11th Sept 2025

What Teachers Told Us: Key Insights from the 2025 Up Learn School Survey

Every year, Up Learn surveys teachers and school leaders to better understand the realities of post-16 education in the UK. The findings paint a clear picture of the challenges schools are facing, and where innovative solutions are making the difference.

The Challenges Schools Are Up Against

Teachers told us that the pressures on education in 2025 are sharper than ever:

• The pandemic’s legacy remains: Nearly half of teachers (46%) said lockdowns continue to have an extremely negative impact on student learning, with the current GCSE cohort described as “COVID’s most-affected.”
  
• Mental health is a growing concern: 43% of teachers said the student mental health crisis is severely impacting learning, with absence and disengagement closely linked.
  
• Teacher shortages and budget cuts are biting harder: 42% reported budgets as a major obstacle to education (a rise of 7% on 2024), while staffing pressures are up more than 9% year-on-year.
  

These figures reveal a profession working tirelessly under difficult conditions – yet still committed to finding ways to deliver the best outcomes for young people.

Where Schools See Up Learn Making the Difference

Amid these challenges, teachers rated Up Learn as the top-performing platform across every major measure, compared to tutoring and other ed tech products:

• Improving student outcomes – 80% rated Up Learn good or excellent.
  
• Value for money – 70% rated us good or excellent, up from 63% in 2024.
  
• Content quality – 78% of teachers rated our content good or excellent (double the score of our closest competitor).
  
• SEND impact – Nearly three-quarters (72%) reported a positive or excellent impact on students with EHCPs or SEND needs.
  

Teachers consistently told us that Up Learn saves them time, reduces workload, and boosts student motivation – whether used for homework, revision, flipped learning, or cover.

“It’s like having an automated teaching assistant. I can assign effective homework in minutes and it’s automatically differentiated.”

Teacher, London Academy

What Teachers Want Next

We also asked teachers where Up Learn could go further. Their top requests included:

• Better intervention tools to flag struggling students faster.
  
• Shorter assignments to help students focus.
  
• Stronger comparative analytics to benchmark progress across schools.
  

The good news? These developments are already in progress. From September 2025, schools will see improved dashboards, enhanced assignment tools, and smarter AI-driven feedback to make tracking and intervention even easier. Check out our latest blog for more information on what’s improved and what to expect in the coming months.

Why This Matters for Schools

The 2025 survey shows that despite mounting pressures, there are scalable solutions that can genuinely lighten workloads and lift outcomes. Schools using Up Learn report:

• More confident, motivated students – especially those who have struggled with traditional learning.
  
• Reduced pressure on stretched teaching staff.
  

Better outcomes for disadvantaged and neurodiverse learners.

Want to Learn More?

• Download the detailed report today to understand how schools are using Up Learn, the value they see from it and how it compares with other ed tech tools across the sector.

• Book a free demo to see how Up Learn could work in your school.
  
• Explore our School Funding Guide to see how costs can be covered.
  
• Or learn more about onboarding and support in our Teacher Hub.
  

“It saved me hours of planning and intervention work. Every school should be using this.”

Teacher, 2025 Survey

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