The next government should protect school leaders from burnout by agreeing a national standard on maximum working hours, according to the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).
ASCL also calls for guaranteed minimum leave periods for leaders in its ”manifesto for the 2024 general election”, published today.
Here are five other ways the union wants the next government to “rebuild” the education system:
ASCL ‘election manifesto’: key demands
Set up an independent curriculum body to advise the prime minister
ASCL calls for the creation of an independent curriculum and assessment review body, similar to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which makes recommendations on pay and conditions.
ASCL says this body should be tasked with “considering the learning we need to prioritise in our schools and colleges, what long-term changes may be needed to the curriculum, and how learning should be assessed”.
It should provide advice to the prime minister and education secretary on all curriculum- and assessment-related matters, the union believes.
Provide clarity on multi-academy trust ambitions
The manifesto says an incoming government should “provide clarity on the status of the current ambition that all schools should be part of multi-academy trusts”.
It calls for a review of “mechanisms which compel schools down this route in a blunt way, particularly the power for [Department for Education] regional directors to issue any school with two consecutive Ofsted judgements of less than ‘good’ with an academy order”.
The role and remit of regional directors and their teams should also be reviewed “to focus this more closely on providing and promoting tailored support to help schools develop, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of serving leaders”, ASCL says.
Carry out Ofsted reform
ASCL reiterates previous calls for graded Ofsted judgements to be replaced with a narrative description of the school or college’s strengths and weaknesses, with “light-touch annual audits” on safeguarding.
School and college performance tables should be replaced with an “accountability dashboard” or “balanced scorecard” - an idea that Labour is already planning to look at if it wins the election.
Increase school staff pay to ‘compensate’ for the lack of flexible working
The union wants all staff to receive an annual pay uplift that “addresses the decade-long erosion of their real-terms pay and at least keeps pace with inflation”.
Pay uplifts should also “compensate for the inability of schools to fully compete with other employers when it comes to flexible working opportunities”, ASCL says.
The manifesto calls on the government to consider ways in which teacher class contact time could be reduced, to cut workload and boost professional development.
The manifesto also says a sliding scale of student loan repayment arrangements should be introduced for all teachers and leaders, with loans waived for those in certain shortage subjects, and lessened for those in hard-to-recruit areas, and those who stay in the profession.
It calls for schools and colleges to be provided with three-year funding settlements to enable them to plan and spend their budgets with more confidence.
Extend pupil premium and free school meals
The manifesto calls for action to reduce the widening disadvantage gap by extending pupil premium funding to support disadvantaged 16- to 19-year-olds and introducing a new automatic enrolment system for children who qualify for free school meals.
The manifesto concludes that “the political, economic and health challenges of the last few years have taken a major toll on our children and young people.”
It states: “Schools and colleges are at the frontline of dealing with the fallout, doing their best to provide the education and support their pupils need with dwindling resources and significant impact on the health and wellbeing of their staff. This must change. We cannot continue to run our education system, and the people within it, into the ground.
“We urge all parties to commit to rebuilding the education system, and to implementing the proposals set out in this document. ASCL will do everything in its power to support the incoming government to enact the changes we so urgently need.”
