England’s schools are prioritising social issues such as sexism, misogyny and mental health over concerns about curriculum standards, the Children’s Commissioner said in a report published Monday.
The 110-page review, compiled by Dame Rachel de Souza, found teachers in secondary schools were “almost twice as worried about misogyny and sexism as [they were about] curriculum.” It also said staff ranked online safety and the availability of child and adolescent mental health services among their top four concerns.
Dame de Souza attempted to contact every school in England as part of the survey; roughly 90 percent responded. The report states that 81 percent of teachers in secondary schools believe a lack of funding for social services is a barrier to pupil achievement, and that “more secondary schools are worried about the funding of wider services than they are about their own funding.”
Attendance emerged as the single biggest concern among secondary schools, the report said, citing a figure of 39,000 children who are not in school and receiving no education. Dame de Souza wrote that fixing the attendance crisis is “the single biggest issue facing the government,” adding that more than one in 10 young people are consistently not in education, employment or training.
The findings come against a backdrop of wider indicators of strain: the report notes that more than a third of pupils fail to achieve a GCSE pass in English and mathematics, fewer than two-thirds of children say they enjoy school, nearly one million children were referred to mental health services, 95,000 youngsters had a parent in prison and 164,000 grow up in temporary housing.
The review highlights differences between primary and secondary schools. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services was a top-four concern for 70 percent of primary schools and 78 percent of secondary schools. Online safety and issues outside the school gate were repeatedly cited when respondents listed their primary worries.
Dame de Souza, who was appointed Children’s Commissioner in March 2021, said she would set out the findings at a conference on Monday and described the report as a “blueprint” for the next wave of education reform. The report recommends closer coordination between schools and wider local services to tackle barriers that affect pupils’ ability to learn, including housing instability, parental imprisonment and limited access to mental health care.
School leaders’ attention to social issues reflects years of pressures on local services, the report said, and suggests that many educators see those pressures as directly affecting educational outcomes. The review’s method relied on responses from headteachers and school leaders across England, providing a snapshot of priorities at a time when policymakers are debating how to balance curriculum reform with wider child welfare and safeguarding needs.
The Children’s Commissioner urged the government to treat attendance, mental health provision and external service funding as urgent priorities, saying addressing those areas is both a moral and economic imperative. The report’s authors call for policy responses that align education reforms with improvements in local social services to give schools the support they need to focus on teaching and learning.