Headteachers are calling on the government to end the “snobbery” of academic subjects over vocational and technical learning, and to introduce a curriculum that recognises the “distinctive importance” of the arts and sport.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) annual conference will today hear a speech from  general secretary Geoff Barton, who will also call for an accountability system that “judges our schools and colleges on what they do through collaboration rather than in competition”.

He will argue for an assessment system that uses “a range of measures, including robust, quality-assured teacher assessment rather than a reliance on an industrial level of exams”.

ASCL conference: We’re ‘absolutely’ keeping GCSEs, says Williamson

News briefing: What Gavin Williamson told heads today

News: Catch-up fund ‘only scratches surface’, says Williamson

In his speech to the online conference, Mr Barton will also reject the “reductive, deficiency-riddled terminology of ‘catch-up’”.

He will say: “It’s why we welcome Sir Kevan Collins’ immediate recognition that the extracurricular magic of the arts and sport will play their crucial part in recovery.

“It’s why we also believe that Ofsted’s commitment to a rich curriculum offer may be especially important in the months ahead, rather than pupils being endlessly targeted for extra maths or extra English.”

Comparing schools’ recovery from the pandemic to that after the second world war, Mr Barton is expected to say: “We’re not going back to the way things were”.

In an echo of Winston Churchill’s observation that headteachers have more power than the British prime minister, Mr Barton will tell his members: “I look you in this webcam eye and say this: ‘You have more power than you realise.’

“This pandemic has shown that - unlike after WW2 - we no longer look to our politicians to solve national problems. 

 “Ultimately, the people who have fed those children, who have reassured students about exams, who have moved rapidly to online ways of working, who have maintained a sense of calm authoritative leadership - that’s been you.”

Mr Barton will tell members to “stand by” for ASCL’s plan for a fairer education system, which will include calls for :

•            A curriculum that has broad political consensus and rejects the snobbery of academic, vocational, and technical compartments; which is subject to considered review once in each parliamentary cycle; which recognises the distinctive importance of the arts and sport in the development of future citizens.

•            An accountability system that judges schools and colleges on what they do through collaboration rather than in competition.

•            An assessment system at 16 which uses a range of measures, including robust, quality-assured teacher assessment rather than a reliance on an industrial level of exams.

•            A fundamental acknowledgement that what matters most is the quality of teachers and leaders, and that there are practical ways to recruit, retain and harness the talents of this workforce, reinventing teaching as the number one career of the 21st century - a time when the ability to learn and re-learn will be an essential passport to your future.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.