Next week, we are told, the long-awaited Comprehensive Spending Review will be revealed.

Don’t be deceived by the language, though: a Comprehensive Spending Review isn’t actually about spending. It’s about values. It’s where a government sets out what it thinks actually matters and what, by omission, does not.

As such, after so much bluster about so much world-beating stuff, we’ll get to see what they really think about education.

And in the process, we’ll get an insight into just how far the Department for Education is actually that - a department that is for education.

We’ll see how they’ve fared in the sordid macho battle that the various governmental departments have to engage in to make their case to the Treasury for greater investment over the coming years.

The reality of teaching right now

It comes against a backdrop of unnervingly high numbers of Covid cases among young people, challenges for many schools and colleges to maintain sufficient staff to cover all classes, a faltering 12-15 vaccination programme and the toxic antics of some of those anti-vaccination protesters.

No wonder the staff in our education institutions feel so abandoned, and why next week’s spending announcements will demonstrate the government’s actual - as opposed to rhetorical - commitment to the nation’s young people and the people who educate them.

As I said this time last week, I hope no one assumes it’s business as usual in our schools and colleges. Because it most assuredly is not. As one senior leader said to me this week:

“I am on my knees. We currently have over 100 confirmed cases at our school. That’s an eighth of our children. We don’t normally have a problem with staff attendance. But today I taught up to 100 children at once in the school hall. I had to do this three times. My headteacher did the same for the other three lessons.  

“We cannot go on like this. Where else in society are hundreds of unvaccinated people in such close contact with each other for such sustained periods of time?”

Three simple suggestions

These concerns will not be solved overnight by the CSR. So, what can the government do to offer actual support in these fraught times? Here are three modest proposals:

1. Suspend the collection and publication of KS4 performance data

How on earth in such circumstances can league tables fairly depict the performance of secondary schools? The government’s decision not to publish performance tables at key stage 2 must surely be replicated at KS4.

The continued uneven impact of the pandemic makes any attempt to compare the performance of schools meaningless and counterproductive.

2. Rethink the timing of information about exams

Given the extent of the current disruption, delaying the publication of advance information on exams until 7 February looks far too late, and the government must invoke its stated flexibility for this information to be released earlier.

One secondary leader I spoke to yesterday told me that 20 per cent of her Year 11 students - already nervous about next year’s examinations - are out of school as a result of testing positive.

The more the education of these students in exam years is disrupted, the stronger the argument becomes to release information about their exams as soon as possible.

3. Stop adding to leaders’ workload

The labyrinthine complexity and rigid criteria around the National Tutoring Programme is preventing many schools from properly engaging with what should be a bold and welcome educational initiative. But staff weariness and illness is making recruitment of home-grown tutors even harder.

So it was particularly irritating this week that the Department for Education required schools to include information about their use of the school-led tutoring grant in a form designed chiefly to show pupil attendance. It feels like a lack of trust in leaders’ decisions, and micromanagement from the DfE.

The above are just some handy starter ideas.

A hearty thank you

That’s before we get to the question of whether routine inspection of schools is in any way appropriate in times that are anything but regular; or the need for CO2 monitors to be matched by the funding to address any necessary ventilation changes; or providing the reimbursement of spiralling supply cover costs to schools and colleges.

That’s what the Department for Education could be doing. And then there’s you.

For many (but not all) readers, there’s hopefully a half-term break to be had. My goodness, you’ve earned it.

What you have achieved since term began has been nothing short of magnificent. But I know such commitment and resilience comes at a personal cost in terms of your own sense of wellbeing.

That’s why - if you do have some time off planned in the week or so ahead - I hope you’ll take it, to spend time with family and friends, to leave behind some of the relentless pressures you’ve endured.

And although there is a backdrop of societal snarkiness that means you might not feel appreciated, many of us on the sidelines see precisely that what you do goes way beyond any narrow metrics of “catch-up”, performance tables and inspection outcomes.

What you do each day is rooted in a deeper commitment to the future of our children and young people. It’s quite a role and quite a legacy.

As the great Greek statesman Pericles said: “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others”.

Your pupils, students and communities are lucky to have you, weaving your extraordinary sense of public service into other people’s lives in extraordinary times. If anything speaks of values rather than costs, it’s you.

Geoff Barton is general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders