DfE counts on a support staff pension saving to fund teachers' 3.5% pay rise
Lucy Powell's department says a 4.9-point cut in employer pension contributions for support staff will let schools cover teachers' 3.5% pay rise. NASUWT says the saving was already built into school budgets, so heads will have to find the money for the award elsewhere.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives70
- Confidence40
Ofsted downgrades cut first-choice applications to English primary schools by 11%
Economists at Sussex and Exeter found an Ofsted downgrade cut a school's first-choice applications by 11%, over twice the roughly 5% gain from an upgrade. With schools funded at about £5,000 a pupil, the grade puts money at stake, though the study found enrolment moved less than applications did.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
Ofqual found that 9% of teachers in England see senior leadership as primarily responsible for cyber security, while 46% name the IT team. The regulator says backups and response plans belong to leaders, a duty most staff assign elsewhere.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption55
- Hype gap+8
- Incentives35
- Confidence66
SEN support carries more than double the odds of suspension in 19,064 linked pupil records
Manchester's correlates are sharp about which pupils get suspended and quiet about sequence, because the survey answers and the suspension records come from the same academic year, which leaves belonging as plausibly a casualty as a cause.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+18
- Incentives55
- Confidence55
Eight suppliers, 53 bids, £300,000 each: Britain turned AI tutoring into a procurement line
Medly AI's $8m seed took the headlines. The government research contract running to 31 March 2027 is the document edtech product teams should actually read.
Reality
- Evidence42
- Adoption48
- Hype gap+34
- Incentives78
- Confidence36