13 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. Education estates strategy to replace CIF and create surplus land framework

DfE says new process for repairs to standalone academies and small trusts will not require ‘full bids’, writes Schools Week.

The DfE will introduce a new programme by autumn 2028 to replace the condition improvement fund, which was placed under review by the Labour government in 2024, “to make it easier for eligible responsible bodies to access this maintenance funding so they will no longer need to submit full bids”.

The department has also published its 10-year education estates strategy, which also sets out an “ambition” for all secondary schools in England to have “inclusion bases” where “pupils can access targeted support that bridges the gap between mainstream and specialist provision”.

The DfE said the strategy represents a “shift to more proactive management, long-term strategic maintenance and renewal that prioritises condition need, risk and resilience alongside delivering high-quality new buildings where they are needed”.

The strategy also set out plans to improve data collection and sharing between responsible bodies – trusts and councils – and the DfE, with the “managing your education estate” database set be launched this month.

This will “bring together estates related guidance, tools, support, programmes, funding and data in one place” in an accessible format.

Furthermore, in April 2026, the government will release new technical standards guides to help schools and councils collect data and will ask them to make an annual return from autumn 2026 on how they are meeting the expectations of the government’s school estate management standards.

Additionally, DfE will start to test ways this data can be collected in 2026/27, with national rollout expected by autumn 2027. Data sharing between the government and schools will then be launched by 2028.

Source: Education estates strategy to replace CIF and create surplus land framework (schoolsweek.co.uk)

2. NFER: Behaviour a major factor in teacher retention

Increasing time spent dealing with misbehaviour, too much time spent on lesson planning, and a lack of leadership support are key factors in teachers deciding to quit, writes SecEd.

The new paper published by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) reveals that teachers who are well supported to deal with disruptive behaviour are less likely to quit the profession.

Teacher retention continues to be a major challenge for schools, with DfE figures showing that 114,000 teachers have quit the chalkface for reasons other than retirement in the last three years – including more than 37,000 in the 2023/24 academic year.

The NFER researchers found that teachers who report good pupil behaviour in their school and who say they are well supported to deal with “persistently disruptive behaviour” are less likely to walk away.

However, it warns that the perception teachers – and school leaders for that matter – have of behaviour in their schools has “worsened considerably” in the last five years. For example, in 2025, 59% of teachers said that they spent “too much time” dealing with behaviour incidents, up from 50% in 2022.

It continues: “Teachers saying they spend too much time on pupil behaviour is significantly associated with lower job satisfaction … teachers saying they spend too much time on lesson planning and pastoral support is also associated with lower job satisfaction, compared to teachers who say the amount of time they spend is ‘about right’.”

When it comes to lesson planning, the picture is more nuanced, with teachers who spend too much time on lesson preparation more likely to quit, but also those who spend too little time.

The report adds: “Getting the balance right is strongly influenced by school policies and support from leaders and managers. Leaders should think carefully about what is expected of school staff with respect to planning, while also providing access to shared schemes of work and promoting opportunities for collaborative planning.”

Source: Study reveals the secrets to keeping teachers teaching (sec-ed.co.uk)

3. Schools spend 100 hours a week managing phones

New research shows policing students’ use of phones is a ‘big strain’ on staff, whether the school has a strict policy on devices or not, new research shows, writes Tes.

The University of Birmingham study shows that schools with “restrictive” pupil mobile phone policies spent an average of 102 hours a week implementing rules and applying behaviour sanctions.

Meanwhile, schools with more “permissive” rules around phones reported spending an average of 108 hours on managing phone use, including the recording of incidents related to phones.

The research has been published after the government strengthened its guidance on phone use in schools last month.

The study involved 20 secondary schools matched by key characteristics; 13 had restrictive phone policies, while seven had more permissive policies.

Schools classified as having more permissive policies were those where, for example, phones were allowed out at breaktimes. Restrictive approaches did not allow phone use for the entire school day or on the premises at all.

Researchers also looked at any potential links with better student mental wellbeing at schools that had stricter phone policies.

However, they found no significant difference in measures such as worry, sadness and optimism for Year 8 and Year 10 students, when comparing schools with more permissive and more restrictive mobile phone rules.

The researchers also said restrictive phone policies save schools some money, as a result of less staff time being spent managing devices: the stricter policies were estimated to cost, on average, £94 per pupil a year less than permissive policies.

Source: Schools spend 100 hours a week managing phones (Tes.com)