FFT Education Datalab

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Who gets study leave in Year 11?

1 week ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Katie Beynon

Schools can grant leave to pupils for the purpose of studying for public exams. The guidance (pdf) states that study leave “should not be granted by default once tuition of the exam syllabus is complete and should be used sparingly”. A reader of the blog wondered how consistently this type of leave is being granted. So we thought we’d take a look using data from around 2,500 of our Aspire Attendance Tracker secondary schools, covering around 450 thousand Year 11 pupils.
Intersectionality and STEM subjects at Key Stage 5

3 weeks ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Natasha Plaister

A few months back, I wrote a piece about intersectionality and Key Stage 5 subject choice, and promised to write a series getting into different subject areas in more depth. That series is now upon us, and I’m starting with a look at STEM subjects. Lack of diversity in those studying STEM subjects is an issue that’s widely discussed – and we’ve touched on it in some of our posts on subject choice. But what we haven’t written about is how these areas interact with one another.
School absences, exclusions and crime amongst high-achieving children from disadvantaged backgrounds

1 month ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | John Jerrim

While not attending – or being excluded from – school is a problem for any pupil, it may be particularly concerning amongst young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who were excelling when they left primary school. These young people – despite being raised in challenging circumstances – developed a firm foundation from which one would hope they would flourish. The last thing they – and society – needs is for such potential to go to waste.
What happened to “opportunity areas”?

1 month ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Katie Beynon

In October 2016 the then Conservative Government announced that certain parts of the country were to be designated “opportunity areas”. These areas would share an extra £60m in funding, with their schools partnered with those in other parts of the country, and links developed with local businesses in the hope of raising children’s aspirations. There ended up being 12 of these, selected broadly by considering levels of social mobility, attainment and progress, and capacity to improve.
Understanding trends in the study of economics

1 month ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Natasha Plaister

Regular readers will know that here at Datalab we’re always interested in the subject choices that students make. So when the Bank of England approached us about putting together a report taking a deep dive into trends in the study of economics, we jumped at the chance. We looked at trends over the last ten years at GCSE, A-Level and first degree level, focusing in on the school and pupil characteristics that are most – and least – associated with studying economics.
Pupil absence in Autumn and Spring 2024/25

2 months ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Katie Beynon

When we last looked at absence at the end of Autumn Term, we found a slight improvement at secondary compared with the previous Autumn, and little to no change at primary. We did note though, that persistent absence among the youngest pupils, those in Reception and Year 1, seemed to have increased a little. Now that we’ve got data for the whole of Autumn and Spring Terms, we’re going to see whether these patterns held.
How did the gender gap in top GCSE grades change during the pandemic?

2 months ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Natasha Plaister

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that the pandemic brought some disruption to education. Aside from many other things, it led to the cancellation of public exams in 2020 and 2021, and grades being awarded through CAGs and TAGs respectively. And, of course, we saw an increase in top grades at GCSE in both years, as well as in 2022 when grade boundaries were adjusted to avoid too sharp a fall in grading.
The rise of teenage girls feeling unsafe at school

2 months ago | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | John Jerrim

All children have the right to education. They also have the right to feel safe at school. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in England – particularly amongst teenage girls. My new academic working paper out today uses data from the TIMSS study to track the emotional engagement of young people before and after the pandemic. It also investigates changes in their engagement between Year 5 and Year 9. The results are stark.
Pathways into low attainment at Key Stage 4

Mar 18, 2025 | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | Natasha Plaister |Pupil demographics

Here at Datalab, we’re nothing if not innovative.[1] And so when we heard about some recent work from researchers at the University of Glasgow that uses the new (to us) method of latent class analysis to explore links between attainment, exclusions and attendance in Scotland, we thought we’d see what insights it could offer us into low attaining Key Stage 4 pupils in England. Latent class analysis is a way of identifying groups of people with similar characteristics or behaviour.
Is attending a grammar school bad for your mental health?

Feb 5, 2025 | ffteducationdatalab.org.uk | John Jerrim

Research has shown pupils compare themselves academically to their school peers. For those in grammar schools, this will mean comparing themselves against a disproportionate number of high-achieving pupils. Studies from the US have suggested that this may increase the academic pressure on young people who – in such a high-achieving environment – feel they need to “be the best of the best”.