Schools with cohorts that are not representative of their local communities should be scrutinised and banned from expanding, a new report into the “lost learning crisis” has stated.
The study, from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and education charity The Difference, said children lost 11.5 million days’ worth of learning in the autumn term of 2023.
This is a huge rise on the 6.8 million days lost in the same term in 2019, as suspensions, exclusions and children leaving mainstream schools to be home educated has soared post-Covid.
For every child permanently excluded, 10 other children experience an “invisible” move that isn’t recorded in national data, the report found.
This includes “managed moves” – informal agreements between schools and families – as well as the illegal practice of off-rolling.
One third of these children go to an “unknown destination” – meaning government has “no idea where or whether they are still being schooled”.
“To turn the tide of lost learning, the education system must evolve,” the report added.
‘This is the new frontier in education’
Researchers have produced 10 policy solutions to reform the system (see full list below).
They include banning “unrepresentative” schools from expanding, Ofsted inspecting how schools monitor lost learning and including future employment and earnings data of pupils in performance measures.
They were drawn up with the help of the “lost learning solutions council”, which included sector leaders such as Sir Dan Moynihan, CEO of Harris Federation, the government’s inclusion tsar Tom Rees and Confederation of School Trusts leader Leora Cruddas.
The report was also based on workshops with more than 100 school, council and community sector staff.
Kiran Gill, CEO of The Difference, said: “Our education system is failing the children who need it most. Despite school leaders’ efforts, the system works against them. The consequences — rising mental health issues, youth violence, and risks to national growth — should concern us all.
“This is the new frontier in education. Without more children in front of their teachers, we cannot raise attainment, improve employment, or give more children the safe, healthy childhood they deserve. It is in everyone’s interest to find solutions to the crisis of lost learning.”
The 10 Lost Learning policy recommendations
1. A ‘measurable’ definition of inclusion
The report defines whole-school inclusion as “all staff supporting the learning, wellbeing and safety needs of all children, so that they belong, achieve and thrive”.
It recommends all schools adopt four principles to achieve this: that inclusion is “built from the universal up”, that it is led from the top, involves “community collaboration” and that it is measurable.
On the latter, the report said inclusion can be measured by “understanding the wellbeing, safety and belonging of children” and by the amount of “lost learning” (which also includes managed moves, internal isolation and truancy).
Schools should “seek to make progress against these measurements”.
2. Make ‘least representative’ schools accountable
The report said the DfE’s regional teams should examine schools’ intakes, identify those that are least representative of their local community, then hold them to account by asking them to “account for their admissions policies and practices”.
“The least representative schools and trusts should not be allowed to expand and should no longer be held up as exemplars of good practice,” it said.
The report does not provide a methodology on how to identify such schools. However it points to the Education Policy Institute’s benchmarking tool.
It urged councils, trusts and schools to take steps to address a lack of representation, rather than waiting for national policy action.
An example given was Brighton council, which has introduced new admissions meaning the year 7 intake for all secondaries will have at least the citywide average of children eligible for free school meals.
3. Include employment and earnings data in league tables
“Now is the time for bold reform to the accountability system,” the report said, with a fairer system “to hold high aspirations for all their pupils”.
It proposed reforming headline measures by introducing multi-year averages, to reduce the pressure of single-year results, for progress and attainment 8.
It also recommended reviewing qualification weightings, and considering adding subjects such as arts and technology to the core subject areas included in headline measures.
Meanwhile, performance measures should also consider long-term data on child outcomes, such as employment, earnings, and incarceration.
Additional metrics should also be developed to “recognise the extra lengths schools go to in order to help vulnerable pupils succeed”.
4. £850m for ‘whole-school inclusion’
Government should provide £850 million of additional funding for whole-school inclusion over the next five years, the report said.
The fund would help schools intervene earlier and prevent some SEN cases from “escalating” to become education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
“We need a system that channels resources towards universal systems of support for all children,” the report added, “rather than being locked behind legislative thresholds.”
Modelling commissioned for the study, by Alma Economics, claimed nearly 100,000 children per year could have their needs met more quickly by their local mainstream school if government properly funded inclusion.
The modelling suggested investing in universal and targeted support would cost around £170 million a year, or £850 million over five years.
