FFT Education Datalab

Our latest newsletter is now out! Get the latest on attendance and exclusions, and catch up on our analysis of last year's exam results. 📖 Read it here: vist.ly/5pmr3 ✏️ Sign up to receive future editions here: vist.ly/5pmr4

NEW: How many students resit English and maths? An update We look at how many and how often students who have not achieved grade 4 or higher in GCSE English and maths resit those subjects up to age 19. vist.ly/5pfuk

Should all government statistics look like the Department for Education’s? analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/blog/chartin...

FFT Attendance Tracker is now updated with the latest school and national weekly attendance data up to Friday 18 September 2026. 📊 View your school's attendance 🔍 🔗 vist.ly/5jcw2 #attendancematters #education

NEW: Languages were less harshly graded at GCSE this year, but there is still some way to go GCSEs in modern foreign languages have historically been severely graded. We look to see if anything has changed with the introduction of new specifications. vist.ly/5jhb7

NEW: Exclusions and suspensions in 2025/26 An update to our regular series using attendance data to gauge the rate of exclusion and suspension in the whole of the 2025/26 academic year. vist.ly/5imk5

There's still time to sign up for our free results day webinar! We'll be going beyond the headline figures to bring you exclusive insights into what this summer's exam results really tell us - and what they mean for the year ahead. 📅10 September, 4pm vist.ly/5hmx2

📊 Subject value added figures are live in #FFTAspire for schools that uploaded KS4 results by 21 Aug Progress 8 also now live, based on 1,530 schools. Missed the deadline? Upload by 3pm, 11 Sept to still get your figures! #KS4Results

If you missed it, here's what stood out in our analysis of this summer's #GCSEResults. 📈 • Top grades up 0.1pt to 23.1% • The gender gap narrows for a fifth year • Re-take entries up 6–7%, but grade 4 passes fall 🔗 Read the full analysis: vist.ly/5g7is

Don't miss this #resultsday post from our colleague Prof Pete Urwin. GCSE results: did you miss grade four in maths, English or both? Here’s what you need to know theconversation.com/gcse-results...

It's #GCSEresults day! And our analysis of the main trends is out. - Grades remain broadly stable - The gender gap in grading has fallen again - Entries are up in statistics, business studies and media studies - Retake entries are up but grades remain low ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2026/08/gcse...

Our #KS4 #EarlyResultsService is open! Upload GCSE & vocational results by 10am tomorrow to count towards the 2026 FFT national picture. 📊 Join our KS4 Results Webinar on Fri 21 Aug at 11am, to see how your school compares nationally: 🔗 vist.ly/5fcrw #FFTAspire

NEW: GCSE and Level 1/2 results 2026: The main trends in grades and entries Our round up of everything you need to know about the 2026 results. ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2026/08/gcse...

Join us for our free results day webinar! We’ll talk you through all of our results day analysis along with exclusive insights from the @fftedu.bsky.social Early Results Service. 📅10 September, 4pm vist.ly/5f8j9

Congratulations to everyone collecting KS5 results today! 🎉 Over 700 schools have already joined our KS5 Early Results Service to see how they compare nationally. 🔗 Not signed up? Send by 3pm tomorrow (Fri 14th): vist.ly/5eny2 #FFTAspire #EarlyResultsService #KS5

Some of the headlines on #Alevelresults day are focused on the increase in top grades... but in England the increase in the proportion achieving an A*-A is just 0.1 percentage points compared to last year. vist.ly/5epe7

A reminder that 'technical' education in the modern economy is not going to be about reindustrialization as much as about services and management.

Almost 20,000 T-level results were awarded this year, an increase of 65% on last year. Education and early years was the most popular pathway followed by health, then management and adminstration. Read more: ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2026/08/a-le... #resultsday

This #ALevelresultsday entries are up in political studies, law and economics. Economics is now the fifth most popular A-Level subject behind maths, psychology, biology and chemistry. Read more: ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2026/08/a-le...

Our analysis of the 2026 Level 3 results is live now. Stable headline figures conceal a widening divide. Almost a third of entries in London were awarded an A or A*, compared with under a quarter in the North East and the East Midlands epi.org.uk/publications...

NEW: A-Level, T-Level and other Level 3 results 2026: The main trends in grades and entries Our round up of everything you need to know about the 2026 results. vist.ly/5em9w

NEW: Five things to look out for on results day for A-Levels, T-Levels and other Level 3 qualifications Our usual round-up of everything we'll be looking out for on results day 2026. vist.ly/5e7q4

NEW: Pupil absence in the 2025/26 academic year Using the latest data from FFT Attendance Tracker, we look at attendance across the 2025/26 academic year, including increased rates of absence in the lead-up to the summer holidays vist.ly/5d4q9

1 in 3 white disadvantaged pupils leave primary school without reading fluently enough for secondary school. 📖 @fftedudatalab.bsky.social.bsky.social findings, covered by @theguardian.com, back the call for reading fluency as a national priority. 🔗 Read the full article: vist.ly/5ac7s

