DfE looks back on 100 days – but any hints for the future?
Author: Matthew Dagnall
This week saw the hundredth day of Keir Starmer’s fledgling Labour government – a milestone marked by Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson and Skills Minister Jacqui Smith via a Department for Education livestream this Tuesday.
As you might expect with a retrospective like this, the vast majority of the stream focused on the changes we’ve seen since July’s general election.
One such change was the long-awaited end to one-word Ofsted judgements. And we also heard again about the re-establishment of the School Support Staff Negotiating body (abolished in 2010) via the Employment Rights Bill brought before parliament last Thursday, as well as the establishment of new executive agency Skills England in the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill brought before the Lords the day prior.
(The latter is currently hiring for a CEO, if you fancy throwing your hat in the ring.)
But if you were still stationed at the school gates when the stream kicked off at 4PM this Tuesday, did you miss anything new? Read on for the full scoop.
DfE support for early years
Early years is, quite rightly, an unavoidable topic – unfairly underappreciated, but absolutely essential to every subsequent stage of education.
Bridget Phillipson declared early years provision to be her “number one priority”, citing the support for that view she’d heard from secondary schools and universities alike, both struggling to help underprepared new joiners bridge the disadvantage gap.
We also heard about the importance of early intervention in tackling the SEND crisis, with a reference to early investment on speech and language therapy (for which over 75,000 children were still waiting, as of this summer.)
However, the full detail of early years plans will have to wait for a future livestream from the Secretary of State and Minister for Early Education Stephen Morgan.
A joined-up approach on the education sector’s challenges
A recurring theme was the importance of a joined-up approach to the issues facing schools and colleges, such as student mental health, child poverty, and wage stagnation. Here, the DfE can’t act alone, but will need to rely on the NHS and the Child Poverty Task Force, to name but two.
That’s good news, given the growing burden on educational institutions that have often ended up the last man standing in struggling communities.
The bad news, of course, is that it’s a big job, and we’re unlikely to feel the benefits of that effort any time soon. The Secretary of State was quick to remind us as much.
That said, we’ll see some support for struggling families directly from the DfE, including the recent commitment to free breakfast clubs in every school, and limitations on branded uniform requirements.
FE and Skills
Much of the above depends on the government’s core aim of boosting the economy – and this, the Secretary of State acknowledged, hinges on skills.
(And that’s not to mention other goals, like net zero.)
Naturally then, audience questions were focused on the perceived snub to the FE sector in July’s teacher pay award. While the DfE accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendation of a 5.5% pay rise across for teachers in schools, FE missed out.
We did hear, however, that Jacquie Smith and Bridget Philipson have been “making the case for FE” across government – and, supposedly, getting a warm response.
The Minister for Skills also reminded us that the STRB are being asked for the first time to consider FE pay in their advice.
So, watch this space.
Recruitment, Retention, and Ofsted
Future efforts to improve teacher recruitment and retention are unlikely to come via pay-packets, we were told – although, one audience member was already concerned about how July’s salary review would clash with the rumoured increase to employer National Insurance contributions in the forthcoming budget.
Rather, alleviating the pressures coming from outside schools and colleges, as described earlier, is hoped to be another key element improving teachers’ working lives.
The Secretary of State also emphasised the equality issue of work flexibility (or inflexibility, as is often the case in the sector), especially as it relates to woman teachers in their 30s and 40s who have their own children – often a real skills drain on the industry as talented teachers hang up their mortar boards.
We’ve seen the push for flexible working on an economy-wide scale from this government – so let’s just hope teachers feel the benefit.
The wider role of education in society
And finishing with something a little more aspirational for dessert, the Secretary for State expressed her view that the purpose of education stretches far beyond grades, income, or economics.
Rather, it should be an exercise in broadening worldviews that continues, both formally and informally, across our whole lives. We couldn’t agree more.
That said, it might not be a view that’s always shared by students.
At least, not when they’re already thinking of the weekend, as Jacqui Smith recounted the challenge of teaching Life Skills to less-than-enthused learners last thing on Friday… (All we can say is - if only she’d had Peerscroller!)