ASCL’s president will today lambast the education secretary for promising “parents a nutritious meal and 30 minutes of childcare”, but expecting schools to deliver breakfast clubs “for less than half the price of a Greggs sausage roll”.
Manny Botwe, the head of Tytherington School in Macclesfield, will tell the union’s conference that “many of us, I am sure, shared that same sense of optimism when the new Labour government was elected.
He will welcome the “change of tone” from Bridget Phillipson, “and the attempt to build a more constructive relationship with the profession”, as well as its mission to break down barriers.
“We share that mission. In fact, it’s what drives us every day – it’s why we became teachers, why we became leaders, and why education exists in the first place.
“So, in principle, the Labour government and ASCL are aligned. And as the voice of the profession, we have a critical role in ensuring that education policies are shaped by those who truly understand the challenges on the ground – you.”
But, speaking directly before Phillipson is due to address the conference, he will say it is “not enough to know what the government wants to achieve.
“The missing piece is how. We need more than just a destination – we need a roadmap. What does ‘high and rising standards’ actually look like in practice? And what’s the strategy to get there?”
‘A smorgasbord of policies’
Describing the children’s wellbeing and schools bill as a “significant piece of legislation, covering a wide range of issues”, he will warn it “feels fragmented.
“A bit on breakfast clubs, a bit on school uniforms, some tweaks to admissions and pay processes – a smorgasbord of policies of varying degrees of usefulness which lacks a clear, overarching vision.
“We’re not expecting another education act on the scale of 1944 or 1988. But we do need to see how these individual policies fit into a wider plan to create real, lasting change – the kind that is essential to breaking down the barriers to opportunity.”
On breakfast clubs, he will describe the daily funding rate of 60p as “absurd. You can’t promise parents a nutritious meal and 30 minutes of childcare, then expect schools to deliver it for less than half the price of a Greggs sausage roll.
“Meanwhile, the immense resource challenges we faced under the previous government have not disappeared. Funding shortages, staff recruitment and retention struggles, and an overstretched education system – these issues persist, and tackling them must be a shared priority.”
Schools ‘forced to set deficit budgets’
Moving on to the issue of school funding, he will warn the crisis “cannot be ignored any longer.
“Across the country, schools are being forced to set deficit budgets and plan for further cuts. This is 5 simply unsustainable. Education is not a cost, it is an investment – in our children, in our future, and in our country.
“If we are serious about building a society that values and supports its young people, we must prioritise education funding and ensure our schools and colleges have the resources they need to deliver the best possible education to every student.”
He will also call on the government’s curriculum and assessment review panel to “be bold”, and urged government “don’t stand in the way of meaningful reform in the name of a skewed, outdated view of what ‘high and rising standards’ really mean”.
Botwe will point to ASCL’s forgotten third commission, which sought to challenge the current situation whereby a third of GCSE pupils don’t get a standard pass in their maths and English qualifications.
He will ask the review to “imagine a system where assessment in literacy and numeracy is not based on ranking students against each other but instead operates more like a driving test”.
But he will deny that is a retreat on standards; it is a means of embedding essential literacy and numeracy skills – the very skills employers demand. It is simply unnecessary and unfair to accept that a third of young people should be sacrificed as acceptable collateral damage.”
Warning over ‘darker side’ of technology
Botwe will also use his speech to warn today’s young people “face challenges that are vastly different from those of previous generations.
“Their world is shaped by smartphones, social media, memes, and influencers – forces that shape their identities, interactions, and even their mental wellbeing.
This technology “has brought incredible benefits…but as we all know, it has a darker side. It leaves a trail of harm – safeguarding concerns, fractured friendships, bullying, anxiety, and the spread of extremist ideologies.”
Social media is also “increasingly…weaponised against schools and teachers, with disgruntled parents using it as a platform to target staff”.
Polling by Teacher Tapp commissioned by ASCL found almost half said students had recorded teachers or other pupils without permission, while over 40 per cent of teachers said parents had made negative comments about their school or staff online.
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