How much school did pupils miss during last week's heatwave? 🌡️ Data from ~10,000 schools shows missed sessions jumped to 16.5% at primary and 23.6% at secondary - with a peak on Friday. 👉 vist.ly/59xg2 #SchoolAttendance #Heatwave

FFT Regional Attendance Tracker is updated with the latest national & regional attendance. 📊 View the latest data here 👇 vist.ly/5a8by #attendance #attendancematters #education

Third of disadvantaged white pupils in England leave primary school without being able to read properly

NEW: The reading fluency of White working class pupils The Inquiry into White working class educational outcomes recommended making reading fluency at primary school a national priority for this group. Here we analyse current fluency levels. vist.ly/5a6zx

New article: Experimental education research: rethinking why, how, and when to use random assignment Out today (even though it’s Saturday): doi.org/10.1080/1380... With @drsamsims.bsky.social @mjinglis.bsky.social @benweidmann.bsky.social @benstyles.bsky.social & Hugues Lortie-Forgues

FFT Attendance Tracker is now updated with the latest school and national weekly attendance data up to Friday 26 June 2026. View your school's attendance: 🔍👇 https://signin.fft.org.uk/Account/Login #attendancematters #education

NEW: Pupil absence during the heatwave We look at look much school pupils missed during last week's heatwave, and how much of it was due to school closures. vist.ly/59jd9

FFT Regional Attendance Tracker is updated with the latest national & regional attendance. 📊 View the latest data here 👇 vist.ly/59fdq #attendance #attendancematters #education

FFT Attendance Tracker is now updated with the latest school and national weekly attendance data up to Friday 19 June 2026. View your school's attendance. 🔍 👇 vist.ly/58vqd #attendancematters #education

NEW: The links between disadvantage and the achievement grade in school inspection Recent Ofsted analysis showed that achievement grades in inspection were related to the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. We dig into this a bit more in our latest post. vist.ly/58zbp

NEW: Halving the disadvantage gap Quantifying the level of challenge in the Government's twin ambitions of raising Key Stage 4 attainment overall and halving the disadvantage gap. vist.ly/58uug

NEW: Key Stage 2 attainment, lifetime absence and context We look at the relationship between KS2 attainment and absence over (almost) the whole of primary school but also show the importance of considering context when interpreting attainment data alongside absence data. 🔗 vist.ly/57wa5

Our latest newsletter is now out! Get the latest on the impact of exclusions, SEND magnets, MATs and more. 📖 Read it here: vist.ly/57874 ✏️ Sign up to receive future editions here: vist.ly/57876

NEW: Primary school teachers matter for learning, but may have little impact on attendance - with John Jerrim Findings from @nuffieldfoundation.org funded research show strong teacher effects on grades in maths and reading at primary, but not attendance. ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2026/06/prim...

The latest edition of our half-termly newsletter will come out next week! 🔗 Sign up now to receive your copy ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/newsletter/

WEBINAR: Using distance as an Instrumental Variable in LEO to analyse post-16 transitions of disadvantaged young people - with Prof Peter Urwin 📅 10:00-13:00 Wed 24th June 2026 🌏 Face-to-face event, 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS. Register here: vist.ly/54v8v

NEW: Intersectionality and modern foreign languages at Key Stage 5 We look at the number of students studying modern foreign languages at A-Level by gender, ethnicity and disadvantage. vist.ly/55r4g

🚨🚨🚨New journal article just published! Focuses on the strong differences in educational outcomes for children in care between local authority areas and how this relates to how many schools resist the admission of children in care... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

WEBINAR: Using distance as an Instrumental Variable in LEO to analyse post-16 transitions of disadvantaged young people - with Prof Peter Urwin 📅 10:00-13:00 Wednesday, 24th June 2026 🌏 Face-to-face event, 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS. Register here: vist.ly/54v8v

🎓📊 New update to the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset! Iteration 2.1 extends labour market data to 2023–24 and introduces derived variables for free school meals & special educational needs. Learn more from our ADR-UK blog by Claire Crawford: www.adruk.org/news-publica...

NEW: When is it too late? What exclusions tell us about classroom disruption - with Veruska Oppedisiano A summary of some new research examining how the timing of excluding disruptive pupils affects the outcomes of peers at the same school. vist.ly/54nx4

FFT Attendance Tracker is now updated with the latest school and national weekly attendance data up to Friday 8 May 2026. View your school's attendance. 🔍 👇 vist.ly/53vz8 #attendancematters #education

Iteration 2.1 of the LEO dataset (which brings together education and employment/earnings data in England) is now available and earnings and benefits data are now available up until 2023/24 (up to age 37 for the oldest cohort). Find out more and get access details here: www.gov.uk/government/p...

FFT Regional Attendance Tracker is updated with the latest national & regional attendance. 📊 View the latest data here 👇 vist.ly/53rxs #attendance #attendancematters #education

Two types of free school meal eligibility from now on: Targeted and Expanded

📣 UPDATE: Schools Like Yours has now been updated with the latest KS2/KS4, attendance and Ofsted data. Our free Schools Like Yours tool is designed to help you benchmark your school against a group of similar schools, where you get to choose how similar is defined. vist.ly/4i9mj