Dear Subscribers
In spite of the looming election, there is plenty to report on this week, mainly in the form of new statistics. Read on…
We begin with some updates on Special Educational Needs (SEN) – the latest SEN figures were published this week. They paint a picture of rising need. In 2023-24, 434,354 pupils in England had an Education and Health Care (EHC) plan – this represents an increase of 11% since last year and means that currently, 4.8% of pupils have an EHC plan. A further 1,238,851 pupils are SEN support – this figure represents 13.6% of pupils – up from 13% last year.
Moving to higher education, the latest employment outcome figures for graduates have been published. These figures are based on data up to the tax year 2021-22 and show increases in earnings compared to the previous tax year. For first degree graduates, median earnings five years after graduation were £29,900, an increase of 3.8% on 2020-21. The proportions of UK domiciled graduates and postgraduates in sustained employment, further study or both five years after graduation (87.8%) remained virtually unchanged in 2021-22 compared with the previous tax year. The median earnings of FSM graduates (those who had been eligible for free school meals at school) were 8.5 % (£2,600) less than the median earnings of non-FSM graduates, a slightly smaller gap than in 2020-21.
Over on the Ofqual website, you can find the latest data on exam entries as of April 2024. There has been a 4.8% increase in GCSE entries, and a 2.4% increase in A level entries. Taking a more granular look at the data, we see increases at GCSE in many of the EBacc subjects including languages, English and maths. The largest increase of 8.1% is in ‘other modern languages’. At A level, further mathematics had the biggest overall percentage increase (19.8%) in summer 2024 since last year. The subjects with the largest percentage decrease in summer 2024 since 2023 are drama (-5.8%) and sociology (-6.9%).
Finally, an update for further education staff. The DfE has published information about the levelling up payments for further education teachers in a range of subjects including building and construction, computing, and engineering. The payments range from between £2,000 and £6,000.
I look forward to updating you again next week.
