National Foundation for Educational Research

@thenfer.bsky.social

665 Followers 158 Following

Global independent provider of research, assessment and information services for education. Follow @nferclassroom.bsky.social too if you're working in schools. https://linktr.ee/thenfer

Commenting on the proposals relating to education and apprenticeships set out in today’s speech by Andy Burnham MP, Jude Hillary, Co-Head of Policy and Practice at NFER, said: “Apprenticeships, work-based learning, and high-quality technical education have a vital role to play in improving opportunities for young people and supporting employers’ skills needs. “This is particularly important given the scale of the challenge facing some young people, with almost a million 16–24-year-olds currently not in education, employment, or training. Ensuring there are clear, high-quality pathways into good career opportunities is essential. “It was encouraging to hear Mr Burnham speak so purposefully about these issues. However, achieving this requires sustained investment, strong partnerships between education providers and employers, and a cultural shift towards a genuine and meaningful parity of esteem between technical and vocational routes and academic pathways.”
Recommendations for government: 1. Expand its focus on school belonging to consider wider factors that influence pupils’ life satisfaction such as timely access to wellbeing and mental health support, ensuring a balanced school curriculum and support for socio-economically disadvantaged pupils and their families. 2. Focus efforts to improve life satisfaction with the aim of increasing school attendance on females and pupils with the highest absence rates including persistently and severely absent pupils to yield the greatest benefit. 3. Ensure that wider public services, including family support and mental health services, have sufficient staff capacity and funding to work alongside schools and provide support to children and families, so schools and agencies can work together to help overcome barriers to attendance. 4. Consider building the evidence base about the causal impacts of improving school belonging on pupil outcomes including school attendance and attainment.
Quote from Dr Emma Moore, Senior Research Manager on the latest NFER research: “School attendance is influenced by a wide range of factors, but these findings show a clear connection between how young people feel about their lives and whether they attend school regularly. “The particularly strong relationship between low life satisfaction and high absence rates suggests wellbeing should be a central part of conversations about attendance, especially for pupils who are persistently absent. “Focusing on sense of belonging alone is unlikely to fully solve the attendance crisis."
Recommendations for policymakers and system leaders: Monitor the distribution of pupils with SEND locally and take action where school intakes appear persistently unrepresentative of local need. Ensure inspection and accountability systems reward inclusive practice and meaningful progress for pupils with SEND. Review funding so it better reflects differing levels of need across schools, making inclusion sustainable rather than goodwill-based.
Graph highlighting the number of marginal and specialist subjects (out of 23) offered by at least one provider in each local authority area. The graph shows that there is considerable variation in the number of subjects in different areas of England.
“After years of mounting pressure on the SEND system, it is positive to see plans, included in the Education for All Bill designed to strengthen support for children and young people with SEND, including investment in inclusion bases in mainstream schools. “Our research suggests that, if implemented well, inclusion bases could help mainstream schools strengthen specialist expertise, improve access to support, and promote closer multi-agency working. However, our evidence on impact of their predecessors, Resourced Provision and SEN Units, is mixed highlighting that successful implementation will be key." Quote from Carole Willis, NFER Chief Executive
“Our findings show that in more fragmented post-16 education systems, students are more likely to face restricted subject options, particularly in specialist subject areas. This has real consequences for some young people. The subjects available to them at this stage can shape what they go on to study, and the opportunities open to them later in life.  “Coupled with this, post-16 education providers face bigger challenges to delivering courses efficiently where the provision in their area is relatively more fragmented - too often in these areas small, inefficient class sizes are the norm."  Quote by Luke Bocock - NFER Research Director
New research report - Competition and Cooperation in the FE sector The image also features the NFER and Association for Colleges logos in the bottom right corner, along with an image of pupils walking into a college building.
Image of a college setting, featuring pupils from multiple backgrounds and a female teacher or support staff member. The image also features the NFER and Association of Colleges in the bottom right hand corner.
The NFER Classroom team at Stand I9 at the School & Academies Show at the Excel in London.
Image highlighting NFER's nomination for the award of Outstanding Assessment Resource (Primary) at the 2026 BESA Awards, due to take place on July 9 2026.
New blog post - Is the teacher supply challenge finally over? The image also features a young female teacher sat on a classroom table.
In the latest edition of NFER Direct: • Can inclusion bases help solve the SEND crisis? • NFER International at the CIES Conference 2026 • and much more... The image also includes the top of this month's newsletter.
NFER Direct - Subscribe for the latest news and research updates, direct to your inbox. Image highlights this text as well as the top part of the previous newsletter edition, published at the end of March.
Response from NFER Education Workforce Lead Jack Worth to new DfE ITT data: “The lower ITT targets published by DfE today reflect several key trends over the last year, including how many new teachers the system needs, falling primary pupil numbers, improving retention rates and more trainees coming through in recent years. Taken together, these suggest future teacher supply is likely to come closer to meeting what the system will need to maintain the status quo. “However, this is not a time for complacency. Sustained progress will be essential to reverse the damage that previous under-supply has caused to the extent of specialist teaching in shortage secondary subjects and particularly in schools serving the most disadvantaged communities. "Helpfully, DfE has published a considerable amount of accompanying information alongside the ITT targets on how they have been estimated and what different factors are driving the target changes. This is welcome transparency that should aid a greater understanding in the sector about how the targets are estimated."
New research report - Action Tutoring Year 6 Mathematics Programme Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation
Image promoting The Unlocking Youth Transitions Data series.
Group of diverse secondary school pupils walking down a corridor.
New blog post - Inclusion bases: Can they help solve the SEND crisis?
New blog post - How DfE can meet 6,500 teacher target without missing the point
“The Government has set out ambitious plans to strengthen the education system — from expanding early years provision to delivering its pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers. “We have found there is a wide range of differing challenges facing groups within the education workforce. A comprehensive, targeted approach that recognises the distinct challenges each workforce faces will be essential if the Government is to achieve its ambitions for a stronger, more sustainable education system.” Jack Worth Education Workforce Lead
New research report - The Education Workforce in England: Summary Report 2026