Last week Sadiq Khan revealed plans to install air filters in 200 London schools, stating: “I want every single child to breathe clean air in and around their school” This is certainly a worthwhile goal. The evidence on the impact of air pollution on physical heath is well established. For instance, in 2019, pollution has been estimated to be responsible for the equivalent of between 3,600 to 4,100 deaths in Greater London.1 The evidence on the effects of pollution on education related outcomes are however mixed. Traffic-related air pollution, specifically NO2, has been shown to be associat ..read more

Most pupils achieving top GCSE grades progress to higher education. Having strong GCSE grades provides students with a competitive edge when applying to higher education institutions, with universities often considering GCSE grades alongside A-level results, personal statements, and various other factors, during their admission processes. However, not all students with strong GCSE grades progress to higher education. Some will follow further education pathways, such as apprenticeships or higher technical qualifications in colleges. Others will avoid higher education for financial or social rea ..read more

 The National institute of Economic and Social Research and the Education Policy Institute have recently published research on the recruitment and retention of senior school leaders, commissioned by the Welsh National Academy for Educational Leadership. Below, we summarise some of the EPI team’s headline findings on the recruitment difficulties facing Welsh schools. Recruiting school leaders in Wales, and across the UK, can be difficult. As the job of senior leadership becomes less attractive, there is a shrinking pipeline of middle leaders progressing to senior leadership and headship, w ..read more

Summary  Resits are important – lots of students do not achieve a good GCSE pass in English and maths at 16, they are a big focus of upcoming policy changes and literacy and numeracy skills have big impacts on life chances.  However, grade improvements and pass rates for those who resit are very low.  Results are even worse for disadvantaged students and those with special educational needs.  Outcomes are significantly worse for GCSEs than other qualifications and disadvantage gaps have been growing over time.  In the current policy environment, there is a significant ..read more

Four charts which explain the state of children’s mental health in 2023  Last week, NHS England released data exploring the mental health of children and young people in 2023. Using survey responses from young people and parents and input from clinicians, NHSE have generated estimates of ‘probable’ and ‘possible’ mental health disorders. In this blog, we explore overall trends in the prevalence of mental ill-health, inequalities by social and demographic factors, and discuss the implications of these findings.  The post-pandemic surge in mental health problems has not gone away  ..read more

This blog examines the findings from our recent report The Influence of headteachers on their schools, published in partnership with the Nuffield Foundation and Newcastle University Business School.   Headteachers in England are often held responsible by the accountability system for improving pupils’ academic performance. The independence that many headteachers have in the UK gives them the flexibility to succeed; however, this flexibility does not necessarily translate into better outcomes. Analysis in our recent report provides the first quantitative evidence of the impact effecti ..read more

As of August 2023, there were 2,397 academy trusts, consisting of just over 10,000 schools operating in England, numbers which are steadily increasing.[i] The rising number and size of multi-academy trusts (MATs), has led to calls for greater transparency and for MATs to be held accountable across a wider range of outcomes. [ii] Previous research has primarily examined MATs’ performance using attainment indictors. For example, we have previously shown that MATs are over-represented amongst the lowest performing school groups based on GCSE results, although there was substantial variability wit ..read more

Links to preceding blogs in the series Blog #1: Intersections between ethnicity and additional needs Blog #2: Additional provision for SEND, ethnicity and attainment Blog #3: Staffing variations for EAL, ethnicity and attainment   Recap of the aims and findings In this blog series we have considered the relative GCSE English and maths attainment of pupils with additional needs during the Covid-19 pandemic – those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) – and in particular, we focused on comparisons between pupils w ..read more

Further analysis of confirmed schools affected by RAAC  Yesterday, EPI published initial analysis of the 79 schools that the BBC had identified as having RAAC. Later that day, the Department for Education published a fuller list of 147 schools that have responded to the DfE survey and have since been confirmed as having RAAC. There may still be schools with RAAC that have not yet been identified, perhaps because they have not responded to the survey or RAAC hasn’t been formally identified.  Nevertheless, we have updated our analysis to cover the schools that we know, so far, have RAA ..read more

Introduction  For the first time since the controversy over algorithm-generated grades in 2020, an education story has dominated the headlines and broadcast media for almost a week. But this isn’t the spotlight on education that anyone wanted, not least the Department for Education.  The media interest was triggered when, late last week, the DfE issued emergency guidance to schools that were identified as having, or could potentially have, Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC). RAAC is a type of building material that was commonly used from the 1950s to the mid-1990s and whic ..read more