But this investment “would pay for itself within five years by reducing the need for 35,000 EHCPs”, researchers said, because needs will have been met effectively already.
The report added £77 million of funding could upskill 90,000 teaching assistants – one in every five – to “more effectively” support children with additional needs. This would also include a £1,500 pay increase for each specialist TA.
5. Inclusion experts in every school
“Professional development for leaders on inclusion has not kept pace with other domains of professional development,” the report said.
“Schools, trusts and local authorities should prioritise professional development which leads to measurable improvements in inclusion, increased belonging and reduced lost learning.”
It said the DfE’s review of its professional development offer for teachers and school staff “should include a strong focus on inclusion, including evidence on child development, trusted adult relationships, and improving social, emotional, and speech and language skills”.
6. New premium to fund more teachers in poorest schools
The ongoing recruitment and retention crisis is affecting schools in disadvantaged communities hardest, the report said.
“As a result, the pupils who most stand to benefit from the relationships, personalised care and trust that come from ‘continuity of care’ are in fact those who experience the highest levels of churn.”
The report cited modelling from EPI that reversing real-terms pupil premium cuts, and introducing a new “persistently disadvantaged” premium would cost £640 million a year – which is below the expected savings from falling pupil numbers.
Researchers suggested using this funding to deliver two additional teachers in the 25 per cent most deprived primaries, and four in the most deprived secondaries.
7. Add family working skills to NPQs
The report urged the DfE to help educate schools on working with families and local communities, and to include this area of practice in its suite of professional qualifications.
“Schools have the extraordinary power to uplift and empower their local communities,” said the report, while evidence shows building a “holistic picture of children and their families” is key to boosting behaviour and attendance and supporting SEN.
Yet relationships with schools have become “fractured”, which the report said is being worsened by the use of penalty notices.
Nearly 400,000 fines were issued to parents in 2022-23.
Headteachers’ standards specify leaders should forge constructive relationships beyond the school. But Teacher Tapp polling found half (55 per cent) of teachers had never received training on how to communicate with parents.
8. National plan to ‘radically improve’ mental health support access
The government should publish a plan to “radically improve” access to children’s mental health and speech and language support, says the report.
Forty thousand children are waiting over two years for mental health support, according to 2024 NHS England figures, while 6,000 children are waiting longer than a year for speech and language therapy.
Early intervention services have been slashed by half since 2010, and the number of school nurses has dropped by a third since 2009.
“Improving support for children requires both dedicated resources and a sustained commitment across services,” it said.
A “shared outcomes framework” should be developed between health, local government and education with a “concrete plan” to reduce waits by the end of 2025.
An inter-ministerial group, chaired by the education secretary, should monitor progress.
Renewed investment in these services is also “essential” for the government to meet its goal of 75 per cent of children reaching a good level of development by age five.
9. Ofsted to check schools monitor pupil belonging and lost learning
Schools, trusts and government currently collect only “limited and patchy” data on inclusion, and are often “flying blind”, the report said.
For instance, school leaders said exclusion figures alone “hide the full story”, as “less visible” practices such as off-site direction, managed moves or internal inclusion are not published.
It said schools and trusts should improve data collection across all types of lost learning “to get a full picture of the scale of challenges faced by their pupils and identify the windows for early intervention”.
Ofsted should also “focus on how schools use data to identify and respond to pupils’ needs, particularly those most at risk of losing learning”.
Inspectors would check how schools “assess belonging, safety and wellbeing” of pupils, and how they respond to lost learning escalations.
10. All pupils movements should be equally accountable
The report said that for every excluded pupil, 10 more are “moved around the school system” by more “hidden” practices, such as managed moves.
Researchers said the DfE should introduce legislation that provides oversight of pupil movements off-site and off-roll.
“When responsibility for a child changes hands, this creates gaps in oversight and safeguarding, which can have serious consequences for vulnerable children,” it said.
Repeated movements had been found to increase vulnerability and a child’s “sense of…separation from community”.
It welcomed the DfE’s steps in the children’s wellbeing and schools bill to address this, but urged government to “go further yet” by “introducing an amendment that requires oversight of all pupil movements off site and off roll”.
For instance, requiring schools to report such moves to DfE, as they do with suspensions. Or giving councils powers to oversee all moves.
