A big day, a big week for the country with some aspects, such as future arrangements for international students and workers spilling over into education.

A word on those in a moment but there’ve also been plenty of other education developments this week. They include for higher education, the latest report from UCAS on last year’s university entry cycle and a summary of university access and widening participation plans from the Office for Students.

For FE, while many energies are focused on next week’s extended National Apprenticeship Week, the World Economic Forum Report on emerging opportunities and required skill sets in the global economy, another one of those future gazing but captivating reports, stands out. And for schools, government legislation on new minimum funding levels, a new Opportunity Plan for schools in the North East, and reports on languages, arts, mental health services and teacher autonomy, have all featured widely.

Those post-Brexit international arrangements first. These include the latest report from the Migration Advisory Committee setting the context for what’s expected to be an Immigration White Paper next month. Broadly it proposes sticking with the current general visa route for those with a job offer albeit with a lower salary threshold and developing a points - based visa system for skilled workers without a job. It also incidentally adds Teaching Assistants to the list of eligible occupations. But it’s hefty report that warrants careful reading and will please some sectors more than others.

Next students, international and domestic. On the former a new report from Universities UK and partners highlights the importance of providing students with employability skills and support, especially ahead of the new graduate route next year. On domestic students, the report from the Office for Students this week makes an energetic case for closing the access gap in admissions and outcomes over the next few years.

Moving on to that Report mentioned for FE, part of an extensive project from the World Economic Forum under the title ’The Reskilling Revolution Platform.’ Its highlights what it calls ’96 jobs across seven professional clusters that are fast emerging in tandem reflecting digital and human factors.’ It’s not one of those ‘robots are taking over’ reports, seeing jobs of the future set to grow positively by 51% currently.

Finally schools, where there’s been another mixed batch of useful reports this week, with the headline news all about the government’s formal guarantee of minimum funding levels for schools. It’s been greeted, as perhaps with other wider events this week, with mixed reactions.

• ‘Just 48% of DfE cost-cutting tips possible, say schools.’ (Monday)
• ‘Five-fold rise in numbers of teachers on anti-depressants.’ (Tuesday)
• ‘Top universities to give more places to disadvantaged.’ (Wednesday)
• ‘Most pupils own a phone by age 7.’ (Thursday)
• ‘England suffers further drop in apprenticeship starts.’ (Friday)

• Global Talent. The government confirmed that its new, fast-track visa scheme intended to encourage the world’s top scientists, researchers and mathematicians to the UK and toreplace the current Tier 1 route, will be managed by the UK Research and Innovation Agency and will open on 20 February 
• Migration criteria. The Migration Advisory Committee published its thoughts ahead of an intended new Immigration White Paper suggesting among other things a system of points for skilled workers without a job offer and a reduction in the salary threshold for those coming to take up a job
• Embracing Risk, Transforming Technology. The Policy Exchange think tank published a collection of essays from leading figures reflecting on how the government should go about creating its new promised Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA,) arguing it should be allowed to take risks and focus on developing advanced technologies on a 10-15 year timeframe

• Helping the disadvantaged. The Office for Students published its latest review of institutional access and participation plans highlighting proposals to halve the access gap at the most selective institutions over the next five years 
• End of Cycle Report. UCAS published further details from its overarching report into the 2019 university application cycle focusing on this occasion on equality issues and unconditional offers and suggesting a fall in the use of conditional unconditional offers
• A room of my own. The Universities Minister recorded a message for the Student Accommodation Conference, acknowledging the improvements being made following last year’s Summit but calling for more accessible provision and increased vigilance over health and safety concerns 
• Supporting international graduate employability. Universities UK and partners reported on how universities were supporting the employability of their international students, finding some good practice but calling for the creation of a coordinating group to develop future strategies 
• Imperial centres. Imperial College announced it was setting up five centres of excellence to help tackle public health emergencies, using grant funding from the National Institute for Health Research
• Money Saving Expert. The moneysavingexpert Martin Lewis outlined a new calculator to help parents work out how much they might need to contribute to their offspring’s living costs at university 
• Erasmus calling. The Independent published an interesting comment piece from a university student highlighting concerns about dropping out of the Erasmus scheme and the potential negative impact this could have

• Future Skills. The World Economic Forum published a new report on jobs and skills for the future as part of its ‘Shaping the Future’ series, highlighting seven emerging professional clusters from the Care Economy to People and Culture, with a range of jobs and skill requirements within each
• Next wave of T levels. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education opened the bidding for Awarding Organisations to apply to develop the next wave of eight T levels due to start from September 2022 
• CITB remit. The government finally published its list of priorities for the Construction Industry Training Board for the current year, seven in all with a focus on skills and training especially to support the talent line post Brexit
• EITB remit. The government also finally published its list of priorities for the Engineering Construction Training Board for the current year, like those for the CITB very much focusing on developing skills for the future
• Levy impact. The Centre for Vocational Education Research examined trends in apprenticeship take-up and provision in the light of recent reforms, concluding that while there had been a decline in apprenticeship starts in recent years, much of this was due to having to adapt to change rather than the levy itself 
• Don’t let the app become a trap. The ‘responsible’ technology think tank doteveryone reported on some of the challenges of gig working setting out what it called ‘three pillars for better work’ including enforcing a minimum gig wage, giving gig workers a voice in platform design, and adapting the National Retraining Scheme to support such workers

