27 February, 2026

Top education news stories

Explore this week’s news roundup to uncover the key challenges and priorities for schools across the country.

6 min read

1. White paper: £1.6bn for mainstream inclusion, £1.8bn for external support

Mainstream schools will get a share of £1.6 billion over three years to boost inclusion, while another £1.8 billion fund aims to provide better access to external support, writes Schools Week.

The DfE has set out how it will spend around £4 billion over three years on its reforms.

Ministers have made increasing inclusion in mainstream schools a central pillar of their proposed reforms.

Last week, they announced plans for a new “inclusive mainstream fund” of £1.6 billion over three years. It will be paid directly to schools, early years providers and colleges to run targeted and small group interventions at the “earliest signs” of additional needs.

This would equate to “thousands of pounds extra every year on top of existing core SEND funding” for schools.

The government has said it will also fund a new “experts at hand” service, with £1.8 billion over three years to create a bank of specialists like SEND teachers and speech and language therapists in each area that schools could then draw on for support.

The support would extend to all pupils, not just those with an EHCP.

Special and AP schools will get cash to provide training as well as direct interventions and short-term placements in their schools. Officials predict the offer will result in the average secondary school receiving over 160 days of dedicated specialist time each year.

Source: White paper: £1.6bn for mainstream inclusion, £1.8bn for external support (schoolsweek.co.uk)

2. What the DfE schools White Paper 2026 means for school trusts

At 118 pages, it sets out a ten-year vision for the education system in England. It spans curriculum, SEND, attendance, disadvantage funding, the workforce, accountability, governance, and local partnerships. Read more here.

Last Monday, the DfE released the schools White Paper, “Every child achieving and thriving“, outlining the government’s 10-year vision for the education sector.

For trust leaders, the most significant announcement is the move toward a fully trust-led system, with the government expecting all schools to join or form “high-quality school trusts, including new trusts established by local authorities or area partnerships.”

To balance this expansion, the government will introduce a more “nuanced” and demanding accountability framework with independent trust-level inspections by Ofsted. These will evaluate the efficacy of central leadership and the support provided to individual schools.

New “Trust Standards” will be established to measure performance in areas such as academic standards, value for money, and, crucially, community collaboration.

In addition to structural changes, trust leaders should also note the government’s plan to reform disadvantage funding by moving away from binary Free School Meals eligibility toward a more nuanced model that reflects the “length and depth” of a child’s deprivation.

This includes the potential use of household income data to drive funding to schools where needs are greatest. To support this, the government is launching a “Call to Action” for the sector, inviting high-performing leaders to innovate on system-wide challenges like the transition to Key Stage 3 and removing barriers to enrichment for vulnerable pupils.

Source: Every Child Achieving and Thriving: A rapid summary for trust leaders (home.edurio.com)

3. 3 in 5 people see teaching as ‘unappealing’

Just 6% of respondents view teaching as a ‘very appealing’ job, YouGov survey suggests, writes Tes.

More than three-fifths of people view teaching as an “unappealing” career option, a YouGov survey of over 6600 respondents across the UK has found.

This polling comes as Labour hopes to add 6500 secondary and special-school teachers to the workforce by the end of this Parliament, as set out in the White Paper.

62% of the survey’s respondents indicated the profession was not appealing to them, with nearly one in three (30%) saying it was “very unappealing”.

30% of respondents then said that teaching was “fairly appealing”, and only 6% said it was a “very appealing” career path, with male respondents leaning slightly more positive.

Interestingly, respondents 18-24 and over 65 provided the most positive responses, with 34% indicating they saw teaching as “fairly” or “very” appealing as a profession.

The White Paper said that the key themes of the government’s recruitment drive would be to “optimise” routes into teaching, improve teaching experiences and expand “career-long development” opportunities.

It also said the government has seen good initial progress with over 2300 more teachers across secondary and specialist schools in the 2024/25 academic year.

Source: 3 in 5 people see teaching as ‘unappealing’ (Tes.com)