Schools are in “financial crisis” but the government now understands the problem, a heads’ leader told his members today.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT union, said that thanks to their campaigning, education secretary Damian Hinds now understands that schools are facing higher costs.
“Statistics and rhetoric cannot hide the real picture of a system in financial crisis,” he said.
However he told heads, at the union’s annual conference in Liverpool today, that they needed to work with the government to find a solution.
He said: “Thanks to you, parents and school leaders are speaking with one voice.
“Thanks to you, the government is listening. Today we heard the secretary of state say that he understands that the many demands placed on schools add up to higher costs.
“He also understands that you are paying out for more things than you used to. Pension and National Insurance contributions are adding to your running costs. I take the secretary of state at his word when he says he wants to work with us.”
In his speech earlier, Mr Hinds pledged to work with the NAHT to understand the pressures around high-needs funding ahead of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
‘Clarity about school standards’
High-needs funding is set to be a major issue at this weekend’s conference, with several motions calling on the union to lobby the government on the issue.
The education secretary also won warm applause this afternoon as he told heads that regional schools commissioner visits to schools, which feel like inspections, would stop.
Mr Hinds said that he trusted heads to do the job and wanted to simplify a confusing accountability system which sees schools measured against both floor targets and whether they are coasting. He is consulting on plans to replace these policies with one measure that will be used to decide which schools to target with support.
Mr Hinds has also said that only failing an Ofsted inspection will result in schools facing forced academisation.
Mr Whiteman told the NAHT that today’s announcements from the Department for Education demonstrated the power of seeking to persuade government.
He added: “We understand that we make the biggest difference by relentlessly working hard in the background.
“You need look no further than the announcements made today by the secretary of state to see that this is the right way to go about things.”
Mr Whiteman welcomed the plan to simplify the accountability system and stop regional schools commissioners visiting schools.
“Its absolutely right that there should only be one agency with the remit to inspect schools,” he said.
“Clarity about the standards that are expected is just what we’ve been calling for.
“Removing the coasting and floor standards will do much to address the confusion felt by many school leaders.”
He said it would be important that the new “support standard” was set at the right level and helped to direct rapid, high-quality, funded support to the schools that needed it most.
