News, research & insights
w/c 07 July 2025
Uncertainty over FSM numbers as eligibility widens
Planned expansion of free school meals could benefit 500,000 more children, but the Department for Education has cited uncertainty over how many pupils currently protected from losing meals will be affected.
Heads together for a national network
Local Headteacher groups have combined to create a national network giving school leaders a collective voice on sector wide challenges.
Pupils in areas of disadvantage less likely to study a language
Less than half of pupils in areas of disadvantage take a language GCSE, compared with 69% in the most affluent state schools, according to recent research.
Parental leave and new parent pay to be reviewed
Ministers have announced a review of maternity, paternity and shared parental leave, aiming to modernise a system campaigners say has been outdated for years.
Sun safety lessons for pupils
Children as young as five are learning how to check UV levels and apply sunscreen, as part of a pilot set to roll out nationally in PSHE lessons from 2026.
Research & Insights
Inequalities in Access to Professional Occupations
Working Paper
[Dilnot et al; UCL et al, 2025]
According to recent research from UCL, state-educated, working class and ethnic minority graduates were less likely to secure employment offers in 2024 compared to 2023 than their privately educated, privileged and White peers.
The latest insights from UCL in this research (June 2025), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, reveals worsening inequalities in graduate recruitment for working-class, state-educated, and ethnic minority candidates in the UK.
Analysing over 250,000 applications from 17 large public and private sector employers (including law and accounting firms), the study compares recruitment outcomes from 2023 and 2024. Key findings show that:
Privately educated applicants were 20% more likely to receive a job offer than similarly qualified state-educated peers in 2024, up from 7% the previous year.
When ethnicity was considered, White privately educated applicants were 21% more likely to secure an offer than White state-educated applicants, compared to a 9% gap in 2023.
Ethnic minority state-educated applicants were 32% less likely to get an offer compared to White state-educated applicants, with particular disadvantage for Asian, Mixed, and other ethnic minority groups.
Although the gap between Black and White applicants narrowed slightly (from 38% in 2022 to 31% in 2024), researchers suggest this may reflect a redistribution of opportunity between minority groups rather than a reduction in White applicants' advantage.
Gender disparities also featured, with women submitting more applications in 2024 and becoming increasingly likely to receive offers compared to men (18% in 2024 vs. 6% in 2023). However, women remain underrepresented in offers relative to their proportion in the graduate population.
There are some useful graphs presented in the working paper which help to illustrate the scale of inequalities across different sectors too.
(Source: UCL, 2025)
The report highlights that inequalities persist across socioeconomic background, ethnicity, and gender, and appear to have worsened as competition for jobs has intensified due to falling graduate vacancies and rising application numbers.
A key recommendation in the report is that employers strengthen their focus on EDI throughout the recruitment process, particularly during periods of increased competition.
Diversity-focused internship schemes were also shown to help, and where such schemes were withdrawn, diversity declined.
What Makes High Quality Work Experience?
Introducing the definition and indicators of impactful practice
[Speakers for Schools et al; 2025]
This research report from Speakers for Schools gives an evidence-based framework for delivering high-quality work experience for young people.
As a core provider of work experience, SfS shares what meaningful, impactful, and equitable placements should look like.
The report highlights the significant role that work experience plays in shaping young people’s futures, including its proven links to higher future earnings, increased career confidence, and lower levels of youth unemployment.
However, the quality and structure of work experience opportunities currently vary widely, and not all placements deliver these benefits.
The organisation, alongside key partners such as the Sutton Trust, calls for all providers to think critically about what constitutes real work experience, focusing on its design, delivery, and long-term impact on young people’s career pathways.
Recognising a gap in understanding around what makes work experience genuinely effective, SfS has developed a three-step model to help employers design and deliver impactful placements.
This model, built on research and engagement with employers and stakeholders, consists of three stages: Envision, Implement, and Reflect.
(Source: Speakers for Schools, 2025)
We have found it useful to reflect on the research at Tees Valley Education as part of our place-based Classroom to Careers work that we are leading in the region with providers such as the Maritime Cluster and industry leaders locally.
If you’re a local school in Middlesbrough or the Tees Valley and keen to access some of the funded aspects of this work we are leading, just send me an email or visit here for more information.
Poorest children ‘priced out of early years education’
[Lepper; Children & Young People Now, 2025]
This recent article summarises findings from Hodges et al (2025) Coram Family and Childcare’s latest annual childcare survey, showing growing inequalities in access to early education for disadvantaged families in the UK following the government’s latest childcare entitlement rollout.
The survey, covering 173 councils, indicates that parents of the youngest disadvantaged children (under two) now pay £105 more per week for childcare than better-off families who qualify for funded places.
This is because many disadvantaged families, particularly those who are unemployed or on low incomes, do not meet the eligibility criteria for the new entitlements, effectively pricing them out of early education opportunities.
While the policy has successfully reduced costs for eligible working families, with part-time nursery places for under-twos in England now averaging £70.51 a week (half the cost of last year), the benefits are problematic for working households.
