Top education news stories

1. GCSE results: Key trends from this year’s data

The proportion of grade 9s stayed exactly the same this year, while top grades in maths saw a rise, writes Schools Week.

The more notable movement came in maths, where both top and strong-pass rates rose meaningfully – 22.3% of entries hit grade 7 or above, up from 21.5% last year. English language saw a similar rise in strong passes, though the proportion hitting the very top grade slipped slightly. However, pass rates for both subjects continued declining, as entries surged.

The gender gap between girls and boys remained stable, holding at just under 5%, with boys posting a small year-on-year gain at the top end. Regionally, however, the gap between the highest and lowest-performing parts of the country increased again, to 10.9%, continuing a steady climb from 9.3% before the pandemic.

Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the sharpest improvement in top grades, while the South West saw the biggest dip. London remains the highest-performing region overall, and the North East – the lowest.

Source: GCSE results day 2026: 7 key trends from this year’s data (schoolsweek.co.uk)

2. DfE sets out £800m SEND teacher development contracts

The government’s spending plans could include the creation of national SEND CPD programmes, with contracts expected to be awarded to providers next year, writes Tes.

The government has said the training framework could include “multiple lots” to address different audiences, including teachers and leaders in both schools and further education, school teaching assistants and further education support staff.

It may include: the design and development of national SEND CPD programmes, training delivery, the design and development of learning resources and materials, and digital learning.

The government has also announced plans for wide-ranging SEND reforms aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive. Among these are an expectation that all secondary schools run an inclusion base, the creation of a three-tier system of support for pupils with SEND, an overhaul of EHCPs, and a plan for new national inclusion standards.

The DfE is also asking councils to recruit a bank of “experts at hand” to support schools, such as educational psychologists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.

Source: DfE sets out £800m SEND teacher development contracts (Tes.com)

3. Portfolios confirmed for Lucy Powell’s DfE ministerial team

New responsibilities include tackling antisemitism and the creation of free schools, writes Schools Week.

Paul Waugh, who replaced Olivia Bailey as early education minister, inherits his predecessor’s 22 areas, spanning early years, attendance, faith schools, independent schools, and AI in education. Meanwhile, skills minister Jacqui Smith’s brief stays largely unchanged, though support for 16-19 year-old NEETs has been made a standalone responsibility, reflecting the government’s sharpened focus on rising NEET figures.

The reshuffle signals where ministerial attention is being directed as the new administration beds in, with antisemitism, SEND provision, and free schools all gaining more explicit prominence.

Source: Portfolios confirmed for Lucy Powell’s DfE ministerial team (schoolsweek.co.uk)

4. Belonging at school linked to a full GCSE grade difference, DfE study finds

Study finds girls, disadvantaged students and children with SEND report lower levels of school belonging. Published by the DfE.

The report’s authors describe this as a “profound shift” in a pupil’s academic profile, equivalent to dropping roughly a full GCSE grade across all eight subjects.

The research also showed who feels least connected to their school. Girls reported lower belonging than boys – 58% against 66%. Pupils eligible for FSM and those with SEND also report weaker belonging than their peers, though these differences were less statistically significant. By ethnicity, White pupils reported the lowest sense of belonging, significantly below both Asian and Black pupils. On bullying specifically, pupils with SEND stood out as facing the highest rates, way above average.

Interestingly, when researchers used a broader six-item composite measure of belonging (blending loneliness, peer relationships and feeling like an outsider), the link to attainment disappeared entirely. The authors argue this is because the composite measure conflates belonging with bullying-adjacent experiences, muddying a signal that comes through far more clearly when pupils are simply asked whether they feel they belong.

Source: School belonging and attainment at key stage 4 (gov.uk)

5. A-level results 2026: 2.1% rise in A* grades

Regional and gender gaps widen in England, writes Schools Week.

The gap between the best and worst-performing regions has also widened to 9.6%.

London continues to have the best results, with 32.7% of grades at an A or above, up 0.6%. Meanwhile, the East Midlands now shares the bottom spot with the North East, following a 0.7% drop in top grades to 23.1%.

Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of ASCL, noted that while the year-on-year results were largely consistent, “this also means that very significant disparities continue to exist between the English regions in terms of top grades.

“These results are clearly affected by relative levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and reflect the structural inequalities that exist in our nation. Every year we say that we cannot go on like this and that as a society we must do more to support communities that often feel abandoned and neglected. When will we actually do that?”

However, he also noted that the results were a “culmination of a great deal of hard work, and everybody involved deserves enormous credit for their commitment.

Source: A-level results 2026: 2.1% rise in A* grades (schoolsweek.co.uk)