Information for senior leaders

What the DfE education record app is

The DfE education record app allows pupils to access their education information in a digital education record. An education record contains:

  • pupil name, date of birth and address
  • schools they have attended
  • official exam results for qualifications like GCSEs
  • support needs

The education record will be issued to year 11 pupils. The app can make application to and enrolment at sixth form, college or a training provider quicker and easier. It allows them to share information digitally rather than on paper.

The school's role

As a school, your role is to vouch for the identity of pupils and to issue education records to pupils. You will be able to do this online using issue education records (opens in new tab).

You will need to select members of staff to vouch for the identity of pupils. The members of staff must be familiar with the pupil they are vouching for and be able to recognise them.

You can group pupils to make vouching for their identities more manageable, for example into tutor groups.

What you will need

You will need to create DfE sign-in accounts (opens in new tab) for the staff members issuing education records and give them permission to access the service to issue education records. Staff members are only able to access services you give them permission to access.

To participate, you will need:

  • a device for the members of staff who will be issuing education records
  • temporary WiFi connection for pupils – we have found that some schools have poor mobile signal reception or pupils don't have very much mobile data in their phone contracts
  • pupils to have mobile phones with them on the day that you're issuing education records
  • pupils to have the DfE education record app downloaded

Download DfE education record app on Apple App Store (opens in new tab)

Download DfE education record app on Google Play Store (opens in new tab)

For the purpose of giving pupils access to their education record, there is a known exemption to the guidance to reduce mobile phone usage in schools. Pupils will only need access to their phone for a short period of time.

How to prepare for the education record roll out in your school

  1. Inform staff of the education record rollout. Other schools that have implemented issuing have assigned a senior leader to take ownership of the issuing setup process.
  2. Identify the pupils in year 11 who are going to get their education record. This should be all year 11 pupils who are not excluded.
  3. Identify staff members who can vouch for pupil identities - this must be a member of staff who is familiar with the pupil they are vouching for and can recognise them on sight. Class tutors or other teaching staff vouched in most cases during the pilot, but this can also be members of staff who can have access to a photo of your pupils – for example on your pupil management information system.
  4. Set up DfE sign-in accounts (opens in new tab) for staff who will be vouching for pupil identities.
  5. Ask any parents or guardians that want to opt-out to confirm that their child won't receive their education record.
  6. Inform pupils that have opted in that they must download the app to get their education record.
  7. Group pupils into how you wish to organise vouching, for example by tutor groups (this step is optional). Setting up tutor groups typically took school data administrators about 10 to 20 minutes during the pilot using VLOOKUP in Excel and similar techniques.
  8. Confirm dates for vouching and communicate the date to pupils and staff.

Things to consider before issuing

If a pupil doesn't appear in your pupil list

The pupil list for your school is based on the census data. If a pupil has joined the school recently, they may not appear on your list.

You can add a missing pupil using their unique pupil number (UPN), surname and date of birth. This will only work for pupils who have moved to your school from a school in England.

Two-thirds of our pilot schools simply issued the education records during class registration periods. It took about 30 seconds per pupil and allowed pupils to talk about the app as it was issued.

During previous pilots most pilot schools simply issued the education records during class registration periods. It took about 30 seconds per pupil and allowed pupils to talk about the app as it was issued.

Another school set up a large hall, gave each pupil an allocated time to attend the hall and receive their education record. This did work very well but was slightly less time efficient.

Another pilot school suggested a good opportunity to issue the education record would be during careers classes when pupils learn about applying for college.

Technical considerations

The app only works on newer mobile phones. It works on Android from version 10 and on iOS from version 15.