Moving away from the curriculum review ‘big bangs’, reviewing the teacher working hours limit and encouraging specialist teachers to swap subjects were all on the agenda at Labour conference today.
Below is your handy round-up of the key schools news talking points of day three of the conference, in Liverpool.
Today prime minister Sir Keir Starmer addressed the conference, with education secretary Bridget Phillipson due to talk tomorrow.
Freddie Whittaker, Sam Booth and John Dickens report …
1. Phillipson: regular curriculum change > ‘big bang’
The way the national curriculum is updated should enable “modest changes” to “keep pace”, as opposed to a “big overhaul every decade or so”, Bridget Phillipson has said.
The education secretary, who recently commissioned the first big curriculum review in around a decade, told a Spectator event at the Labour Party conference said there was a “problem” with what she called a “big bang approach”.
“We do need to build on what’s working, and we need to draw on some of the really brilliant practices out there that teachers are leading however. You know, it has been 10 years since this was last changed.
“I think there is a problem as part of that around kind of a big bang approach, that you have a big overhaul every decade or so. And I think we need to consider how we allow the curriculum to kind of keep pace and make more modest changes, not just as a one off.”
Asked about fears that a planned greater emphasis on creative subjects would push our more “traditional” areas, Phillipson said she didn’t “accept the argument that we should choose between driving up standards in English and maths and making sure that we’ve got a breadth so that all young people get to enjoy music and sport, art and drama”.
“I think it has to be both together.”
2. Time to review teacher hours cap, says trust boss
The boss of one of the country’s biggest academy trusts has suggested the “archaic” directed time cap for teachers should be reviewed, saying “if we want to be seen as a profession we can’t continue to rigidly count hours”.
Becks Boomer-Clark, chief executive of Lift Schools, said instead of “counting hours”, Gen Z teachers want “flexibility, fluidity, a sense of purpose”.
Directed time is the number of hours in a year during which school leaders can direct teachers to be at work and available for work.
The Conservative government had explored ditching the cap in 2021, but a union leader said at the time any move would be “met with fury in the profession”.
3. Work experience plan details
Labour’s planned two week of work experience for all children can be spread across multiple placements, Bridget Phillipson also told the fringe today.
The party has committed to mandate two weeks of professional work experience for all pupils.
But the education secretary said “that doesn’t mean two weeks in one go’.
“It means the opportunity to look at a range of different industries and areas, because all too often the children that get work experience, get internships is because of their family connections or they know somebody.
“We’ve got to change that, but also the chance for young people to try things and just think, actually, that’s not for me.
“You know, sometimes we have to try and fail, so making sure that there are a range of opportunities there, and it’s not just down to who you know and where you live, that’s absolutely crucial.”
4. New report card ‘must be designed by DfE’
Schools Week revealed last week that education unions are unhappy Ofsted is leading on drawing up new report cards.
And Jonny Uttley, chief executive of The Education Alliance academy trust, said today it “has got to be designed” by the Department for Education as it should “be a replacement for school performance measures”.
He told an Education Policy Institute fringe: “That is not designed by Ofsted. It forms part of an Ofsted inspection and I think we’ve got to be really clear about that.
“And we could use an annual school audit to remove and tackle the most egregious examples of off-rolling, encouraging children into EHE [election home education].”
5. Help ‘bored’ teachers switch, opportunity champion says
Sarah Smith, one of Labour’s national mission champions for its “opportunity mission”, said the sector should be “open minded” about tackling future challenges as there’s “no simple answers”.
She suggested the next generation “will seek for different careers throughout their lives because that’s now what they are expecting”.
Speaking at an EPI fringe, Smith said: “So actually there’s opportunities with that that you could have, if the training is in place, you could become a specialist in one subject and then in the future if you’re starting to get a little bit bored – instead of having to leave the sector – you’ve got the opportunity there to be able to move into a different specialism.”
6. ‘Whole system’ approach to inclusion
Schools minister Catherine McKinnell said improving inclusion, expertise and training within mainstream schools will take a “whole system, whole community wide approach”.
The government believed most children should be educated in mainstream schools with an “inclusive environment”.
She told a nurtureuk fringe: “I could talk at great length about all the all the different aspects of what we’re working on, but you will see from the announcement we’ve already made in terms of the curriculum assessment and review, the cooperation on place planning, the changes to Ofsted – all of this is to create inclusive education systems and the support within mainstream schools.”
Labour are yet to set out a wider plan for children with SEND but education secretary Bridget Phillipson hinted yesterday at wider reform.
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