The next government must urgently address a number of “systemic crises” in education, a school leaders’ union has warned after prime minister Rishi Sunak announced a summer general election.
The NAHT said that the school system faces crises in teacher recruitment and retention, the condition of school buildings and support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
“Each of these crises will need urgent attention, new thinking and a strong commitment to find effective solutions,” it said in its newly published general election manifesto.
“There is also no escaping the fact that part of the solution to these crises will involve additional investment. The well-documented funding crisis facing schools has not gone away.”
School staff unions and other sector bodies have set out what they would like to see from the next government as election campaigning kicks off.
Teacher recruitment and retention
The NAHT said the next government should “as a minimum” commit to restoring teacher pay to 2010 levels in real terms.
It has also called for a reformed national pay structure, a review of the Early Career Framework, the scrapping of tuition fees for teacher training courses and the introduction of a requirement for every teacher in a state school to have qualified teacher status.
The union would also like to see measures to cut teacher and leader workload, the end of one-word Ofsted judgements, and initiatives the remove barriers to diversity in the profession.
The Confederation of School Trusts (CST), the sector body for academy trusts, has called on political parties to set out plans for a number of priority areas, including “an evidenced-led strategy for the whole of the schools’ workforce, including the recruitment and retention of teachers and a plan to address shortage subjects”.
The body has also called for politicians to develop plans for “proportionate and intelligent frameworks of public accountability, inspection and regulation”.
Reacting to the announcement about the general election, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, highlighted the issue of teacher recruitment and pay.
He said: “Teachers are underpaid and overworked, resulting in the worst recruitment and retention crisis in a generation.
“That will not be reversed unless there is significant change to the pay and terms and conditions of the education workforce.”
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) launched its election manifesto last year. It called for a commitment to an annual uplift in the pay of all school and college staff that keeps pace with inflation and addresses “the decade of real-terms pay cuts”.
The union also called for a review of the teacher and leader pay framework, and meaningful action to reduce workload. ASCL said this should include national standards for maximum working hours.
School buildings
The NAHT’s manifesto, published today, said the next government should commit to restoring all school buildings to at least ”‘satisfactory” condition as soon as possible, as well setting out an urgent school rebuilding programme.
It added that sustainability and accessibility need to be a big part of school rebuilding and refurbishment.
A report from the National Audit Office last year estimated that 700,000 pupils were being taught in buildings in need of major repair.
The Department for Education’s current School Rebuilding Programme involves 513 schools, including more than 100 affected by the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) crisis.
SEND support
The CST said there must be plans for “wider public services reform to alleviate the crisis of vulnerable children” - including support for SEND, mental health and tackling youth violence.
The trust body has previously proposed a new funding system to ensure that a national funding formula covers the operating costs of all schools, including special and alternative provision settings.
The NAHT wants the next government to rebuild the support services that sit around school and early years, and ensure that all pupils have access to mental health support.
The union is also pushing for a review of SEND funding and place-planning.
Additionally, it has called for high-needs budget deficits to be written off and for an analysis of need to be carried out to determine what sufficient funding for SEND would look like.
Earlier this year education secretary Gillian Keegan admitted that the SEND system was “not working well for anybody”, and a senior DfE official has revealed that the government is considering changing the way special schools funding is worked out.
School funding
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said: “The country is crying out for a new administration prepared to tackle the crises in our schools and other public services.
“The last 14 years have failed to deliver the investment in our schools and colleges that children deserve.”
Writing for Tes today, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the ASCL, said the next government must recognise the crisis in the education system and invest to fix it, including investment to end child poverty.
“Staff shortages, parental complaints, challenges over attendance and behaviour, a special educational needs and disability system on the brink of collapse and exhausting workloads are taking a terrible toll,” he said.
“And looming large behind all this is the pincer-like grip of rising costs and inadequate funding. Across the country, at this very moment, schools are setting deficit budgets and planning cost-cutting programmes - on top of the costs they’ve already cut.”
In its statement reaction to the general election announcement, the CST said the school system is currently “fragile”, and called for fairer per-pupil funding that is sufficient and includes weighting for disadvantage.
The general election will take place on 4 July 2024.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “Before 2010, under Labour, England’s schools fell down international rankings.
“Under the Conservatives, nine in 10 of schools are now Good or Outstanding, up from fewer than seven in 10 in 2010, and we now have the best readers in the Western world.”
A Liberal Democrat Party spokesperson said: “Our policy to increase school and college funding per pupil above the rate of inflation every year is testimony to our commitment to improving children’s education and supporting teachers.
“We look forward to publishing our manifesto shortly setting out how we’ll ensure that every child gets the support and attention they need at school, so they leave with the skills, confidence and resilience to be happy and successful.”
Labour were contacted for comment.
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