The next government must map out and recognise where schools are facing hidden and long-term poverty, according to a manifesto published today by sector leaders.
Schools North East makes a series of recommendations for ministers taking office after this week’s general election.
It warns that teacher recruitment and retention and school funding have been pressing concerns for schools in the region, and calls for the next government to listen to a broader range of voices.
Here are the key points from its manifesto published today:
1. Recognise effects of long-term poverty
Schools North East (SNE) says the government must map hidden poverty to highlight schools working in rural or isolated areas where access to services, transport links and other opportunities are sparse.
It also says that it is vital the Department for Education and Ofsted recognise and define long-term deprivation. SNE calls for long-term deprivation to be a feature in school performance and league tables.
SNE warns that the current measures for disadvantage fail to identify where schools are managing long-term deprivation “and the more complex challenges this presents”.
The network of school leaders also says that current school performance measures fail to take account of disadvantage in the North East, leading to “economic and geographic factors mistakenly being presented as educational ones”.
2. Curriculum needs more room for creative and vocational subjects
The manifesto says the curriculum should “develop more than just academic skills, with room for creative and vocational subjects, serving the needs of pupils and not performance tables”.
It adds that adequate funding is needed to ensure that the region’s schools can provide a minimum “curriculum guarantee” so all pupils have access to the same educational experiences “to raise aspirations and build cultural capital”. The manifesto says that “a broad and balanced education should be a right”.
3. Workforce strategy and recruitment marketing campaign
SNE says the next government needs a workforce strategy to recruit school staff at all levels - including leaders, teachers, teaching assistants and support staff.
The manifesto warns that failures to hit recruitment targets are not evenly distributed, even within defined regional areas such as the North East. In a survey carried out in the spring, more than 60 per cent of North East schools said they were struggling to recruit permanent staff.
The manifesto adds that recruitment of quality teaching assistants has been a key concern, and this has impacted on the provision that schools can offer pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
SNE also says a “sustained marketing campaign is needed to raise the status of working in schools and to emphasise the benefits and impact all school staff have on students”.
4. SEND support should be ‘envy of the world’
The government should aim to make the support received by pupils with SEND “the envy of the world”.
SNE also says that inclusivity must be central to reform of the SEND system, ensuring that students can remain in mainstream settings, with alternative provision (AP) schools used for short-term support where needed and sufficient special school places being made available.
The manifesto adds that to promote greater inclusivity in mainstream schools, staff need to receive “high-quality training and sustained CPD to match the needs of students”. It says that too few staff have real experience of working in SEND and AP settings.
5. Funding from outside DfE should be used to support schools
The manifesto warns that, when multi-agency work takes place to support children and young people, schools are often treated as a lead agency.
It says that if this expectation is continued, funding and resources must reach the place where support is being delivered. It adds that non-education department budgets should be used to support the work that schools do that crosses-over with the work of other departments, such as the NHS.
6. Listen to a broader range of voices when developing policy
The SNE manifesto claims that “too often” the DfE has engaged with a limited range of stakeholders that “don’t reflect the reality at the chalkface”.
It calls on the next government to listen to a broader range of regional voices, and says North East school staff should be used to “inform the education policy debate and ensure effective delivery of reforms”.
It also calls on the DfE to commit to closer engagement with Schools North East as a matter of routine, to receive feedback from schools across the region.
7. Depoliticise education
The SNE manifesto says there is a need to depoliticise education.
“The constant chopping and changing of education policy has taken teachers and support staff away from the classroom and exacerbated the recruitment and retention crisis”, it says.
The manifesto adds that future governments must avoid “loading diverse, unconnected agendas on to schools”. Instead it says policymakers must “focus on establishing basic foundations, giving school staff the space and flexibility to support their children and young people”.
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