#CPC15 Start of a new term: what should the Conservative’s education priorities be?
Pupil places crisis, teacher supply shortages and demand for fairer funding headlined the demands made to the Government at a Policy Exchange fringe event on priorities for the coming year.
Alan Foulds, ASCL President, was clear that a review of funding was long overdue and that a National Fair Funding Formula should be adopted. He said that a system which saw variances per pupil ranging from £4,200 to £6,000+ needed replacing with a more equitable approach. A phased adoption would be needed to cushion the impact.
Mr Foulds reinforced the message that a lack of teachers was a threat to the system, saying that a rising economy was proven to attract talent away from the profession at a time when pupil numbers were growing from 7.24m now to 7.85m by 2020. He warned of a “perfect storm” which was driving the system to breaking point.
Nicky Morgan reiterated her ambition to give every child a great education over the next five years. She repeated the importance of character education, saying: “I haven’t defined it but the best schools are already doing it. They teach children confidence, resilience and grit.”
She spoke of “exciting collaborations” – “networks of schools and teachers collaborating together”.
One comment that will put schools on alert – the Secretary of State said her priority over the next four and a half years was “to root out and find parts of the country where education is just not good enough”.
Mrs Morgan also acknowledged issues around teacher recruitment and retention, praising the work of TeachFirst but adding that more needed to be done to incentivise teachers.
Jonathan Simons, head of education at Policy Exchange, highlighted concerns of a mental health crisis impacting on schools.
He also made four key pleas to the Government:
- Don’t let the system fall over – issues of teacher retention and a shortage of leaders needed to be addressed
- The need to build more leadership capacity
- Always focus on the children – ensuring education is not-for-profit
- For all children, not just some – the Government should be pragmatic and flexible; they have to speak for parents and not the sector