• Minimum funding levels. The government confirmed that its promised minimum funding levels for schools would be backed up in law as the DfE published the latest school-by-school funding details
• DSG Consultation. The government reported on the outcomes of its recent consultation on ring fencing the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) confirming that this will come into force over the next month
• Pupil premium. The government outlined the new , inflation-based rates, to apply from April 2020
• Opportunity North East. The government launched the delivery plan for school improvement in the North East, built around five challenges covering pupil progression and teacher retention that it hopes to tackle over the next two years
• Mind the language gap. The Education Policy Institute examined poor performance by boys in GCSE languages in a new report commissioned by the British Council, highlighting building on prior attainment and committed school policies as factors that can help improve things 
• Arts-rich. The RSA reported on its ‘Learning About Culture’ project with case study evidence from eight schools each working to develop an arts-rich curriculum, and demonstrating a number of helpful strategies from dedicated leadership and space for how to achieve this
• Mental health services. The Children’s Commissioner for England published her third annual report into the state of children’s mental health services which like the recent EPI report found some services, such as those for eating disorders improving in terms of response speed but overall a mixed picture 
• SEND debate. MPs discussed special education needs in a Westminster Hall debate pointing to issues around responsibility, funding and local provision ahead of the cross-government review which will evaluate how the system has operated over the last five years 
• Sport for All. The government confirmed the funding it was giving schools to help ensure that more pupils participate in sporting activities and that facilities stay open after school and in the holidays
• ITT inspections. Ofsted launched consultation on a new approach for inspecting initial teacher education that would introduce a new quality of education and training judgement, a new methodology for gathering evidence and work to a single visit, aligning it more closely to the school inspection system 
• SATs regulation. Ofqual reported on its regulation of national assessments in 2019 confirming that standards in both test development and marking remained high and pointing to the Memorandum of Understanding with the Standards and Testing Agency which will further underpin regulation this year
• Academies Benchmark Report. The latest analysis of Academy Trust budgets by the accountancy firm Kreston Academies Group pointed to an improving picture with cash and reserves increasing but with things remaining volatile and top salaries still an issue
• Teacher autonomy. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) examined the issue of teacher autonomy, often a key factor in job satisfaction yet felt by many teachers to be low in such areas as assessment and career development, calling on school leaders to prioritise where possible 
• Teacher wellbeing. Researchers from UCL examined the well-being and mental health of teachers over time finding that while it had worsened, the rate of increase was similar to that for other professions

• “A true honour to have been re-elected as Chair of the Education Select Committee” - @halfon4harlowMP
• “Prospective students – open days are ‘a corridor painted for the Queen’s visit’ simulation. Instead, visit on a Tuesday lunchtime and try to find somewhere to sit. Pop into the library during exam time. Ask real (not under the cosh ‘ambassador’) students about cost of living”- @jim_dickinson
• “There are many reasons students decide to pursue a PhD degree, one under-explored reason is revenge” - @caromholland
• “Five times more teachers are taking anti-depressants now compared with the early 2000s, new research shows” - @tes
• “One of my Year 10 lads got out his flask of tea at lesson’s end today. A flask of tea!” - @MrBlachford
• “It is shocking that 800m children are leaving the global education system without any qualifications worth their name” -@OfficeGSBrown

• Schools of the Future. One of the big topics addressed at Davos last week was the future of education, skills and employment. It’s not a new topic of course and has been on the agenda at most recent events but moved up a gear this year with the launch of the ‘Reskilling Revolution Platform’ by the World Economic Forum. The aim of the project is to provide better jobs, education and skills for a billion people over the next ten years. It comprises five initiatives covering skills, work and schools. The schools initiative includes a report identifying what it calls ‘8 critical characteristics in learning’ for the 4th Industrial Revolution. They’ll be familiar to many: interpersonal skills, technology skills and so on. Either way, the report showcases schools around the world implementing such skills and might be of interest

• “There have been 19 secretaries of state for education and 98 ministers over the last four decades” – the Institute for Government reports on the ministerial merry-go-round 
• “No perfect system exists and there are unavoidable, difficult trade-offs” – the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee highlights the challenges involved in developing a new immigration system
• “The implicit premise is that parents will fill the gap but implicit isn’t good enough” – moneysavingexpert Martin Lewis introduces his new parental contribution calculator for university students
• “Care is needed in starting activity to discriminate against individual young people on the basis of the class they were born into”- independent schools respond to the OfS report on university admissions 
• “We don’t have a set curriculum in mind and there isn’t a preferred Ofsted curriculum” – Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman makes it clear in a speech this week
• “the reality is that the financial situation for schools and colleges will continue to be extremely challenging and the funding crisis is not over” – ASCL general secretary Geoff Barton responds to the latest commitment from government on school funding

• £25,600. The proposed salary threshold for medium and high-skilled migrants as put forward by the Migration Advisory Committee
• 6,500. How many more disadvantaged students would attend top universities in England each year from 2024/5 onwards, according to latest plans from the Office for Students 
• 75%. The fall in the number of universities and colleges likely to use conditional unconditional offers this year, according to UCAS
• 4.7%. The drop in the number of apprenticeship starts, largely across lower levels, for the first quarter of the 2019/20 academic year, according to latest official statistics
• 5%. The number of teachers in England reported to be suffering from a long-term mental health problem, up from 1% thirty years ago but no worse than for other professions, according to researchers at the IoE
• 48%. The amount of savings trusts appear able to implement within the recommended period, according to summary evidence from the DfE
• 2.17. How many times more likely girls enter and achieve good grades in GCSE languages than boys, according to a report from the Education Policy Institute
• 3 hours, 20 mins. How much time on average 7 - 16 year olds spend on their phone and/or online, slightly down on last year, according to a report by Childwise

• National Apprenticeship Week (Monday – Sunday)
• UCAS analysis of latest application data (Thursday)
• Headteachers’ Roundtable Summit (Friday)