The current ministerial vacuum at the Department for Education (DfE) “cannot possibly go on” as schools face important policy milestones and practical decisions throughout the summer, education leaders have warned this morning.
Academy, teacher, headteacher, teacher training and special school leaders have urged for the leadership vacuum at the DfE to be “sorted” as deadlines over “crucial” issues facing the sector - such as teacher pay, reform of school accountability and regulation and initial teacher training (ITT) reforms - loom.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) said that there is “no prospect right now of an education department fit to oversee any of the challenges of the coming weeks”, after this morning’s departure of education secretary Michelle Donelan left Baroness Barran as the only serving minister at the DfE.
The academies minister, who serves in the House of Lords, was this morning the only one left in the department after a string of resignations yesterday.
Voices in the schools sector united this morning to call on the DfE to appoint new ministers and resume “functioning government” quickly.
Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, described the situation as a “shambles”.
“Our profession has faced constant chaos and turbulence, with three education secretaries this past academic year; with our most recent lasting less than 48 hours. And now we have a department that is bereft of ministers,” she added.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said it was “vital that the government’s internal turmoil does not get in the way of addressing the urgent real-world challenges facing education and the country”.
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said today marks the continuation of “political turmoil”, and while the organisation does not make political comments, it was “essential, not just for education but for government more widely, that there is a functioning cabinet and ministers to carry out the core functions of government”.
Meanwhile, Jon Andrews, head of analysis at the Education Policy Institute think tank, said that it is “vital that either reappointments are made or replacements are found to fill the current ministerial vacuum within DfE”.
Here are some of the pressing issues that need DfE ministerial input, flagged by leaders this morning:
Teacher pay award for 2022-23
Mr Barton described teacher pay as the “most imminent” of the upcoming decisions needed by government.
Similarly, Mr Courtney added: “We need a secretary of state looking at the School Teachers’ Review Body report, who can also decide to award a pay rise which at least matches inflation.
“The last of these is perhaps most pressing, as the summer term ends soon and school leaders must be in knowledge of the pay rise and any additional funding in order to plan their budget for next year.”
Former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that in his evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, he had talked about wanting to “deliver” an 8.9 per cent pay rise for new teachers this year, and a 7.1 per cent uplift next year, to take their salaries to £30,000.
He said that his recommendation for more senior teachers was five per cent over two years, because he proposed an increase of three per cent next year, followed by two per cent the following year.
Last month, the National Education Union warned the education secretary that it would ballot members over strike action in the autumn if the government fails to commit to a pay rise above inflation, which currently stands at 9.1 per cent.
Leaders of the NASUWT called for a 12 per cent pay increase for teachers this year, and said it would ballot members in England, Wales and Scotland for industrial action if such a pay rise was not offered.
Exam results due in August
Results are due for the first set of GCSE and A-Level exams sat since 2019 in August, and school leaders say this will require “clear communications” from the government.
Jo Saxton, chair of exams regulator Ofqual, has warned that schools that do better than last year will be “few and far between”, adding “if any”, in comments made earlier this year.
This is because top grades reached record highs last year after exams were cancelled for the second successive year, and internal assessments by schools formed the basis of results.
Mr Barton warned that exam results due out in August “will require clear communications from government because grading standards will be different from the past two years and indeed different from 2019, too”.
Schools Bill and regulatory review
The government announced last week that it was to scrap large parts of its Schools Bill after heavy criticism in the House of Lords.
The move comes after concerns were raised by peers and multi-academy trust leaders about the scope of the bill to give Whitehall too much control over how academies operate.
Sources had told Tes earlier this week that the bill would likely be debated by MPs soon after parliamentary summer recess, though this timeline could now be in doubt.
Alongside the bill, a review of trust standards is taking place.
Ms Cruddas said that it is “essential that we are well-positioned [for this review] at the start of the new academic year”.
“As long as that work can progress then, we should be on track,” she added.
SEND Review
The government is currently consulting on its SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Green Paper, which was launched in March. It has put forward proposals to overhaul the system for children with SEND to end what it describes as a “postcode lottery” in provision.
The plan includes creating a system of national standards in SEND provision and creating a digital template for education, health and care plans.
With the resignation, earlier this week, of children’s minister Will Quince, there is just a fortnight until the consultation closes, with no minister responsible for it in post.
And education leaders, including Dame Alison, have flagged this as an important focus for the next DfE ministerial team to look at with urgency.
School funding
The money available to schools has been flagged as a key outstanding issue by leaders following the mass ministerial resignations this week.
Headteachers have consistently told Tes of financial pressures over the past few months, with energy prices, catering bills and supply staff costs, in the wake of high absences due to Covid, hitting budgets hard.
“Schools are short of funds, the demands upon school leaders and their teams increasingly stretch beyond the core mission of education and are unsustainable”, Mr Whiteman has said.
And similarly, Mr Courtney has argued: ”We need a secretary of state to fight a battle with the chancellor for schools funding.”
Teacher shortages and training
Data has shown that the recruitment boost provided by economic uncertainty during the pandemic is over, and the then new - but now former - education secretary, Ms Donelan (and who has this morning been replaced by James Cleverly), was warned by headteachers’ leaders yesterday that the country was facing “an actual crisis” in teacher recruitment.
Linked to this is another controversial area of government reform - its plans for the ITT sector, which has seen providers having to reapply for accreditation.
After just over a third of participating teacher training providers gained accreditation in the first round of the process, headteachers and experts warned earlier this week about teacher supply problems as the sector awaits the outcome of the second round of applications.
Sam Twistleton, director of the Sheffield Institute of Education, warned today that current ministerial changes could alter government approaches to both initial teacher and early career training.
She said: “Every time there is a ministerial change, the flavour of things change.
“Teacher recruitment and retention is going to still be there as a big problem for whoever. Whether it is a change of government or a change of person, whatever, it can’t be ignored and it’s getting worse at the moment in terms of both recruitment and retention.
“So you would hope that we see that it’s got to stay as a priority and they might want to put their own stamp on it in a particular way. We just need to be getting on with it.”
