Dear Subscribers
In the run up to the election, I would like to start off this week by offering you a sneak preview of one of the first summaries in the July collection – an overview of the main parties’ education manifesto commitments from the Education Policy Institute. It is linked here for your perusal.
It is a fairly quiet week on the DfE website this week (unsurprisingly), but a few items of interest below.
We begin with some higher education news – the DfE has published the latest forecasts for higher education and further education student loans in England. The headlines make for interesting reading. Full-time undergraduate higher education students starting in the academic year 2023-24 are expected to borrow an average of £42,800 over the course of their studies. Sixty-five per cent of these students are expected to repay their loan in full, meaning that the government is set to subsidise 29 per cent of the Plan 5 loans issued in 2023-24. Total student loan outlay is forecast to increase by 20% between the financial year 2023-24 and 2028-29 to £24.6 billion in nominal terms.
Over on the Ofsted website, you can find data related to the post-inspection surveys for inspections conducted between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. Schools’ responses to the inspections appear positive: 94% agreed or strongly agreed that ‘the inspection activities enabled inspectors to understand the quality of education in my provision, and the same percentage agreed or strongly agreed that ‘the judgements made by inspectors were justified based on the evidence collected. A lower percentage overall (89%) agreed or strongly agreed that ‘the inspection will help me to improve my provision further’.
Here at the University of Bristol, we are preparing for a new PGCE year in which we will be incorporating the new quality requirements which were set out in the ITT Market Review. Lots of change afoot! The DfE has just published a list of all accredited ITT providers who have been accredited to deliver courses under the Market Review. You can find it here.
I look forward to updating you again next week.
