The levelling up White Paper unveiled this afternoon by Michael Gove - the former education secretary and now levelling up secretary - includes a series of proposals that could affect schools and teachers.
Here is everything you need to know:
New UK National Academy to be created
The government wants to set up a new UK National Academy as part of its “levelling up” plans.
The White Paper says: “Developed jointly with schools and experts, and taught by a diverse range of expert teachers, it will be made available online to support the work of schools. It will be entirely free and used at the choice of headteachers, teachers and parents.”
The government said it will allow students to acquire additional advanced knowledge and skills on a timetable that works for them - ensuring that even more opportunities are available for every child to thrive.
The White Paper says different methods of teaching and delivery of subjects will be trialled, compared, refined and improved with student and teacher feedback as well as rigorous evaluation to determine its effectiveness at driving improvement.
Speaking about the new UK National Academy in the Commons today, Mr Gove said: “We are making available to every school student in the country high-quality online teaching so geography is no barrier to opportunity.”
Tes understands that the process for setting up the organisation that will run the academy, and a decision on whether the existing Oak National Academy will be involved, has not yet been finalised.
New Education Investment Areas
The levelling up White Paper includes the creation of 55 Education Investment Areas - 95 per cent of which are outside of London or the South East.
The areas identified have been chosen for extra intervention based on the test and exam scores at key stage 2 and GCSE in the three years before the Covid pandemic. The government describes them as “cold spots”.
The areas include the existing 12 Opportunity Areas that were created by former education secretary Justine Greening.
The full list of Education Investment Areas can be found here.
More schools moved into MATs
The government has announced a series of interventions for schools inside the 55 Education Investment Areas.
For example, the Department for Education has said that schools that are rated as less than “good” - either “requires improvement” or “inadequate” - in successive Ofsted inspections could be moved into multi-academy trusts.
The DfE has said a consultation on this will be launched in the spring.
Currently, an Ofsted judgement of “inadequate” triggers a DfE academy order.
But the government’s new plans could further raise the stakes of Ofsted inspections in the areas affected.
Similar plans were set out last year by former education secretary Gavin Williamson, who said he wanted schools rated as “requires improvement” by Ofsted in three consecutive inspections to be turned into academies.
Teacher retention payments
The government has also said that retention payments will be given to help schools with supply challenges in these areas and to hold onto teachers in high-priority subjects.
The government confirmed that these payments were the same policy as the levelling up premium that was announced by prime minister Boris Johnson last year.
Mr Johnson told the Conservative Party conference that payments worth £3,000 would be created to send the “best maths and science teachers” to schools where they were needed most.
Plan for new specialist sixth form schools
The new Education Investment Areas will also be prioritised as the location for new specialist sixth form free schools.
The DfE said this would be done in places “where there is limited provision to ensure talented children from disadvantaged backgrounds have access to the highest standard of education this country offers”.
New national targets to ensure 9 in 10 pupils reach expected standard in Sats
The White Paper sets a new national target of ensuring that 90 per cent of children leaving primary school in England are reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and maths by 2030.
In 2019, around two-thirds (65 per cent) of pupils met all three standards, with the proportion substantially varying across the country, the government has said.
But the DfE’s decision to describe this as “a national mission to eradicate illiteracy and innumeracy” has been criticised by Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.
Mr Barton said: “These children are not illiterate or innumerate and it is somewhat insulting to describe them as such. They just fall below the expected standard at primary school against a specific set of tests.”
Extra ‘support’ for schools on attendance
The government said schools in the Education Investment Areas will also be given support to address wider issues.
In a press statement it added: “For instance, schools struggling with attendance will be encouraged to join a new pilot programme to tackle the issue.”
The White Paper published today also says: “More intensive investment will be available across some Education Investment Areas to tackle wider issues that may be limiting school improvement.”
