‘There’s no reverse gear,” education secretary Nicky Morgan announced. In a close race for headlines with the budget, the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere wasn’t the exclusive preserve of the educational press. The news that all schools would become academies by 2022 led the national coverage with the demise of local authorities’ role in education not far behind.
Of course, these changes come as no surprise in many respects. The reduction in the role of the local authority and the policy towards academisation have always been keen drivers in the Department for Education’s (DfE) plans for the future. However, no longer a coalition, the government has been given the all-clear to drive forward confidently and finish the job off.
The White Paper is a long document of 125 pages. Many of these are filled with statements about achievement so far and justifications for the direction of travel now being taken. However, there are many new commitments and changes planned at almost every level. Here are 10 of the main headline issues.
Academy conversion
The majority of schools who actively want to become academies have already converted. The secondary schools and majority of primary schools who are still not academies have opted to remain as community schools within local authority control. As such, the promise of total academy conversion will come as a hard blow to some.
Not only does the DfE want all schools to be academies, but it wants them to be under multi-academy trust (MAT) control. The White Paper is very clear about the benefits it sees in MATs and the vision is that MATs will replace local authorities in an increasingly diverse and fragmented educational landscape.
Although it is possible for a school to transfer as an SAT (single academy trust), only the strongest will be encouraged or indeed allowed to do this. The White Paper has already made it clear that small schools will only be allowed to transfer as a SAT in extreme circumstances.
Reduced role for the local authority
This is the final stage in emasculating local government influences in school and it is to be completed by 2022. Local authorities will no longer have a school improvement role or have schools to maintain but instead are to be limited to:
- Ensuring every child has a school place (admissions).
- That the needs of all pupils are met (attendance, looked-after children, safeguarding, exclusions, alternative provision).
- Championing parents and the local community (SEND).
Although the DfE is keen to throw up their shortcomings, local authorities are still to be responsible for hugely important aspects of the system including the admissions of all schools.
It will be interesting to see what powers they are given to do this. How will a local authority both encourage a high-performing MAT to their area while also policing their admission arrangements?
Power to the regional commissioners
If there was any uncertainty about their future, the White Paper makes it clear that the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) is here to stay and a key part of the new, emerging system. The RSC is another tier between the MAT and the secretary of state and they are charged with the duty of overseeing the schools in their area. They will not be entirely on their own in doing this as each of the RSCs also has a Headteacher Board. However, the Board’s role seems to be more one of checking up on the RSCs themselves rather than acting as assistants to this very complex role.
Drafting in the help squad
The “everywhere” of this White Paper’s aspirations for educational excellence isn’t going to be easy to achieve. Differences across the country have stubbornly remained and the DfE’s answer to this is to bring in troubleshooters to tackle underperformance.
The National Teaching Service, as proposed by the DfE, will include up to 1,500 high-performing teachers and middle leaders who will be placed in underperforming schools. The North West will be targeted first as part of a pilot in September 2016. There will be up to 300 more teaching schools and 800 more NLEs to drive this school-led improvement system. However, at this stage it is unclear exactly how this will work and how teachers on the scheme will be remunerated or seconded.
Ofsted on the sidelines
It is pointed out that with greater autonomy comes more accountability. However, Ofsted is, to some extent, marginalised in this White Paper and it is hard to see in its vision a chief inspector with the standing and voice of Sir Michael Wilshaw.
Ofsted will increasingly become the preserve of a smaller cluster of schools who are struggling and those whose results occasionally drop or who present safeguarding issues. We are reminded in the White Paper that it isn’t the method we use that matters but the outcome. Teaching, learning and assessment as a judgement may go in a rather bizarre sidelining of what many of us thought schools were all about.
Accountability is key in this White Paper. However, the tough love message falters slightly when it comes to the introduction of “improvement periods” for schools. These are where a school is judged to require improvement and a new headteacher takes over or where a poorly performing maintained school is replaced by a sponsored academy.
These schools will not usually have an inspection until the third year of operation. Long periods of time when the new regime may also be untested.
Championing alternative provision
In the emerging educational landscape there is precious little incentive for schools to work together as a community to ensure that no-one slips through the net. The government has in mind to legislate further to ensure that schools cannot easily drop those who it is inconvenient to carry. This includes those children who are excluded but haven’t been found a place at another mainstream school. The excluding school will be responsible for:
- Commissioning expert provision for pupils with behavioural and other needs.
- Retaining accountability for their educational outcomes.
- Supporting alternative providers to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and high-quality teaching sharing subject specialists and facilities.
- Being responsible for the budgets from which the alternative provider is funded.
The school and the alternative provider will put together a tailored plan for each pupil and the DfE has in mind to establish a minimum curriculum standard for alternative providers.
No let up on Pupil Premium
The jury may still be out on just how successful the Pupil Premium strategy has been, but the DfE continues to promote what’s become an essential chunk of some schools’ budgets. However, it is clear that they recognise its implementation still needs careful monitoring. Governing bodies will be expected to challenge schools’ Pupil Premium strategies and regular reviews will be encouraged. The Education Endowment Foundation will continue to update its Pupil Premium strategy guidance.
Still proving what works
MATs and Teaching School Alliances will take the lead in proving what works, translating this into practice and disseminating their findings. The government’s “What Works Centres” and the now-privatised Behavioural Insights Team will develop tools to help schools improve character education and there will be investment in access to training and support on specific aspects of SEND. The DfE likes the idea of having a more text-book focused system. They are working with the publishing industry and with school MATs and others to encourage them to develop and share new sets of teaching materials, textbooks and resources.
Building character through the NCS
It comes as no surprise that character, resilience and British values feature in the White Paper. The National Citizen Service (NCS) is to be expanded to become the biggest programme of its kind in Europe.
It is envisaged that the NCS will help schools meet their duties in relation to promoting spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and that every pupil will have opportunity to take part. For those who don’t have their mental health difficulties addressed by the NCS, perhaps peer support programmes will help. A group has been set up to advise on these and how they might enable the discussion of emerging issues to take place.
New standards, new colleges, new journals
There are not many institutions or qualifications that remain untouched by this White Paper and new standards pop up in several of the chapters. There will be new:
- Accreditation to be a teacher, approved by a school’s headteacher.
- Standards for teachers’ professional development.
- National professional qualifications.
It is planned that there will be a new College of Teaching and with it a British educational journal to disseminate “cutting edge national and international research”. Edubase will include a list of all the governors in the country who will be more closely vetted for their suitability.
Parents do not feature strongly in the White Paper. However, there will be a parental portal launched in 2017 where more information will be made available including the range of extra-curricular activities offered by different schools. This will work alongside a new performance tables website and Ofsted will have an improved Parent View website.
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and former primary school headteacher.
Further information
Educational Excellence Everywhere, Department for Education White Paper, March 2016: www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere