The general election is really hot on our heels now. As England’s political parties gear up for the big day – which is now just 20 days away – they’re in the process of releasing their manifestos.
As we know, these documents outline their policies and explain how they plan to fund them, hoping to win over voters and come out on top on Thursday 4 July.
So far we’ve heard from Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party, with the new right-wing party Reform due to publish its manifesto on Monday (17 June).
As expected, each party is hoping to attract voters by offering pledges on everything from healthcare to tax cuts, but what are the promises specifically around education? Which party (seemingly) has the sector’s best interests at heart?
What we asked for vs what we’re (potentially, maybe) getting
Schools North East sends out a ‘State of the Region’ survey once per term to better understand how our schools are currently coping in different key areas. This is supported by regular roundtables with the region’s school leaders and education ‘bigwigs’ from across the sector. We gather this information before analysing it, understanding it, and then using it as a lever to lobby those in power and achieve critical coverage of the most critical issues facing our region’s schools.
When asked to list their current priorities in the Spring 2024 survey, most school leaders highlighted funding, which should really come as no surprise at all. Pressures on school budgets are the key issue facing schools, and restrict what solutions they can provide for pressing issues such as recruiting quality staff, addressing persistent absences, and meeting both the academic and wellbeing needs of students.
Only yesterday, at the Schools North East School Business Management Conference 2024, we asked 300 attendees to use one or two words to describe what they think the government needs to provide in order to make a real difference to the sector. The image below speaks for itself!
Other top priorities outlined in the survey reflect the challenges mentioned above, but in particular the rising levels of SEND and recruitment and retention challenges. As with funding, addressing these issues is vital to ensuring schools can deliver a broad and balanced curriculum, accessible to all students.
Responses also discussed the challenges that seem to be going on outside of the school gates, such as the change in attitude from a significant minority of parents across different school settings, the lack of capacity in external support agencies, and the impact of rising levels of disadvantage on families. Predictably, in light of RAAC and other building issues across the region, a significant number of responses also mentioned the poor condition of the region’s school estate.
On the broader education policy landscape, schools wanted to see greater support from the DfE and Ofsted. Regardless of when an Ofsted inspection is due to take place, schools remain concerned about the high stakes accountability system, and the workload pressures put on staff as a result.
Rightfully so, schools are desperate to see a more supportive process, rather than just one-word judgements. Nearly 90% of respondents to our last State of the Region survey expressed reservations about this issue.
Will the 2024 general election finally encourage meaningful, long-lasting change that addresses all the points raised by our school leaders?
Hopefully this time really will be different, and hopefully this time, whoever the new Ministers are, whatever the stripe or colour, they will finally give our region’s remarkable schools the care, attention and resources that they need and deserve, and let staff get on with what they do so well.
The Conservative manifesto
To regain control of this general election, it’s safe to say that the Conservatives needed this manifesto to deliver. And in terms of education, has it succeeded?
The Tories claim that, to attract more talented teachers, they will increase their recruitment and retention premium and reduce workload. Additionally, starting as early as this September, they’ll recruit new teachers in priority areas, and key STEM and technical subjects will receive bonuses of up to £30,000 tax-free over five years.
Expanding on the Advanced British Standard proposal made late last year, the manifesto insists this new approach to 16-19 education will end the divide between academic and technical education, ensuring every young person spends more time in the classroom.
In relation to SEND, the Tories promise to transform education for children with special educational needs by ending the ‘postcode lottery’ of support, delivering 60,000 more school places while establishing 15 new free schools for children with special needs.
Read the full Conservative manifesto here.
The Labour manifesto
Audacious assertions from the Labour party! In their manifesto, they insist they’ll transform the education system so that young people get the opportunities they deserve. Yes, PLEASE.
To address the recruitment and retention crisis, they promise to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects, and 3,000 new primary school-based nurseries. Plus, the way bursaries are allocated (and the structure of retention payments) will be reviewed, and apparently we can expect free breakfast clubs in every primary school!
Labour will launch an expert-led review of curriculum and assessment, working with school staff, parents and employers to deliver a new all-singing, all-dancing curriculum that will get our young people truly ready for work and life.
Additionally, Labour say they will end the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools to invest in our state schools.
On the topic of mental health and wellbeing, the party claims it will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, and will take a community-wide approach to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools.
Read the full Labour manifesto here.
Green party manifesto
Firstly, Green MPs are advocating for a fully inclusive education system, emphasising better-funded support for special educational needs and ensuring all children receive a free school meal.
They propose to support higher education students by restoring grants and eliminating tuition fees. Additionally, they aim to reduce stress in the education system by ending high-stakes formal testing at primary and secondary levels and – wait for it – abolishing Ofsted, with apparently no plans to replace it with anything else. A very bold proposal!
But what are the specific details around funding, which the sector is in desperate need of? Well, they’ve declared that they will advocate for £1.4bn per year to be invested by local authorities in Sure Start Centres, as well as an increase in school funding, with an £8bn investment in schools that would include £2bn for a pay uplift for teachers.
They will also push for £5bn to be invested in special needs (SEND) provision within mainstream schools, meaning that all schools will have fully accessible buildings and specially trained teachers.
Read the full Green Party manifesto here.
The Liberal Democrat manifesto
The Liberal Democrats believe that education is the best investment we can make in our children’s potential and our country’s future, which loudly echoes the thoughts and feelings of everybody in the Schools North East network. But how do they plan to put this into action?
Their manifesto outlines proposals to put a dedicated, qualified mental health professional in every primary and secondary school, making sure all children and parents have this critical support to hand whenever it’s needed. They say this would be funded by increasing the Digital Services Tax on social media firms and other tech giants.
Additionally, the Lib Dems will increase school and college funding per pupil above the rate of inflation every year, and finally put an end to the outrageous crumbling of school and college buildings by investing in new buildings, and clearing the backlog of repairs.
Ofsted has been making headlines for quite some time now, so the Lib Dems were also quick to feature a ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’ in their own manifesto, outlining how they plan to reform Ofsted inspections and end single-word judgements so that parents get a clear picture of the true strengths and weaknesses of each school. Most important, however, schools would get the ‘guidance and support’ they need to actually improve.
Read the full Liberal Democrat manifesto here.
But what about the rest of the issues?
There’s a lot going on the manifestos, and yet some of the education sector’s most important issues have yet again been overlooked.
What about Teaching Assistant recruitment and retention, support staff pay, our crumbling buildings, SEN support staff recruitment… How many of these are costed? If they come from the existing overall budget, will there be greater cutbacks on LAs? And what will that mean for their services that schools rely so heavily on? Education Psychologists are already as rare as hen’s teeth in some LA areas!
So, we’re not holding our breath just yet…
It all sounds spectacular on paper, but it’s difficult to stay positive when it was recently revealed that education is only seen as a top priority by 12 percent of the electorate. In fact, many are talking about 2024 as similar to 1997 – except this time, there’s no money left at all – so we suspect that it will actually be very different to 1997.
The Conservative and Labour parties (well, all parties, for that matter) have failed to produce a properly thought-through, costed, strategic plan for our education system. It’s no secret that the current one is broken, and we’re left with the distinct impression that education is low – far too low – down the list of politician’s priorities.
The NHS, net zero, foreign crises, and more, dominate policy and funding, and are likely to do so for the remainder of this parliament and the next. Therefore, to avoid myth-based policymaking, it’s vital that the real needs of North East schools are properly understood and addressed.
Schools North East exists to be the Voice of North East schools – putting a strong regional accent on the education debate. We Lead not Plead, and we will continue to bang the drum for our region’s amazing schools in the run up to the general election and beyond.
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