age 16 since 2019" - breaking down the gap in new, @edupolicyinst.bsky.social report. epi.org.uk/publications...

Our Head of Analysis @mrjpandrews.bsky.social speaks on BBC More or Less about the impact of lockdown on pupils, the attainment gap, and regional variations across England. You can listen the full interview 👇 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Good to share the good and not quite so good of how we've tracked and managed projects and funding as a small (but growing) organisation @edupolicyinst.bsky.social. And good to get perspectives and experiences from the growing community of @smartthinking.bsky.social members. I've said good a lot.

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

📅Day 20: Over the last 15 years disadvantaged students have steadily been catching up to the HE progression rates of non-disadvantaged students, especially for progression to high tariff providers. The most recent data suggests progress has stalled or even gone into reverse.

🚨NEW: EPI has today published a discussion paper on 'Climate and education: strategies for adaptation, learning and play’, drawing together findings from a series of events this Autumn, in partnership with Learning Through Landscapes. . Read the full paper here 👇 epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 11: While the average surplus of providers in the HE sector has begun to fall after the pandemic, it remains above the average deficit in the FE sector. #EPIAdventCalendar You can read the original blog here - epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 9: Young teachers are deserting the profession at a growing rate. #EPIAdventCalendar You can read the full analysis 👇: epi.org.uk/publications...

Day 8 of the #EPIAdventCalendar is our effective school groups tool that we published earlier this year. epi.org.uk/effective-sc... A starter for ten for a report card? We will hopefully be publishing an updated version early in the new year with more recent data.

📅Day7: The gender gap in later adolescence and early adulthood remains stark overall for mental health disorders, with twice as many girls with a probable disorder compared with boys. #EPIAdventCalendar You can read the full analysis👇 epi.org.uk/publications...

📅Day 5: This graph suggests that the ‘age-gap’ trend in children not in school is becoming more pronounced over time – particularly post-pandemic. #EPIAdventCalendar You can download and read the full report 👇 epi.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Great work from Whitney and @allenjoseph.bsky.social

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...

🗣️Commenting on the initial teacher training statistics released today, @jzuccollo.bsky.social , Director for School Workforce at the Education Policy Institute said👇

🗣️Commenting on the government's Plan for Change, @natalieperera.bsky.social, Chief Executive at the Education Policy Institute said👇

📅Day 4: Between 2019 and 2023, disadvantage gap widened in early years, primary schools and secondary schools. In primary and secondary schools the gaps are now wider than at any point in the last decade. #EPIAdventCalendar

📅Day 2-Disadvantage is funded at least one-third higher in secondary schools than in 16-19 education, despite England having a compulsory education age of 18 and a disadvantage gap that continues to widen post-16. #EPIAdventCalendar

We’ll be running through some of our key findings and recommendations from 2024 in our #EPIAdventCalendar. Follow @edupolicyinst.bsky.social for your daily fix.

📅Day 1- The value of pupil premium has fallen in real terms over the past decade. DfE could allocate £640 million from savings from falling pupil rolls to reverse these cuts and provide additional targeted funding for persistently disadvantaged pupils through an enhanced premium. #EPIAdventCalendar

▶️Children under 5 face higher risks of food poverty than older children. Food poverty is particularly damaging in the early years which is a significant period of development and important for later life outcomes.

✅The Government’s upcoming child poverty strategy should prioritise children under 5 experiencing food poverty.

📅On Sunday we'll be kicking off our EPI Advent Calendar. Each day we'll be sharing a key chart, finding or recommendation from our work in 2024. #EPIAdventCalendar

Our Head of Analysis @mrjpandrews.bsky.social helps make sense of the latest changes to the National Funding Formula announced yesterday. Read the full article below 👇

"Children under 5 are 25% more likely to experience food poverty than older children, with almost a quarter of households with children under four years experiencing food poverty in January 2024." - new @edupolicyinst.bsky.social report by @kerriscooper.bsky.social today.

We need to talk about #foodpoverty in the #earlyyears - under-fives are more likely to face food poverty which is damaging for early development - see our new report on this important but neglected topic

Just got to wait that bit longer for this year's Key Stage 4 statistics and provisional performance tables.

📊 School leadership movement patterns ▶️In secondary schools, headteachers are 20x more likely to move to another school within their community than outside it. ▶️For primary schools, this is 9x. ▶️This limits knowledge sharing and creates ‘isolated schools’.

Check out our new report on networks of headteachers and schools👇

Schools in the north west are the most likely to be 'isolated' and shut out from attracting the best headteachers, a new report claims

📝In a new blog, Jenna Fowler uses #MachineLearningmodels to explore factors predicting under-registration for #FreeSchoolMeals at the local authority-level. Read the full blog here: epi.org.uk/publications... Continue 👇

Some really interesting analysis by Jenna Fowler using machine learning to predict FSM under-registration #freeschoolmeals

State schools have closed the gap with private schools in GCSE results, once we adjust for socioeconomic differences in their intakes. New findings in our paper published today in Cambridge Review of Education: https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2024.2420611

Next panel for the Schools and Academies show is on school funding - the short, medium and long term situation + the impact on various parts of the school system (including @lukesibieta.bsky.social, Emma Balchin (National governor's assoc), and Neil Short (National Assoc of small schools)

📝NEW: Today the Education Policy Institute has published a new report commissioned by the Welsh Government, reviewing approaches that might attract and retain teachers in challenging schools across Wales. Read the full report : epi.org.uk/wp-content/u... Continue below⬇️

Worrying findings in our latest Social Metrics Commission report. 2 million more people plunged into hardship since 2019, 260 000 children. As I say in the article, we see the consequences of this as @trusselluk.bsky.social foodbanks strive to meet soaring need. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

'Surely all of us have at least one pet peeve that we’d like to see changed…' @michaelt1979.bsky.social on why all teachers should respond to the #curriculum review's call for evidence before it closes this Friday

Welcome to all our new followers! Please find below details of our staff members you might want to follow 👇 Find it here: go.bsky.app/R3HxVy3

While I was away last week, the excellent @edupolicyinst.bsky.social published two major reports. First @mrjpandrews.bsky.social's report recommends targeting extra funding to persistently disadvantaged pupils. Thread below but bottom line is that we need to do more for children in deep poverty.