£1 million funding towards AI in education
The government has announced that £1 million funding will go towards 16 Ed Tech developers to create artificial intelligence (AI) tools for feedback and marking. As a result, ministers believe that children will benefit from a ‘better standard of teaching through more face time with teachers.’
Evidence shows that while high-quality feedback can improve pupil performance, marking can be a huge drain on teacher time. In 2023, 46% of teachers reported that they spent too much time on marking pupils’ work. Ed Tech developers estimate that some tools could save up to 50% of time spent on formative assessment. Each tool will be targeted at a specific age and subject, giving feedback on written pieces of work as well as diagrams, maths equations, and coding exercises.
According to a survey by TeacherTapp, almost half of teachers are already using AI to help them with their work. However, current tools are not specifically trained on teaching standards in England. For this project, developers will gather data from curriculum guidance, lesson plans and anonymised pupil work to train the AI tools. It is estimated this will increase accuracy to 92%, giving teachers the reassurance that they are safe and reliable to use. The first prototypes are set to be developed by April 2025. Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, says that ‘this marks a real shift in how we use technology to improve lives and unlock the near-boundless potential of AI for our classrooms.’
Ofsted to investigate children with SEND missing from education
At present, there is no comprehensive national data on the number of children not in full-time education. However, estimates suggest there has been a significant rise since the pandemic. In Ofsted’s most recent annual report, it was estimated that around 34,000 children are on part-time timetables. Generally, this has been used as a short-term measure to help children settle back into school after a prolonged absence. However, the rise of part-time timetables suggests they are being used more readily. In addition, there is a growing number of children who receive a mix of online and in-person education, as well as those who are flexi-schooled – which means they are home educated by parents for part of the week. Around 33,000 children are thought to be missing education entirely.
This week, Ofsted announced it would investigate why pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are leaving full-time education. This includes those who are flexi-schooled, on part-time timetables, receiving education other than that school, or severely absent. Together with the Care Quality Commission, Ofsted will visit local areas between spring and summer, gathering evidence from key stakeholders including children with SEND and their families. Inspectors will explore the extent to which local area partnerships support children to remain in school and any potential barriers that they face.
Ofsted will not make judgements on individual local areas. Instead, it will publish an overarching report in autumn this year, highlighting examples of good practice and identifying any systemic concerns. Lee Owston, Ofsted’s National Director for Education, says it is vital that ‘the most vulnerable children are not out of sight and that they continue to receive the support they need, even when they are not in school.’
The DfE responds to recommendations on how to solve teacher recruitment and retention
Teacher recruitment and retention has been an ongoing challenge for over a decade. Last summer, the Education Committee published a series of recommendations to the government in order to tackle the crisis. The government’s response was published this week.
In its report, the Education Committee urged the government to collect and publish more data on the retention of teachers by subject and by region, which would help to improve understanding of why particular subjects are experiencing higher attrition rates than others. The Department for Education (DfE) has agreed to explore publishing subject level leaver rates as part of the School Workforce Census in the future. The department explains that new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will facilitate networking, share best practice and bring together oversight of improvement programmes to support teachers to access training and opportunities to upskill, which will be especially useful in shortage subjects.
The Committee also asked the government to clearly define the parameters of schools’ and teachers’ responsibilities in order to clarify issues that are not within their remit. However, the DfE believes this would be unhelpful as ‘looking after the development and wellbeing of large numbers of children is inevitably complex.’ The government says that the Child Poverty Taskforce and reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision will help to alleviate workload pressures that extend beyond teaching.
The DfE has agreed to consider other measures that may help to improve teacher retention, including monitoring the flexible working programme and looking for opportunities to broaden the evidence base on flexible working. Additionally, the government will complete full evaluations of the Targeted Retention Incentive and Levelling Up Premium. As part of this, they will seek to determine whether teachers who receive these financial incentives go on to leave the profession once the payments stop.
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