Here’s the view from here, 6am on election day 2017.

Amid this morning’s turbulence, perhaps there’s a compelling message for all of us in education. There’s no public appetite for raw ideology. Theresa May’s political gamble has spectacularly failed. And with it, inevitably, the lame populist plan to bring back selection has withered overnight and died.

This is good news for education.

And perhaps, at long last, our political leaders need to realise something simple. It’s that our education system is far better than we are ever given credit for, certainly better than the headlines would have you believe, and is about halfway through a programme of significant reform.

Our schools aren’t yet universally good enough, especially for children in poor and marginalised communities, but frankly, we haven’t finished yet.

So here’s the view from where I sit.

Politicians will now have quite enough on their plate. They need to sort out who’s running the country. They need to sort out Brexit and the future shape of Austerity Britain.

Meanwhile, here’s the opportunity for the education profession to step up. Current reforms to the curriculum, to school structures, to assessment - all of these need to be seen through. And they can be led by school and college leaders who are showing that they have the leadership skills the country needs, without the ideological distractions and short-termism.

From politicians, we now need just two things.

First, we need the sustainable funding for schools that parents, governors and the profession have been so powerfully crying out for. We need that funding for the present crisis - some £3 billion to address the independently verified shortfall. And we need a commitment to better funding for the future. Education has never mattered more and whoever runs the country must pledge the money it needs.

The second thing we need from politicians is to be left alone. There’s an extraordinary crisis in teacher recruitment and retention. Too few great graduates want to be teachers. Too few then remain long enough in teaching. Until we address this, nothing can improve significantly.

So on the day that knee-jerk political opportunism proved bankrupt, an opportunity for the nation’s teachers and their leaders hoves into view. Give us the funding, give us the space, and let us make education great.

Theresa May won’t be playing Things Can Only Get Better. But perhaps, as the nation’s education leaders, we should. A new day dawns.

Geoff Barton is the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. He tweets @RealGeoffBarton. 

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