Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on the schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving.
“We are determined to work with the government to turn the SEND reforms into reality. Our children and young people desperately need a more effective system. However, we are concerned about the sheer volume of change proposed in the white paper.
“School and college leaders will have two questions in mind – will there be enough money to deliver what the government is setting out, and how on earth are we going to meet all these new expectations? The planned SEND reforms are certainly necessary and seem sensible, but they constitute a huge ask on mainstream schools to expand existing provision and implement training on a massive scale. In addition, there are a large number of other requirements set out in the white paper – such as plans for new frameworks on enrichment provision and pupil engagement, expectations around home-to-school partnerships, statutory reading tests in Year 8, and new guidance on the use of suspensions.
“The government does need to be careful about the workload and mental health impact on leaders and teachers. There is already a wellbeing crisis in the education workforce with sky-high levels of stress and anxiety, and it will be very difficult to implement any reforms successfully if education staff are broken under the weight of too many expectations. We urge policymakers to work very closely with the profession over these changes and show empathy and understanding as we work through the detail.
“A critical question is whether the funding that is being allocated to deliver SEND reforms is sufficient. Some big numbers have been quoted but these sums have to be shared across a huge education system, and we have yet to see exactly how this lands with individual schools, particularly given that many are currently struggling with financial pressures because of the general inadequacy of funding.”