Previous research by the authors of this piece hinted at the heavy workload of Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos) within settings in England, and their ever-mounting challenges in the context of reduced local government services and cuts in funding to schools for their children with Special Educational Needs. As a result of these…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption to education systems around the world. In England, as part of the government's response to the pandemic, schools and colleges were closed and lessons were moved partially or entirely online. Furthermore, public examinations in June 2020 were cancelled, meaning that methods had to be developed…

In England, some secondary-level qualifications comprise non-exam assessments which need to undergo moderation before grading. Currently, moderation is conducted at centre (school) level. This raises challenges for maintaining the standard across centres. Recent technological advances enable novel moderation methods that are no longer bound by…

Core Maths (CM) qualifications were introduced into the post-16 curriculum in England in 2014, with first assessments in 2016. They are a suite of qualifications aimed at students who achieve a grade 4 (originally a grade C) or higher at GCSE Maths but do not go on to take AS or A level Maths. This group comprised around 40% of all students in…

In England, examinations for general qualifications (GCSE, AS and A level) were cancelled in summer 2020 and summer 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and replaced with contingency measures involving teacher judgements. For summer 2020, the intention was to calculate grades using rankings provided by centres, prior attainment data for the…

This report looks at the provision of A level subjects in England in 2023. Provision in a subject is defined as the number or percentage of schools with at least one student taking the subject. This report was produced using publicly available data from the Department for Education's (DfE) "Find and compare schools in England" service.…

Core maths (CM) qualifications were introduced into the post-16 curriculum in England in 2014, with first assessments in 2016. They are a suite of qualifications aimed at students who achieve a grade 4 (originally a grade C) or higher at GCSE Maths but do not go on to take AS or A level Maths. This group comprised around 40% of all students in…

This original study presents findings from a study of members of the first cohort of legal degree apprentices. Introduced in the UK in 2016, legal degree apprenticeships (LAs) remove uncertainty towards legal qualification in an otherwise competitive graduate recruitment environment and could help to increase social mobility into the professions.…

The digitalisation and datafication of education has raised profound questions about the changing role of teachers' educational expertise and agency, as automated processes, data-driven analytics and accountability regimes produce new forms of knowledge and governance. Increasingly, research is paying greater attention to the significant role of…

This paper explores the current provisiom and roles of school counsellors in England's schools. Government interventions are discussed and the ongoing problems with the deteriorating mental health of children and adolescents, caused by social pressures, and then the Covid 19 pandemic, addressed. The numbers of counsellors available has risen, but…

Early years policy in England is at a turning point. There has perhaps never been more political attention on the sector, with growing sentiment from parents that existing provision does not serve their needs. This briefing lays out existing evidence for the benefits of early education, including inequalities in access to existing entitlements,…

Purpose: Apprenticeships in England, while defined by level and typical duration, are not quantified regarding the number of learning hours required to achieve the outcomes specified, as with other regulated qualifications and accredited programmes. This paper proposes an approach to ascribe credit to apprenticeships recognising both…