The Department for Education (DfE) has released its report on the school snapshot survey (external link) conducted last summer. The survey comprised 758 interviews with school leaders and 1,040 interviews with classroom teachers. The aim was to uncover respondents’ views on several topics affecting the education sector today and to find out how their school has responded to changes in the sector. Respondents covered a wealth of issues in their responses, including: the curriculum; teacher workload, retention and recruitment; student support provision; and careers.
Amongst the findings, the report covers some of the steps schools have taken to reduce teacher workload, which includes updating policies (92%) and altering how marking is carried out (93%). Furthermore, the survey revealed the extent to which schools are meeting pupils’ basic needs, with 83% of secondary schools providing “free sanitary products” and over half raising concerns that some pupils in their school do not have access to a nutritious diet in the school holidays.