London, 4 September 2024 - A new report sets out 10 ways to improve the education system in England. The ideas are drawn from consultation with leading experts with a focus on how to improve outcomes for children and young people, while reducing inequalities.
The report is published today by Nesta, a research and innovation think tank, as part of its UK Options 2040 programme. In total around 30 experts from a variety of professional backgrounds and perspectives contributed to the report.
- Create a professional development system for early-years practitioners. This idea proposes a system for early-years professionals similar to the one in place for school teachers. The goal is to raise the quality of early-years education, particularly for disadvantaged children, by promoting evidence-based practice. It would involve establishing a core body of expertise and training content, delivered through approved providers. Funding and regulation changes would be necessary for adoption, including potentially extending the Teacher Training Entitlement to early-years practitioners
- Build integrated family support services. This idea suggests a long-term plan for integrated family support services for families with young children, building upon the Sure Start and Family Hubs models. It emphasises collaboration across government departments and local partnerships to address the multifaceted needs of families. Data and evaluation would be central to the system, ensuring services are constantly evolving to meet user needs and demonstrating impact.
- Establish a single governance structure for schools. This idea proposes blending the academy and maintained school models into a single structure. Once this has been achieved, government could pilot the integration of other education phases, like further education and early years. This shift aims to address the challenges of the dual system, including disjointed support services, inefficiency and complexity. The transition would involve redesigning the regulatory framework, expanding the supply of high-performing trusts and a phased approach – starting with secondary schools.
- Make teaching a 21st century career through innovative working practices. This idea aims to make teaching more attractive, keeping good teachers in the profession for longer. It suggests backing school trusts to pilot and scale effective approaches, with a focus on workload reduction and flexibility. It would involve upskilling school leaders in these practices, investing in technology as an enabler, and incorporating staff retention as a key performance metric. An example of this is Dixons Academies Trust’s 9 day fortnight.
- Decouple Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) from mainstream schools and retire the generic label of ‘SEND’. Devolve funding currently being spent on EHCPs directly to schools or trusts. This idea aims to address the crisis in the SEND system, which is failing to get the right resources to the children who need them, and is adversarial, bureaucratic and unsustainable. Instead, it advocates for a system where mainstream schools become more inclusive, and are able to meet a wide variety of learning needs. This would be enabled by high-quality teaching, strong professional development and strong leadership from schools and trusts. A more rigorous, evidence-based system for assessment and diagnosis, similar to NICE in healthcare, is also proposed, as well as standards to ensure teachers understand what works to meet different needs.
- Creating 'safe phones' for under-16s to protect mental health. This idea suggests creating a two-tier phone market to mitigate negative impacts of smartphones on young people. This would involve introducing a new range of regulated ‘safe phones’ for under-16s, offering essential functionality like calls, maps, and educational apps – while restricting social media and ‘addictive’ features. Legislation would be required to establish this system, including licensing for manufacturers, age verification mechanisms, and potentially a phased rollout based on birth year.
- Provide quality enrichment activities to all young people. This idea aims to provide all young people in England with access to high-quality enrichment activities from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Schools would be responsible for encouraging uptake among their pupils, and local authorities would have the mandate and appropriate resources to meet the demand. The proposal builds upon the previous extended services in schools programme, with a focus on addressing the 'enrichment gap' between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
- Prioritise kinship care in children's social care. This idea proposes making kinship care the primary option considered when local authorities in England are concerned about a child's welfare, as proposed in the independent review of children’s social care The goal is to shift from costly, late intervention services to early, preventative support that aims to keep children within their families. This involves granting families the legal right to explore alternatives to formal care, such as family group decision-making. It also includes consistent financial support to kinship carers through an allowance.
- Revive youth apprenticeships to boost skills. This idea aims to boost skills and reduce youth unemployment by encouraging employers to take on more young apprentices, as proposed in the 2012 Richard Review. It suggests using Skills England to refocus the apprenticeship levy to prioritise youth apprenticeships in occupations suited for younger workers. This would involve identifying specific occupational standards eligible for levy funding,and making end-point assessments standalone qualifications so that young people would achieve the diploma by completing an apprenticeship, whereas adults would complete only the training they needed to pass the EPA.
- Introduce exit qualifications in higher education. This idea proposes introducing exit qualifications at the end of each year of university study in England, effectively allowing students to earn a Level 4 qualification after year one and a Level 5 after year two. This would increase flexibility, allowing students to enter the workforce with recognised qualifications or potentially switch courses or institutions without losing credit. It would also create a stronger market for Level 4 and 5 qualifications, addressing skills gaps and potentially revitalising further education colleges.
The publication will be followed by Policy Live (Thursday 12 September), a new event focused on exploring potential policy solutions to some of the biggest challenges faced by the UK. Organised by Nesta and BIT (The Behavioural Insights Team) the one-day programme will convene influential leaders and emerging voices from across governments, the civil service, NGOs and the private sector.
www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ten-ideas-to-improve-englands-education-system/
