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https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2018/01/10/education-in-the-media-wednesday-10-january-2018/

Education in the media: Wednesday 10 January 2018

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Curriculum, Exams and qualifications, Literacy, School places, School spending, Universities

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Today’s blog looks at rising education standards across the education sector.

Education standards

Here are some key facts and achievements:

  • There are 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010 and 87 per cent of schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, up by 21 percentage points since 2010. In addition, the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their more affluent peers has shrunk by 7 per cent at GCSE and 10.5 per cent at KS2 since 2011.
  • We have introduced a new more rigorous curriculum to ensure young people are completing programmes that provide them with gold standard qualifications to compete with the best in the world. These include:
    • Improvements to English, ensuring that all pupils will be taught to read fluently through systematic synthetic phonics. This is paying dividends, with over 80 per cent passing the phonics screening check in 2017, and the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study showing that our primary school pupils are among the best in the world for reading standards. This year, 154,000 more 6 year olds are on track to become fluent readers than in 2012 thanks to the introduction of systematic synthetic phonics.
    • Improvements in mathematics, where we have introduced and continue to expand the maths mastery programme to give more pupils access to world class teaching from primary school to age 18. In 2017 we recorded the highest percentage of people studying mathematics post-16, and it is now the most popular A level.
  • We have introduced a fairer funding system backed by additional investment of £1.3million. It will mean an increase in the basic amount that every school will get per pupil– a minimum of £3,500 per primary school pupil, and £4,800 per secondary school pupil – and protected funding for those with additional needs, so schools and teachers can continue to raise standards.
  • We are making it easier for more people to go university – recent UCAS data shows university application and entry rates for English 18 year olds have increased in every year since 2012 and that disadvantaged 18 year olds are 43 per cent more likely to go to university than in 2009.
  • We are ensuring universities are delivering for students – we have created a new regulator, the Office for Students, to hold universities to account for teaching quality and student outcomes through the Teaching Excellence Framework.
  • For the first time ever, we will provide financial support to part-time 0equivalent to the support we give to full-time students and we will introduce full-time equivalent maintenance loans in 2018/19, opening up new opportunities by studying part-time.

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