Summary of the DfE’s latest School and College Voice (SCV) omnibus survey

With topics from flexible working to supporting pupils with SEND, what did the school workforce have to say in the January 2026 SCV survey?

The DfE has been working with Verian to conduct a series of short surveys on school and college voice (SCV), where Verian invites a panel of teachers and leaders in schools and colleges to share their thoughts on a range of topics in education. The idea is to ‘collect robust evidence to help [the] DfE understand the perspectives of teachers and leaders. This allows the department to make more effective policy.’

The most recent publication is from a survey that ran between 22nd January and 16th February. There were over 4,000 respondents who were randomly selected using records from the School Workforce Census to complete the online survey. The participants included: 894 primary school leaders 1,044 secondary school leaders, 201 special school leaders, 670 primary school teachers, 678 secondary school teachers and 532 special school teachers.

Key findings

Flexile working

33% of teachers and 56% of leaders said their school had a flexible working policy (that applies to teachers). Only 44% teachers said they knew that they had a statutory right to request flexible working, but this is an increase on the 38% in November 2024.

• The most common types of flexible working teachers said they use included: working part-time (27%), having PPA (Planning, Preparation and Assessment) time offsite (23%), and occasional ad-hoc requests for time off/change of hours at their manger’s discretion (17%).
• When asked what type of flexible working arrangements teachers would request if able, PPA offsite was most popular (66%), followed by home/remote working as a formal part of their timetable or directed time (51%), occasional ad-hoc requests for time off/changed hours at manager’s discretion (50%) and then compressed hours (32%).
• 4% of teachers said their flexible working requests were denied.

Partnership between early years (EY) providers and schools

When primary teachers were asked about the main benefits of transition activities, the most common answers were: familiarising children with the school environment and staff to reduce anxiety (84%); aiding the transition for children with SEND, disadvantage or other additional needs (74%); and establishing relationships between school and home (53%).

• 1% of staff said they ‘didn’t think there were any benefits’ to transition activities.
• Additional resources primary leaders said would help them carry out more transition/school readiness activities included: staffing support (72%); input from outside agencies around SEND, vulnerable and disadvantaged children (60%); more engagement from parents (47%); more time specifically dedicated to transition activities (47%); and more engagement from the EY setting (26%)
• The most popular transition activities included: hosting visits for incoming pupils and in some cases with their key workers (80%), visiting EY settings (80%), holding formal transition meetings to discuss individual children (79), and hosting family engagement and information sharing activities (61%).

Pupils with financial barriers

Special school teachers and leaders are the most confident (compared with secondary and primary teachers and leaders) in supporting pupils with barriers to learning due to their financial situation, with 97% of teachers and 100% leaders identifying as fairly or very confident). Secondary schools, however had a wide gap between leader and teacher confidence (92% compared with 84%).

• To help improve confidence in supporting pupils, teachers most commonly cited needing more specialist support. 53% said they needed more external specialist support and 43% said they needed more internal support.
• Only 8% of teachers said they use advice or guidance for central government to support pupils facing financial barriers to learning.
• Both leaders and teachers reported lack of time and capacity as barriers for supporting pupils. Other issues cited by both, included a lack of local authority support/local services and having the right knowledge/skills.

Pupils with SEND

Of the teachers who agreed or strongly agreed they have sufficient knowledge and skills to support pupils with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), unsurprisingly SEND teachers led on this at 99%, with primary teachers next at 84%, and then secondary teachers at 82%. The percentages for primary and secondary teachers have increased since 2024 by 10% and 12% respectively.

• When asked what would most improve teachers’ personal confidence in supporting pupils with SEND, the most common areas across the three school types were: more knowledge about specific types of SEND (38% primary schools, 34% secondary schools, 30% special schools), being supported to try out different pedagogical strategies and adaptive teaching (33%, 35%  and 34% respectively) and  feedback from specialists (36%, 30% and 28% respectively).
• The most common barriers to supporting children with SEND across the three school types were: lack of funding (95% primary schools, 87% secondary schools and 76% special schools), staff supporting a large number of pupils with differing needs (86%, 77% and 43% respectively) and lack of access to external specialist services or professionals (70%, 74% and 64% respectively).
• The most common types of external specialists that schools needed support from included: speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and mental health services.

Reference

1. DfE (2026) ‘School and college voice: January 2026’. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2025-to-2026/school-and-college-voice-january-2026#expansion-of-free-school-meals (Accessed: 1st June 2026)