ASCL Influence
ASCL Director of Policy Julie McCulloch on encouraging the government to focus on the issues that matter most. Expand
Working on your behalf to influence government policy
ASCL Director of Policy Julie McCulloch on encouraging the government to focus on the issues that matter most.
Former adviser to Michael Gove, Sam Freedman, recently had reason to remind people of what he calls ‘Freedman’s law of policy’. Freedman’s law says, “The more press coverage an education policy story gets, the less relevant it is for people actually working in schools.”
At the time of writing, there are some excellent examples of Freedman’s law doing the rounds. Recent headlines have included the Secretary of State’s warning to schools to ‘stop teaching activist propaganda’ after primary school pupils wrote to their local MP to express their views on ‘partygate’, and the government’s U-turn on previous attempts to ‘ban’ mobile phones in schools.
That’s not to say these issues aren’t important, touching as they do on freedom of speech and the need for schools and colleges to be able to manage their own approaches to behaviour. But at a time that many of you have described to us as the toughest period of the pandemic yet, they feel irritatingly peripheral.
We’ve been trying, in our engagement with policymakers, to keep the focus on those issues that matter most to you – our members – and to the children and young people you serve. Here’s an update on how we’ve been doing that.
The schools white paper and SEND review
Amidst all the noise about parties and culture wars, the DfE is putting the final touches to an important white paper on schools and an equally important green paper on SEND. We expect both to be published before Easter.
Together with the government’s already published ‘levelling up’ white paper (tinyurl.com/2nz6xyv7), these documents will set the course for the rest of this Parliament. They will include proposals for how the government will achieve its vison of all schools being part of strong trusts, as well as a strong focus on literacy and numeracy.
ASCL has been involved in numerous conversations with ministers and officials about these issues. We’ve been encouraging them to consider the recommendations in our Blueprint for a Fairer Education System (www.ascl.org.uk/blueprint) and have been pleased at how receptive they have been to these. We have also submitted two more detailed papers to the teams working on the white paper and SEND review, one on high needs funding and one on system reform. The latter suggests ways in which the government could achieve its vision in a manner that brings stakeholders with it, reduces disruption and, most importantly, leads to a system in which all schools and colleges are supported and challenged to provide an excellent education for every child.
We have further contributed to the government’s thinking in this area by hosting three roundtable discussions between ASCL members and Minister for the School System, Baroness Barran. These discussions have been with ASCL’s Trust Leadership Advisory Group, and with groups of members leading maintained schools and single academy trusts. This has helped to ensure the DfE is listening to a wide range of voices as it finalises its thinking on the white paper.
Inspection
ASCL Council (www.ascl.org.uk/council) confirmed, at our February meeting, that our previous position on inspection remains the same this term, that is, that all requests for deferral from schools and colleges that continue to undergo significant pandemic-related disruption should be granted, unless an inspection has been triggered by safeguarding concerns.
Ofsted continues to share with us, on a weekly basis, how many deferral requests it is receiving, and how many of these are granted. This data shows that the majority of requests are being granted.
Performance tables
We know how strongly members feel that performance tables should not be published this year, and we are representing that view at the highest levels of government. We are making it clear that, given the differential impact of the pandemic on schools and colleges, it is inappropriate, unnecessary and counterproductive to publish any performance data from Key Stage 2, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 national assessments for 2021/22, or to use this data for any other accountability purpose.
This argument is proving frustratingly difficult to land with the government, but we are continuing to take every opportunity to explain why this data will be invalid, and the implications of that. We are also sharing members’ concerns about the government’s decision not to include early entry data from the summer 2021 and 2020 exam series in performance tables if they are published this year, pointing out how this could disadvantage schools that use early entry as part of a principled curriculum model.
Exams and assessments
We continue to be involved in many conversations about GCSEs, A levels and other Level 4 and 5 qualifications this year, particularly around how effective (or otherwise) the advance information will be in helping to mitigate the differential impact of the pandemic.
ASCL Council also took a strong position on Key Stage 2 SATs at its meeting in February. If the government and Ofsted categorically commit to not using the results of the Key Stage 2 SATs in the inspection data summary report (IDSR) or for any other form of school accountability, then our view is that, on balance, it is useful for these assessments to go ahead.
If this reassurance cannot be given, our position is that Key Stage 2 SATs in summer 2022 should be made optional. We are now taking this view to the DfE.
Covid measures
Finally, we continue to liaise with the government on a very regular basis concerning the measures needed in schools and colleges as the pandemic evolves. These discussions continue to focus on the need for better ventilation, support with vaccinations and testing and much more help with the spiralling costs of supply staff.
At the time of writing, we are in the early stages of discussions around what the government’s new strategy for ‘living with Covid’ will mean in education settings. We continue to stress the significant ongoing impact of high infection rates among pupils and staff, and the need for the government to ensure its proposed changes to public health measures do not exacerbate an already precarious situation
Find out more
See all of ASCL’s consultation responses at www.ascl.org.uk/consultations
Julie McCulloch
ASCL Director of Policy
@juliecmcculloch