In this feature
- October’s findings widen the conversation about belonging
- The difference between the offer and the experience
- The 2026 framework gives leaders a useful structure
- Adult expectations belong in the conversation
- Map the learning, practice and support
October’s findings widen the conversation about belonging
DfE’s school belonging research, published on 16 October, examines practice in 16 mainstream schools: eight primary and eight secondary. It describes belonging as something embedded in culture, relationships and daily experience. This is qualitative research into selected schools, rather than a trial of an intervention or a sixth-form-specific study. Its practical challenge is nevertheless relevant to post-16 leaders: what makes a young person feel recognised and able to participate?[1]
In our fuller analysis of attendance, severe absence and belonging, we examined why a national headline cannot explain the experience of pupils who are becoming disconnected. We also argued that belonging cannot be purchased as an isolated initiative. That remains the starting point here.
The same question matters in a sixth form, where students are preparing for greater independence, making consequential choices and finding their place in a new cohort. This article applies October’s findings to that experience. The research remains the evidence being examined; no later policy change is implied.
The difference between the offer and the experience
A sixth form can offer tutorials, careers advice, clubs and pastoral support while students experience those opportunities very differently. One learner may volunteer readily, know which adult to approach and feel confident challenging an assumption. Another may attend every scheduled activity while remaining unsure how to express a concern or choose a direction that differs from friends’ expectations.
Leaders need to understand those differences. Asking what students can do with the learning reveals more than counting the activities available. Where do they practise respectful disagreement? Where can they think through an uncertain decision? What happens if an activity raises a worry? The answers connect the timetable with the people and relationships around it.
The school’s response also needs room for different starting points. A student who contributes little in a group may understand an idea well and need another way to express it. A learner who speaks confidently may still find it difficult to seek help. Participation deserves closer attention than visibility.
The 2026 framework gives leaders a useful structure
DfE’s non-statutory enrichment framework, published in June, covers schools and colleges, including school sixth forms and other post-16 settings. It connects the purpose of an offer with access, learner voice and review. July’s 2026/27 study programme guidance also places confidence, wider skills and progression within non-qualification activity; T Levels have separate arrangements. These are the current planning context, rather than new November requirements.[2][3]
A sixth-form team can connect each learning need with an opportunity to practise, the staff support available and a point for review. This makes gaps and duplication easier to see. It also helps leaders decide whether to adapt a tutorial sequence, draw on external expertise or improve the handover between teaching and pastoral colleagues.
Our earlier reporting on post-16 participation supplies another part of the picture: enrolment alone does not settle engagement or the barriers a young person faces. A provision map should therefore include who can use an opportunity, alongside what it intends to teach.
Adult expectations belong in the conversation
Will Phillips, founder of Life by Will and The Reset Schools Programme, describes the influence of peers, social media and adults in his founder Q&A. Adults may want a young person to succeed while steering them towards a future that does not feel like their own. Encouragement can become pressure when the student’s ambitions receive too little attention.[4]
That observation gives the policy discussion a personal dimension. A student may need the words and space to explain a choice to somebody important to them. Schools can examine whether personal development and careers conversations allow students to explore their reasoning before they feel obliged to announce a settled plan.
The Reset provides four teacher-supervised sessions on self-awareness, confidence, relationships and decisions. Schools can examine the materials against a learning need they have identified. Will’s emphasis on reflection, with adults available when it becomes personal, focuses attention on the support around the teaching.[4]
Map the learning, practice and support
Choose one cohort and two or three priorities that students and staff can describe. For each priority, identify where the idea is taught, where students practise it and whom they can approach afterwards. Add any access or communication adjustments, then name who will review the experience. This is a suggested School Connection planning method; it should be scaled to the setting.
For example, a priority around communicating a difficult decision might connect a tutorial on respectful language, a fictional practice scenario and a known route into pastoral support. The resulting map could expose an excellent lesson with little opportunity to revisit it, or strong support whose access route students do not understand. Either finding gives leaders something concrete to improve.
An additional resource should make a clear contribution to that offer and the learner’s experience. The next feature on confidence and online comparison examines what students can practise when they feel pressure to choose the future other people appear to expect.
Continue the School Connection conversation
Read the fuller background.
Explore the earlier analysis. Each article links back to the relevant feature in this programme.
Severe absence and belonging
Understand the wider institutional picture. A personal development programme should not be presented as an attendance intervention.
The post-16 participation gap
Keep barriers to participation and transition in view when planning provision for students aged 16 to 18.
Evidence you can follow
Sources, attribution and scope
Sources reviewed 8 November 2026. Dates and evidence periods are noted below. Official guidance concerns England unless specified. Will’s contributions come from his supplied briefing; suggested methods and fictional scenarios are School Connection’s analysis.
DfE: School belonging case studies research: summary
Published 16 October 2026. Qualitative research across eight primary and eight secondary schools; not a causal evaluation or a post-16-specific study.
DfE: The enrichment framework for schools and colleges
Published 15 June 2026. Non-statutory England guidance covering school sixth forms and specified post-16 settings.
DfE: 16 to 19 study programmes guidance, 2026 to 2027
Updated 24 July 2026. Current study-programme context; T Levels have separate arrangements.
Will Phillips: supplied November 2026 briefing and founder Q&A
Will’s observations and programme facts come from the supplied editorial briefing. The link opens the public programme page; the planning map is School Connection’s suggested method.
Your next school conversation
Explore the fit for your sixth form.
Bring your cohort, learning priorities and timetable to a conversation with Will. Review the materials and support arrangements before deciding.