Education secretary Gillian Keegan confirmed that the Schools Bill “will not progress” in the third session of Parliament when she appeared before MPs today.
Ms Keegan faced the Commons Education Select Committee this morning, after Tes revealed that the Schools Bill was expected to be axed today.
She also faced questions on the possibility of teacher strikes, the priorities of the Department for Education and the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
Here are the nine key points raised:
1. Schools Bill ‘will not progress’ but the DfE remains ‘committed to the objectives’
Ms Keegan confirmed that the Schools Bill will not be taken forward in this session of Parliament.
However, in front of MPs today, she added: “We do remain committed to the objectives and we will be prioritising some aspects of the bill to see what we can do.”
Ms Keegan added that “a lot of the Schools White Paper is being implemented” and that it “didn’t require legislation in many cases”.
Furthermore, she acknowledged that the government needed to “remove the barriers for faith schools trying to join multi-academy trusts” but said she “could not completely confirm” it was going to be legislated for.
2. DfE drawing up plans ‘to mitigate teacher strike action’
Ms Keegan said today that ministers and officials are holding “many conversations” with unions over possible industrial action.
Three education unions (teaching unions the NEU and the NASUWT, and school leaders’ union the NAHT) are balloting members over strike action, with voting set to close in January.
Following last week’s “disastrous” teacher training recruitment figures the unions, with TUC backing, wrote to members and urged them to “stand together” and vote for strike action.
Today, Ms Keegan stated: “We do not think it’s a good idea to strike.”
Referencing the pandemic, she said: “We know the impact that not having time in school has on young people.
“We very much would thank [teachers] for all their amazing efforts but continue to urge them to be in school where their children need them.”
Robin Walker, the new chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, said that during the pandemic lockdowns education settings for the “most vulnerable children” were kept “open”.
Mr Walker asked Ms Keegan if there were any plans “in the event of strikes to be able to support the most vulnerable in a similar way”.
Ms Keegan replied that “there is a lot of planning going on across government to mitigate the impact of harmful strike action” and “that is one of the factors we’re looking at”.
“We are planning to make sure that we have some mitigations in place,” she added.
Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary at the DfE, said the department was “working hard on the plans” but added that “we know that schools and teachers understand the impact on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children”.
“We have seen in the past schools go out of their way to try to make sure that even where strike action does take place many schools will work very hard to make sure that there is provision for children who would find it really difficult to be at home or would be ill-served by that,” she said.
3. DfE plans for teacher recruitment
Regarding the latest teacher training recruitment figures, which revealed that just 59 per cent of the trainee entrants needed to reach the DfE’s own target were recruited on to courses this year, committee member Ian Mearns asked if the department needed a “workforce plan”.
Ms Keegan replied that a “workforce plan” was an “essential part of running anything”.
She referred to the teacher recruitment and retention strategy which was published in 2019, and the increase in bursaries and levelling up premium payments.
Ms Keegan said the DfE had also partnered with sector and mental health experts to create the education staff wellbeing charter.
Mr Mearns said that the steps the department was taking sounded “very positive” but “in terms of numbers on the group, it’s not looking that positive” for recruitment and retention.
Ms Keegan said it was “fair to say” that the pandemic had created some “exceptional circumstances”.
“There is a very competitive market for labour at the moment so that’s affecting teaching as much as anything else,” she said.
“We’re investing right now to try and get ahead.”
On recruitment, Ms Keegan said she was “always keen to look at what more we can do”, adding that she had asked the department to look at a maths and physics teaching apprenticeship.
4. School attendance alliance ‘has not been discontinued’
Ms Keegan also said today that the attendance alliance, set up by former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi, had “not been discontinued”.
Last year the attendance alliance was launched involving leading figures across education, health and social care.
At the time, the DfE said the government was determined to address the wider underlying causes of children not being in school.
The education secretary said she is due to attend a session early next year.
On attendance, Ms Keegan said: “We are continuing to support local authorities with their non-statutory registers of children not in school.
“We do definitely remain committed to legislating for children not in the schools register.”
But she said she “cannot commit to dates and times”.
5. Response to SEND review due ‘very early’ in new year
On the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review, Ms Keegan said the government’s response would be published “very early” in the new year.
The government launched its SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper in March.
The DfE said at the time that, following a consultation, a “national SEND delivery plan” would be published “later this year”.
But last month it was revealed that the plan had been delayed until 2023.
6. Transgender guidance for schools expected early next year
When questioned about the expected landing date for the long-awaited transgender guidance for schools, Ms Keegan said she was not aware of an “absolute date” for publication.
However, she said a full public consultation is due next year and Ms Acland-Hood added that she expected a first draft of the document for consultation to be published in early 2023.
7. ‘Big dose of transparency’ needed over political issues
The education secretary called for a “big dose of transparency” with parents when teaching about contested political issues in schools.
Ms Keegan said that “common sense” is needed when it comes to sharing classroom materials and deciding what is “age appropriate”, insisting that parents should have full sight of what their children are being taught.
8. Keegan has ‘open mind’ on British Baccalaureate
Ms Keegan was also asked by the committee for her thoughts on the idea of the British Baccalaureate, which Rishi Sunak said he supported during his leadership campaign earlier this year.
The qualification would involve students studying English and maths up to the age of 18.
Ms Keegan said she had an open mind on the British Baccalaureate but “we need to figure out where we are as well”.
She said “we have two years possibly left” [of this Parliament] so “we need to be very pragmatic”.
9. Strep A: DfE ‘monitoring the situation’
Following the rise in cases of invasive group A strep in recent weeks, schools minister Nick Gibb said yesterday that pupils at schools with outbreaks could be given preventative antibiotics.
Today Ms Keegan told MPs that, while the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) was leading on the response, the DfE was monitoring the “worrying” situation.
Ms Keegan added it was important for all parents to be “vigilant”.
Ms Acland-Hood added that the DfE was sending out UKHSA advice to schools through daily bulletins.