(Source: Coram, 2025)
Full-time nursery places have also fallen in cost by over a fifth compared to 2024. However, concerns are growing that the system is becoming two-tiered, with disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) increasingly excluded from affordable provision.
Additionally, there is a growing shortage of childcare places, particularly for disadvantaged two-year-olds and children with SEND.
Seven in ten councils report insufficient SEND provision, and more than one in five councils lack enough places for three-quarters of eligible children under the new entitlement.
The article, and report, also show that childcare costs continue to rise in Scotland and Wales, where the entitlement expansion applies only in England. Costs for under-twos in Scotland have risen by 7% to £122.38 a week, and by 10% in Wales to £155 a week.
Coram, along with other sector bodies and the National Education Union, is calling on the government to revisit funding levels and eligibility criteria, ensuring that children most in need, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with SEND, are not left behind.
Education at the Crossroads:
Shaping a system that works for everyone
[Foundation for Education Development, 2025]
As close partners of our friends at FED, we found this report to be of most use at Tees Valley Education, especially given our work in place-based practice and policy shaping with organisations such as the Fair Education Alliance.
The research calls for a fundamental, system-wide shift in how education policy and practice are approached in England.
Colleagues at FED, alongside partnership networks, argues that while schools, colleges, and universities continue to deliver for many, the system is under increasing strain from rising pupil needs, widening inequalities, workforce challenges, and fragmented partnerships.
According to FED, the current education system, shaped over decades by short-term reforms and reactive policies, was never designed to meet the scale and complexity of today’s challenges.
Drawing on findings from the most extensive national education consultation of its kind, including the 2025 National Education Survey, the report presents a practical blueprint for system renewal, shaped by the voices of educators, young people, parents, business leaders, and others.
At its core, the FED’s vision is about moving from isolated, short-term interventions to a coordinated, long-term and inclusive strategy. The report identifies three strategic priorities essential for future success:
Inclusion: Ensuring all learners, especially those with SEND and from disadvantaged backgrounds, receive the support they need.
Sector workforce: Addressing recruitment, retention, workload, and wellbeing challenges across the sector.
MATs, Schools, and partnerships: Strengthening collaboration across schools and organisations to foster more connected, place-based educational ecosystems.
Despite concerns and challenges raised in the research, the report notes a strong sense of hope and willingness within the sector to co-create solutions provided leaders and practitioners are given the tools, trust, and time needed.
FED argues that only a collaborative, long-term, and inclusive strategy can build an education system that evolves with learners’ needs, rather than simply reacting to crisis and pressure points.
This is why we will continue to support colleagues at FED in helping to set a blueprint for how this can be achieved in action. Examples provided in the report such as the one below:
(Source: FED, 2025)
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025:
What do schools need to do now to be ready?
[Rose; SecEd, 2025]
This article, written by safeguarding lead Elizabeth Rose, addresses the current uncertainty surrounding the 2025 update to the statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance.
In the latest update released 1st July 2025, HM Government has announced that an ‘information version’ of KCSIE 2025 will be published next month with the full guidance coming into force on 01 September 2025.
The delay is unusual compared to previous years when provisional updates were available by May, but the government are obviously keen to get it right and the delay is likely linked to various factors (which Rose covers)
Despite the lack of clarity on the 2025 KCSIE update, schools should not pause their safeguarding preparations.
Rose encourages DSLs to focus on local context, staff readiness, and policy accuracy, ensuring schools start September with a strong culture of safety and vigilance and are able to respond quickly if and when new national guidance is published.
There are some practical tips and ideas of how schools can go about this presented in the article. Credit to SecEd for another great Best Practice feature!
Opportunities
💬 Let’s chat about Chatta!
Regular readers will know I’ve shared before about Chatta and its brilliance! Chris Williams is a fellow SHINE grant recipient and leading this transformative work with his team across schools.
This free online session is your chance to experience Chatta and see how it transforms teaching and learning.
Some teaching methods help. Some make a difference. Chatta changes everything. Instantly, inclusively, and powerfully.
The FREE hour-long session is led by Chris Williams, founder of Chatta.
Take part in our live demonstration. See the approach in action, not just in theory.
Experience the power of Chatta for yourself. See how effortlessly it fits into any subject, any level, any lesson.
Learn how Chatta can help your pupils in countless ways.
Teachers who see Chatta for the first time often say it’s the breakthrough they’ve been searching for; the approach that finally unlocks language, writing, understanding and confidence across the curriculum.
If you read just one blog this week - make it this one which tells the story of one young man and his experience of Chatta! Or watch the video below:
🎉Summer Sale! 🎉
Summer’s nearly here, and Bloomsbury are celebrating with a brilliant Bloomsbury Education sale - and yes, Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools is included!
Readers can now get 30% off all Bloomsbury Education titles.
It’s the perfect chance for schools to stock up on inspiring reads (including ours!) before the new school year.
Remember, all royalties from the our book go back to Tees Valley Education with projects supporting children facing poverty-related barriers to learning.
