Education policies must evolve to tackle regional challenges
Schools North East director Chris Zarraga says long-standing and widening disparities in regional data prove Labour must adopt a place-based approach to education policies.
Schools in the North East are amazing, filled with talented teachers and spectacular senior leadership teams.
However, much of this brilliance is used to overcome challenges, as opposed to utilising privileges – as underlined by how our schools still struggle with attainment and outcomes compared to certain other areas of the country, most noticeably London.
For example, despite the increased percentage of North East students receiving top A-Level grades this year compared with pre-pandemic levels, the gap in top grades between our region and London has increased from 3.9 per cent in 2019 to 7.4 per cent in 2024.
There was also a similar pattern with GCSE results, with the gap in top grades between London and the North East rising from 9.3 per cent in 2019 to 10.7 per cent in 2024.
Why is this happening? Put simply, this is because – for decades now – we have failed to see a genuine sense of urgency from the government to address the long-term structural concerns that impact on our region’s schools.
It is something that spurred the creation of Schools North East to seek to raise awareness of this issue and provide a strategic voice for our members (now numbering 1,150) on what we need from the government.
Time to act
Unsurprisingly, the 2024 general election was a critical juncture for education policy, affording an opportunity for policymakers to acknowledge the long-term structural concerns that impact attainment and outcomes in the North East, and the extent to which these have been exacerbated in recent years.
This is why Schools North East’s 2024 Manifesto for North East Education issued a call for action and to take the long-term challenges of education in our region seriously – using both live data and the lived experiences of educators to do this.
One of the biggest issues we have raised is that our region’s schools face a standardisation of policy that fails to recognise that a one-size-fits-all approach is redundant.
Our network speaks openly and often about the vast disparities between our region and other areas in the country, such as London; how does it make sense to enforce the exact same strategies in Gateshead as we do in Greenwich, for example?
If we continue to standardise policy, we risk a continuing widening of the gap between the North East and London.
What we require is a recognition of the perennial contextual challenges, which is exactly what Schools North East fights to do in collaboration with the wider education community – and actions to fix them.
The required support must include a major investment in education and the services that support children and young people, to guarantee equality of opportunities and greater equity in outcomes, and to ensure plans to tackle the disadvantage gap are credible.
Workforce needs
Additionally, our schools need to see evidence of a depoliticised education system.
Decision-makers must refrain from loading diverse, unconnected agendas onto schools, and instead focus on establishing basic foundations.
We also need to consider a workforce strategy that understands the context of different schools – as failures to hit recruitment targets are not evenly distributed, even within defined areas such as the North East.
For example, there are challenges in particular subjects and stages, as well as in rural, post-industrial, coastal and disadvantaged areas. There is a multifaceted rather than a single teacher market, as there is for support staff.
We have to get this right to ensure we can attract quality school staff to our schools and trusts – not just teachers but leaders, teaching assistants and support staff.
Freedom to adapt to changing needs
Of course it is important to remember that not all challenges across the North East are equal, nor are they only apparent in our region.
But they are particularly tough here. Schools in the North East need the flexibility to respond to the specific demands of their communities, whether that’s dealing with high levels of disadvantage or the unique issues of working in rural areas.
Giving schools the ability to adapt to changing needs will put them in a better position to tackle the growing education gaps, which were widening even before the Covid-19 pandemic.
What the pandemic has proven under no uncertain terms is that schools do not function in isolation; now, more than ever, we need a collaborative approach across different sectors, backed by proper investment and planning.