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3 April, 2025
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The Disengaged Teen: Understanding and Reigniting Pupil Engagement
Discover why teen disengagement in schools is rising and explore proven strategies to reignite pupil engagement, motivation, wellbeing and deeper learning.
Read more1. DfE sets out mental health, behaviour and attendance plans
Expansion of mental health support in schools announced alongside the launch of 90 attendance and behaviour hubs, writes Tes.
Mental health support teams will be expanded to cover almost a million more pupils by next year, the government has announced.
The DfE said it will invest £49 million to ensure that six in 10 pupils – incorporating an additional 900,000 children – will have access to a mental health support team by March 2026.
The rollout will be prioritised based on NHS identification of local need and reach the most vulnerable children first. According to DfE data, mental health support teams currently cover 54% of pupils.
The announcement follows on from Labour’s manifesto commitment to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.
Mental health support teams currently reach 59 per cent of secondary schools and 35 per cent of primaries, 31 per cent of special schools and 34 per cent of alternative provision settings, according to the latest 2024 figures.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that ”breaking the vicious cycle of poor mental health, low attendance and bad behaviour among children and young people is the most urgent one facing our schools”.
The government also announced that it is launching 90 attendance and behaviour hubs, along with new attendance and behaviour ambassadors.
These schools have a “track record of improving attendance and behaviour standards”, the DfE said, and will “directly target the schools with the highest need” alongside giving wider support. Around 500 schools with “weak attendance and poor behaviour” will be supported by the hubs.
Source: DfE sets out mental health, behaviour and attendance plans (Tes.com)
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Read more about the survey →2. EEF to fund AI lesson planning trial
Education Endowment Foundation study to assess whether AI tool can save teachers time while not compromising on quality, writes Schools Week.
Schools are being invited to take part in a new trial to assess whether AI-powered lesson planning can reduce teacher workload while also maintaining quality.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will fund a randomised-controlled trial (RCT) of Aila, the Oak National Academy’s AI lesson planning assistant.
Around 450 key stage two teachers from 86 primary schools are sought for the study.
Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. Some will be asked to use Aila for planning their lessons across all subjects. The others will continue with their usual lesson planning practices.
The trial, independently evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research, will measure teacher workload based on average time spent on planning over one term.
Meanwhile, lesson quality will be assessed by an independent panel, who will not be told if AI was used to create plans.
Emily Yeomans, co-CEO of the EEF, said “As interest in AI continues to grow, it’s vital that we continue to build a clear and rigorous evidence base to guide how it’s used in classrooms.”
The results will be published in autumn 2026. The evaluation will also look at how Aila was used in practice, through teacher surveys, interviews, case studies and usage data – identifying what “enables or hinders effective use”.
Source: Schools wanted for AI lesson planning trial (schoolsweek.co.uk)
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Read more about the survey →3. Funding crisis ‘could leave schools unable to open’
Leaders warn schools are in danger of reaching the point where cuts to staff mean that opening their gates poses health and safety risks, writes Tes.
The difficult funding outlook for schools is forcing leaders to put growth plans on hold, and some could even face the prospect of not being able to open their doors because of health and safety requirements.
Speaking at the Schools and Academies Show, Julia Harnden, funding specialist at ASCL, said some of what the union is hearing from members about the cuts they are having to make “really frightens me”.
Ms Harnden warned that the sector was heading towards a situation where one of the solutions to cost pressures – school trusts growing in size to allow for economies of scale – “has almost been taken away.”
This comes as schools are facing a teacher pay rise that is likely to be unfunded. The DfE has said schools have £400 million headroom in their budgets for next year, but admitted that this only amounts to covering a 1.3% pay award.
The government initially proposed a 2.8% teacher pay rise, and the teacher pay review body has reportedly recommended a rise of nearly 4% for 2025-26.
Ms Harnden said that “resilience is dwindling” in the sector and the uncertainty around things like pay for next year is “really dangerous”, hampering innovation and growth in the sector.
Teaching unions have repeatedly urged the government to announce more funding in the upcoming spending review.
Source: Funding crisis ‘could leave schools unable to open’ (Tes.com)
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