Following the election of the Labour Party a couple of weeks ago, school leaders, teachers, parents, and even students have had plenty of questions about how the “change” the party campaigned for will affect them. Their manifesto outlined a number of pledges, from rethinking how Ofsted grades schools to ensuring there’s more mental health support available to students, all which fall under the party’s aim to “break down barriers to opportunities”.
But that’s not to say that these will immediately become policy or even become policy at all. And if they do, it is likely the reforms will be implemented slowly – so don’t worry about anything changing immediately.
To bring you up to speed on what the new government might introduce in the future, I thought I’d share some of the Labour policies on education that you should know about.
The Government is not only promising to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers, but to also get more teachers into shortage subjects and support areas that are currently facing recruitment issues. These teachers would only be for secondary schools.
It intends to do this by implementing several measures including updating the Early Career Framework, introducing a teacher training entitlement, reviewing the structure of retention payments and how bursaries are allocated, and creating a mentorship programme for headteachers and school leaders.
Labour said it will reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body to improve recruitment and retention in support roles, as well.
Instead of Ofsted’s single-word grades, Labour is hoping to replace them with report cards that tell parents and carers how schools are performing. The party has called for this revision of the grading system since early last year with the education secretary then claiming that single-word grades were “high stakes for staff, but low information for parents”.
They also want to build regional support teams who will help schools make improvements based on the results of their report. Multi-academy trusts will be reviewed by Ofsted under their plans, too.
The Labour Party is also proposing several changes to the curriculum to make it broader and ensure it touches upon more contemporary subjects. This includes:
Another key pledge is ensuring students take a creative or vocational subject until they turn 16, something the Labour Party is hoping to support with a National Music Education Network which will provide parents, teachers, and children with more access to music classes and courses.
In their manifesto, Labour claimed they’re going to make sure there are mental health professionals available in every secondary school to provide support to students.
This will also complement the open-access hubs for children and young people they are proposing which will provide mental health support, too.
Possibly Labour’s most famous education policy – and something the party has pledged in previous election campaigns – is ending the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools. The party claims this pledge will help fund the other changes it wants to implement.
Alongside the mental health crisis affecting children across the country, the cost of living is affecting school attendance, too. The Labour Party is pledging to introduce breakfast clubs to all primary schools in England and to make them accessible for all children.
In the same vein, the manifesto set out that they would also like to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit parents and carers are required to purchase to minimise the costs associated with school.
The new government is facing a number of challenges, from poor attendance levels to a rampant mental health crisis among students. While these policies could make a difference in the future, an effective management information system (MIS) can have an impact right now.
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The list of pledges discussed in this blog isn’t exhaustive; you can find out what the Government hopes to achieve over the coming years in the Labour Party’s manifesto.