Signs of progress offer cause for optimism ahead of challenges next year, writes NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman.
As we approach the end of another tough calendar year for school leaders and their teams, they deserve our heartfelt thanks.
They have gone above and beyond to help pupils flourish, despite numerous challenges.
As we have raised their concerns with policy-makers and employers, we haven’t achieved everything we hoped for. Yet we still have reason to feel real hope after some positive steps forward.
Just last week ministers pledged £3 billion in capital funding for SEND provision, after leaders made clear that any expectation that mainstream schools should support more children with additional needs should come with extra support.
Earlier this month, we were pleased the new child poverty strategy included tangible measures, especially the end to the two-child benefit limit, because poverty has a huge impact upon children’s ability to attend school and flourish.
The government’s move to increase funding for school breakfast clubs also demonstrated a willingness to listen and act.
Movement in the right direction
These examples show movement in the right direction. They offer hope that common sense will prevail when it comes to our campaign to improve Ofsted’s hugely flawed new inspection framework.
No one in the government or inspectorate can be in any doubt as to school leaders’ serious worries about the risk it poses to wellbeing.
Members attended the largest meeting we have held since Covid to express their concerns. The path to a solution is not straightforward but in the new year we will pursue a positive outcome with renewed vigour.
Other successes giving us reason to feel positive include our No Excuse for Abuse campaign in the north east, raising awareness of parental abuse of teachers and leaders, which exploded into national consciousness.
Calls for reform are firmly on the DfE’s agenda, and we anticipate fresh guidance soon.
The curriculum and assessment review, meanwhile, saw agreement to scrap the restrictive EBacc, and its acknowledgement that the national curriculum is overloaded was welcome.
We hope this will now lead to action to reduce content and help schools better meet the needs of all pupils, including children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with SEND.
We also successfully protected rights under the Teachers’ Pension Scheme from an attempt to offer an inferior alternative.
We can take pride in all of this as we continue to speak up for our members.
Big issues to be addressed
There are several big issues to be addressed, aside from Ofsted. But these examples should inspire confidence and real hope for the new year.
Looking ahead, we are urging the government to ensure the long-awaited schools white paper delivers not just reform of the broken SEND system, but also investment in schools and the services around them to better equip school leaders to consistently meet pupils’ needs.
Funding remains a really important issue. Despite increases in per-pupil funding, school leaders are still struggling to balance budgets amid increased costs and sometimes falling rolls, forcing unpalatable choices between cutting resources and staffing.
While increased capital funding was welcome, more investment is needed in school buildings – the National Audit Office estimates it would cost £13.8 billion to restore the school estate to at least a satisfactory condition.
Action is still needed to reduce school leader workload and improve wellbeing.
A government audit of everything it asks schools to do, trimming unnecessary centralised guidance and reporting requirements like evaluations of hypothecated funding, would be a good start.
Go further on pay
On pay, we are calling on the independent review body and government to go further than the 6.5 per cent rise ministers have recommended for teacher and leaders over the next three years.
This would risk real-terms cuts, undoing some of the welcome progress taken to stem the 16 per cent drop in the value of leader pay since 2010.
A series of fully-funded above-inflation increases over this Parliament would help restore a career in teaching and leadership as an attractive proposition.
That may sound like a daunting to-do list. But for union general secretaries, optimism is a survival tactic.
The progress that has been achieved this year has not relieved all the frustrations of school leaders, but it should offer a basis for hope that the promise of change made by this government can still be a reality.
School leaders can rest assured that we will act on the issues that matter to them.
After all, there is no one-more determined to see young people succeed at school than their teachers. Support them properly, and the rest is sure to follow.
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