Education

Schools shake-up: the four key areas in leaked Tory proposals


Behaviour and exclusions

One of the four cornerstones of Boris Johnson’s package of changes is a three-year drive to improve behaviour in schools across England. The bare bones of this policy were sketched out by the previous education secretary, Damian Hinds, in his address to the Conservative party conference last year, but here the tone has shifted significantly, particularly with the inclusion of the phrase “use of reasonable force”.

Advice for headteachers, staff and governing bodies on legitimate use of reasonable force already exists, but it is a phrase rarely used in the context of mainstream schools and will be seen as a significant reinforcement of headteachers’ authority.

An excerpt on behaviour from the briefing document



An excerpt on behaviour from the briefing document. Photograph: Screengrab

The schools watchdog, Ofsted, has long warned about the detrimental effect of poor pupil behaviour on standards and attainment, and discipline is a favourite among politicians as it plays well with voters. Schools such as the Michaela community school in Wembley, north-west London, which last week celebrated its first set of GCSE results, have impressed ministers with their strict codes of discipline.

Exclusions graphic
Exclusions by ethnicity graphic

But the backdrop to the new behaviour policy is mounting disquiet about the effect of strict disciplinary codes on exclusion rates, and the impact of authoritarian behaviour regimes on vulnerable children.

With the number of permanent exclusions the highest in nearly a decade, the leaked document is right to anticipate what it calls “potential tensions” surrounding its changes on behaviour. It suggests further discussions in coming weeks about the tone and substance of exclusions policy “so we can consider stakeholder handling more fully”.


Academies and free schools

The academies and free schools policy, which seems to have been adrift in recent months, would be given a significant shot in the arm under the proposals.

If teachers and parents were unclear about the government’s direction of travel after a U-turn by the then education secretary, Nicky Morgan, over plans to force all schools to become academies in 2016, the leaked document signals a fresh commitment to academies and free schools.

Number of academies graphic

While the majority of secondary schools have already converted to academies, taking them out of local authority control and into multi-academy trusts, the rate of conversion has slowed.

Excerpt from the briefing document



A pledge to increase funding for academies. Photograph: Screengrab

Primary schools are proving particularly resistant. In recent months, a number of high-profile campaigns have taken hold around the country, in which parents have fought the plans, including at Waltham Holy Cross primary school in Essex.

According to the leaked document, the government plans to give more money to successful academy trusts to help them expand, offering incentives to encourage them to mop up challenging schools. It also hopes to build on what the document describes as “the existing success and momentum of the free school programme”.

It is perhaps no surprise to see renewed interest in free schools from the government. Johnson’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, was closely involved when the policy was first rolled out during Michael Gove’s time at the Department for Education (DfE). The free schools policy has been criticised by Labour as an expensive vanity project.

Funding

The multibillion-pound increase in education funding for England will be the cornerstone of the “back to school” announcements planned by the government, with the key question being how much will make its way into headteachers’ budgets in 2020-21.

Assuming the Treasury does not change its mind, the DfE will have raised the nearly £2bn needed to reverse the real-term cuts in funding that schools in England have endured since 2015.

Pupil funding graphic

Those cuts began to bleed Conservative votes in 2017, and since then the campaigning by unions, parents and others such as the Worth Less? group of school leaders has become even more effective, reinforced by the drip-drip of negative stories about parents being asked to buy items such as glue sticks.

A paragraph on funding in the briefing document



The briefing vows to deliver a £2.8bn increase to school funding. Photograph: Screengrab

The new funds would also put the government on target to meet Johnson’s pledge to raise per-pupil minimum funding to £4,000 at primary schools and £5,000 at secondary schools. It would allow the new national funding formula to begin without penalising schools in big cities while improving funding in Tory shire areas.

The package is also said to include £800m for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a group that has suffered enormously in terms of funding since 2014, made worse by the cuts local authorities have also experienced in the same period.

Meanwhile, the DfE is battling the Treasury for £800m for further education and sixth-form colleges, which would be a genuine boost for the sector and even bear out the government’s boast of “beating Germany at technical education”.

Teachers’ salaries

Teachers in England may not have felt much love from the government in recent years, but the package of policies being announced within the next few weeks is likely to warm the relationship. A bold proposal to raise starting salaries to £30,000 – up from about £25,000 – by 2022 could help, thrusting the career into the top level of graduate labour market earnings.

Teacher pay – graphic

And the improved school funding is said to include provision for an average 3% pay rise for 2020-21, assuming the independent pay review body agrees. The DfE’s briefing note says the increases would significantly raise early career pay, “with the aim of addressing our pressing recruitment and early career retention challenges and raise the quality of entrants”.

An excerpt on teacher salaries



Starting salaries could rise to £30,000, according to the document. Photograph: Screengrab

Hinds had made teacher recruitment and retention a top priority and the new package largely builds on that, with new policies on flexible working also to be included, plus the key ingredient of more money that had been denied to Hinds.

There are also to be revisions to improve initial teacher training, “swapping workload-inducing practices for evidence-based approaches” including behaviour management techniques and evidence from cognitive science about how children develop.

Sadly, the proposals are missing one radical move to improve teacher recruitment: a plan for free teacher training without tuition fees, including PGCE courses for secondary school subjects, rejected by the Treasury because of cost. But the Treasury is said to be more sympathetic to proposals involving the student loan system, and loan reimbursements for new teachers.



READ NEWS SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.