ESFA Update further education: 22 January 2025
Published 22 January 2025
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2025
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Action: Check your provisional 2023 to 2024 qualification achievement rates before the data query window closure on Friday 31 January 2025
Provisional qualification achievement rates (QARs) have now been released on view your education data (VYED). Here you will find:
- a QAR dashboard that uses your individualised learner record (ILR) data from the R14 return to show your rates
- a QAR data download to show your learner level information
On reviewing this provisional data, you will have until 5pm on Friday 31 January 2025 to inform us of any concerns about how we have implemented our published methodology.
You cannot request fixes or adjustments to your 2023 to 2024 ILR data.
Information: Guidance on procuring SEND education placements and services
The Department for Education (DfE) has published non-statutory guidance on procuring SEND education placements and services ahead of the Procurement Act 2023 coming into effect from 24 February 2025.
The guidance will help local authorities and education providers to understand how the Procurement Act 2023 interacts with the Children and Families Act 2014 and identify if educational settings are in or out of scope of the procurement legislation that applies from 24 February.
Additionally, the guidance will help local authorities, as the contracting authority, to decide:
- how to commission the provision of education placements and services for children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans and those who need alternative provision
- when the Procurement Act 2023 and associated regulations and guidance, might apply to such commissioning activity
Reminder: Building our evidence in our programmes to improve how we support Further Education teachers
DfE is keen to build evidence in its programmes to improve how it supports Further Education (FE) teachers.
We would be grateful if you could cascade this survey link to 16 to 19 FE teachers in your organisation. The survey will take no more than 5 minutes to complete.
Gathering this information will help us to learn more about how best we can support FE teachers in their careers by improving our programmes and support future work for the FE sector.
We are particularly keen to hear from teachers in the non-statutory sector. The survey closes on Friday 31 January.
Your feedback: Contracts and agreements redesign
Work is underway to redesign the user experience of digital contract and agreement information.
FE training providers are invited to join us for research sessions to explore the prototype. This is an opportunity to feedback directly to ESFA service designers.
Meetings will take place online using Microsoft Teams and will last up to 60 minutes.
Fill out this form to register your interest in taking part.