Keeping you up to date with the latest educational news and research through the STEM Community
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all of you! In this first educational update of the year, we’ve provided some highlights from educational news and research from the end of 2022. As always, you can check our full summary of Dec 2022 (and previous months) Educational News and Research HERE
General
Ofsted Annual 2021-22 report
A key publication to be aware of is Ofsted’s 2021-2022 annual report which provides a number of important updates about the educational landscape including:
- Two thirds of schools not being graded in five years
- ‘RI’ and ‘inadequate’ schools more likely to improve
- A warning against part-time timetables being used as ‘alternative’ to exclusion
- More MAT evaluation ‘events’ planned
A short summary read is provided by Schools Week HERE
Early years and primary
Ofsted Early Years Review
Ofsted have produced the first of a series of reviews into the early years, and have said that they want early years education to be a “specific strategic focus” over the next five years. This was partly because of concerns over the impact of the pandemic on younger children.
The report considers both maintained nurseries in schools and the private, voluntary and independent sectors.
Primary science intervention boosts pupil progress in EEF trial
This EEF study, co-funded by the Wellcome Trust, found that the Focus4TAPS intervention had a positive impact on Year 5 pupils’ (9−10 year-olds) science attainment, with children who received the intervention making – on average – an additional two months’ progress. Encouragingly, this was also true for pupils from socio-disadvantaged backgrounds. There is a high level of confidence in the security of this finding.
Secondary
Equation & formulae sheets remain for GCSE maths, physics and combined science GCSE 2023
Ofqual will implement the proposals set out in the consultation document since none of the 8000+ respondents raised issues that made it necessary to revise them.
DFE misses secondary teacher recruitment target by over 40%
The latest initial teacher training census statistics published by the DfE show that only 59% of the secondary target was met in 2022-23, down from 79% last year. The target for primary trainees was also missed by 7%. Physics has taken the biggest hit, with just 17% of the teachers needed recruited. The DfE’s target was 2,610. It recruited just 444.
Recruitment was also very low in design and technology (25%) and computing (30%). Targets for STEM subjects were missed by 46%. A total of 1,844 new maths teachers were recruited – 90% of the original target. Targets for chemistry and biology were also missed by 14 and 15% respectively.
Post-16
How much does prior attainment in English and maths vary by Key Stage 5 subject choice?
A report from FFT Education DataLab, exploring how GCSE grade requirements vary by subject for post 16 study. Most schools and colleges require a grade 7 or above in maths to enter some subjects – like maths, further maths and physics A-Level, but this doesn’t seem to be the case for GCSE English.
EPI warns of widening disadvantage gap for 16-19 learners
The Education Policy Institute has today published a report assessing how Covid-19 disruption impacted disadvantaged groups of students in 2021. Report prompts renewed calls for 16-19 pupil premium equivalent
Research, evaluation studies and blogs
EEF Blog: Reflecting on the challenge of mobilising metacognition
New evidence from an EEF effectiveness trial of the ‘ReflectED’ programme, reveals the difficulties of translating knowledge about metacognition into impact on pupil outcomes.
Autumn term absence round-up
FFT Education DataLab report on absence. In the first half-term of academic year 2022-23, we saw although levels were still some way above pre-pandemic they were a big improvement on last year.
A round-up of this year’s key EEF resources
A summary of EEF key resources and publications throughout 2022.