National Nature Parks and Pisa Reports

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DfE News

The National Education Nature Park: how to get involved

What is the National Education Nature Park?

The National Education Nature Park is helping children around the country connect to the natural world, especially in urban and nature-deprived areas, by tracking their local environment through a virtual map across England.

Whether it’s through building rain gardens, growing pollinator-friendly plants, or creating habitats, the Nature Park is inspiring young people to take action to engage with nature in their local area.

They are then encouraged to follow this activity on an online, interactive map which will track the collective difference being made for nature across the education estate.

How can my school sign up to the National Education Nature Park?

Teaching and non-teaching staff from nurseries, schools and colleges can register their education setting for free by submitting the form here.

Nearly 1200 schools, colleges and nurseries have already signed up.

You can read more, including what tools are available and how the Nature Park links to the curriculum, here.

Artificial intelligence in schools – everything you need to know

Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay – it’s already having a positive impact across society, including in the education sector.

It could be used to improve our education system. For example, early research suggests it could be used to free up teachers’ time and provide personalised support to pupils.

The DfE want to make the most out of this emerging technology but needs to understand its risks, as well as its opportunities.

Here, they set out what they are doing to develop artificial intelligence in education safely and explore how it could benefit both teachers and young people.

School resource management

The DfE has committed to working with the sector to enable excellent school resource management in all schools and academy trusts. Their new strategy sets out our vision and approach to help build an even stronger school system.

The tools and guidance on this page are designed to help schools and academy trusts get the best value from their resources and therefore maximise the impact on pupil outcomes. They are free and available to all state-funded schools.

To see examples of how the SRM tools can be used visit the DfE YouTube playlist on Excellent School Resource Management or go to the School resource management: case studies collection to see examples of the tools in practice.

Ofsted News

More detail on Ofsteds Annual Report

Early year's regulatory practice

Further education and skills sector

Paul Joyce, Deputy Director, Further Education and Skills, explains that it’s been a relatively stable year for the further education (FE) and skills sector, but we do have concerns about some programmes.

Key findings from the social care sector

General Education

PISA 2022 Results

Preparing students for a changing world

During years of disruption during which many countries and economies saw student learning outcomes decline, Japan, Korea, Lithuania and Chinese Taipei were able to maintain or improve learning outcomes, fairness in the distribution of learning opportunities, and student well-being.

Singapore led the global league tables in the mathematics assessment, followed by Macao (China), Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong (China)*, Japan, and Korea. While overall performance levels declined, some education systems made progress towards closing the achievement gap.

Amidst unprecedented performance drop, some education systems buck the trend

Eighteen countries and economies performed above the OECD average in mathematics, reading and science in 2022. Between 2018 and 2022, mean performance in mathematics across OECD countries fell by a record 15 points. Reading fell 10 points, twice the previous record, whereas science performance did not change significantly. On average, reading and science trajectories had been falling for a decade, though math had remained stable between 2003-2018. Colombia, Macao (China), Peru and Qatar improved in all three subjects on average since they began to take part in PISA.

Supporting students in and beyond the classroom is key

Socio-economically disadvantaged students in OECD countries are seven times more likely on average than advantaged students not to achieve basic mathematics proficiency. However, across the OECD, 10% of disadvantaged students scored in the top quarter of mathematics performance in their own country. Some countries/economies ensure that students attain a high level of mathematics performance despite socio-economic background. In Macao (China), the most socio-economically disadvantaged students scored higher than the OECD average. Boys outperformed girls in mathematics by 9 points but girls surpassed boys in reading by 24 points on average.

Key Insights

1. Keep schools open longer for more studentsAcross PISA-participating economies, at least half of students experienced COVID-related school closures for three months or more. Systems that spared more students from longer school closures scored higher while their students enjoyed a greater sense of belonging at school.
2. Prepare students for autonomous learningStudents whose teachers were available when schools were closed scored higher in mathematics and were more confident about self-directed learning. Most were confident about using digital learning platforms & finding learning resources, but only 60% were confident about motivating themselves to do schoolwork.
3. Build strong foundations for learning and well-being for all studentsMore than ten per cent of students in some OECD countries suffer economic food insecurity, others have rates below three per cent. Between one in twenty and one in ten students disagreed that they feel safe in schools on average across OECD countries.

Read more on the PISA website, here.

ASCL responds to ‘catastrophic’ trainee teacher recruitment figures

Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on the government missing targets for trainee teacher recruitment in England for 2023/24.

“This catastrophic shortfall in postgraduate trainee teacher recruitment has plumbed new depths. Just half of the required number of trainee secondary teachers have been recruited and there are huge deficits in maths, physics, computing, modern foreign languages and other subjects. It is even worse than last year – which was itself a new low point – and follows years of missed targets. The government has in fact missed its target for secondary subjects in every year since 2012/13, except for a short-lived uptick in numbers during the Covid pandemic in 2020/21.

“The supply of new teachers is simply not sufficient to meet the needs of the education system, and we then lose far too many early in their careers. Our schools and colleges must have the teachers they need in order to deliver a great education to our children and young people. It is the vital resource upon which every target and ambition depends. However, just this week, the latest PISA international study found that a lack of teaching staff was reported to be the most common barrier to teaching in England.

“As former Schools Minister Nick Gibb has himself said there’s only one real answer – a properly well-rewarded teaching profession. Yet, the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement provided no more money for education and this makes any meaningful pay award unaffordable next year. This is on top of 13 years of pay erosion which has left teaching salaries lagging behind in the labour market.

“We appeal to the government to see sense and take action. There is simply no issue in education that is more important than fixing the broken teacher pipeline.”

EdTech News with David Surfleet

Arbor education introduces a new tables to charts feature.

Bett awards finalists - Shortlist

The Bett Awards are a celebration of the inspiring creativity and innovation that can be found throughout technology for education. Produced in association with Besa. They take place on the 24th of January 2024, at the Brewery in London.

You can see all the finalists here.

With two weeks left before the Christmas break, make sure you all take some time to reflect on the awesome work you do day in and day out to improve the life chances for children and young people.

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