26 May Will The Government’s New Schools White Paper Deliver Action?

Will The Government’s New Schools White Paper Deliver Action?

The UK Government have recently published their new Schools White Paper focused on “levelling up” education in the United Kingdom. Also known as Opportunity for all: Strong schools with great teachers for your child, the Schools White Paper is a formal plan from the Government setting out proposals for the future of education in the United Kingdom.

Published on Monday the 28th of March 2022 by the UK’s Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, and on behalf of the Department for Education, the new Schools White Paper is pledging to support all children who have fallen behind in maths or English. The new approach will help schools to identify children who need help and provide targeted support via a range of proven methods.

The white paper explains that in 2019 only 65% of children achieved the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing and maths. This means that almost a third of the UK’s school population were not at the standard that was expected. This, backed up by recent reports that say if you do not pass your English & Maths GCSEs you would not be eligible for a university student loan, makes cause for concern.

Another ambition of the new Schools White Paper is to see the national average GCSE grade in both maths and English language to improve by 5%, from 4.5 to 5.

Throughout this article we are going to take a deeper look at the new Schools White Paper, what it is setting out to achieve and whether it can deliver real action for students who have suffered from interrupted and lost learning in recent years.

What Is The Government’s New Schools White Paper?

The Government’s new Schools White Paper is a report outlining plans from the Government about how to improve education and make sure that every child reaches their full potential.

The white paper pledges to support students by investing in teacher training, attracting new talent to teaching roles, creating a register for children not in school so that no child gets left behind and providing up to 6 million tutoring courses by 2024.

One of the biggest announcements from the new Schools White Paper was the promise that all schools in England would be in a multi-academy trust by 2030, or at least in the process of joining one.

It is an ambitious plan set out by the UK government focused on transforming education at all levels throughout the United Kingdom. The new Schools White Paper was also accompanied by the SEND and AP green paper, focused around students with special educational needs and disabilities.

When Was The New Schools White Paper Published?

The new Schools White Paper was published on Monday the 28th of March 2022 by the UK’s Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi. It was debated in parliament on the same day and sets out education plans all the way until 2030.

The SEND and AP green paper was published on the 29th of March 2022.

What’s In The New Schools White Paper?

The new Schools White Paper is made up of various pledges focused around improving education throughout the United Kingdom at all levels (primary, secondary and college/further education). The white paper sets out plans to make sure that every child can reach their full potential and benefit from an improvement in education provisions.

Some key plans from the Government’s new Schools White Paper include:

• Schools will offer a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by September 2023.
• Ofsted will inspect every school by 2025, clearing a recent backlog of “outstanding” schools which haven’t been inspected for many years.
• All schools will be in, or will be in the process of joining, a multi-academy trust by 2030.
• At least £100 million will be put towards the Education Endowment Foundation so that they can continue to evaluate and spread best practices in education across the country.
• There will be 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities provided by 2024.
• Starting salaries for teachers will increase to £30,000 to attract some of the best new talent.
• A register will be set up for children not currently in school, so that no child is lost from the education system.
• Every school will have access to funded training for a senior mental health lead, to better improve schools’ approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
• Up to 6 million tutoring courses will be provided to students by 2024, cementing tuition as a permanent feature of the UK school system.
• Specialist training will be provided to improve literacy in early-years education settings, along with investing up to £180 million in the early years workforce, to support literacy and numeracy provisions.
• A new curriculum body that works with teachers to co-create adaptable digital curriculum resources.
• A focus on better behavior and higher attendance by using data more effectively.
• A Parent Pledge which will see you child’s school provide you with evidence-based support if your child falls behind in English or maths, keeping parent’s more informed with their child’s progress.
• The school system will be working as a whole to raise education standards.

 
The UK government has set out some ambitious plans through their new Schools White Paper.

What Is The SEND And Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper?

The SEND and Alternative Provisions (AP) “green paper” sets out the government’s proposals for transforming education for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as they have for every other child through their white paper.

Similar to the new Schools White Paper, the SEND & AP Green Paper is focused on levelling up education in the UK for SEND (special education needs and disabilities) pupils. The SEND review is in response to the UK Government’s recognition that the current system is failing to deliver for children, young people and their families.

The SEND and alternative provisions green paper is focused around 3 key challenges facing the current SEND system. These challenges are: poor outcomes for SEND students and those with alternative provisions currently, children do not currently have a positive experience when navigating the current SEND and alternative provisions system, and the system is still not delivering true value for children and young people, despite an increase in investment.

Some key proposals from the UK Government’s SEND and Alternative Provisions (AP) “green paper” include:

• Setting up a new national SEND and alternative provisions system, providing consistent standards for how the needs of SEND and AP students are identified and met.
• Updating the SEND Code of Practice to provide nationally consistent systems, processes and provisions.
• Streamlining the redress process to make it easier to resolve disputes earlier.
• Introduce a standardised EHCP process to minimise bureaucracy and maximise consistency.
• Establishing new local SEND partnerships with local government, health and social care partners and others.
• A legal requirement for councils to introduce “local inclusion plans”, setting out how each local area will meet national standards.
• Supporting parents and carers to express an informed preference for a suitable placement, I.e. mainstream, specialist and independent support, for the needs of their child/young person.
• Increase investment in schools’ budgets by £7 billion by 2024-25, to support children and young people with the most complex needs.
• Introduce a new SENCo National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for school SENCos and increase the number of staff with this accreditation/qualification.
• Analysis to better understand the support that children and young people with SEND need from the health workforce.
• Improving oversight and transparency on children and young people’s movements into and out of alternative provision.
• Improving mainstream provisions through excellent teacher training and development.
• More than 10,000 additional, funded, respite placements through an investment of £30 million.
• Investing £2.6 billion to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND & AP.
• Investing £18 million over the next three years to build capacity in the Supported Internships Programme, ensuring young people with SEND or AP are prepared for higher education and employment.
• Delivering clarity in roles and responsibilities with every partner across education, health, care, and local government.
• Supporting delivery through a £70 million SEND and alternative provision change programme to test and refine key proposals and support local SEND systems
• Making alternative provision an integral part of local SEND systems.
• Giving funding stability to alternative provision schools.
• Changing the culture and practice in mainstream education to be more inclusive.

 
The plans to reform the current SEND and alternative provisions system will be open for a 13-week public consultation period.

Will The New Schools White Paper Deliver Real Action Where It Is Needed?

We have of course heard similar plans and pledges focused around education and schools from the UK Government previously. For example, the National Tutoring Programme was put in place at the end of 2020 to help children recover from lost learning due to the Coronavirus pandemic and UK national lockdowns. The National Tutoring Programme has been widely considered to be a failed initiative, which wasn’t reaching the students who really needed support. Marginalised communities, low-income families and those from minority ethnic backgrounds were insufficiently provided for through the failed National Tutoring Programme.

We hope that the new Schools White Paper is successful in helping students to catch up and get ahead but there is a lack of confidence in the Government’s provisions when it comes to education recovery. There is an increasing disparity between the funding available per pupil at private schools vs those who are in state education, and it an ambitious mission to try and close this gap.

If you are concerned about your child’s education and want to see them excel in their studies and succeed in their exams moving forward, then why not look at support beyond what your child’s school or the Government can provide. Take action into your own hand and don’t wait for the government to deliver action. Many parents have lost faith in the Government when it comes to their child’s education and as such have started to look for alternative provisions.

An online tutoring platform such as Tutorwiz is the perfect external educational resource to help your child to excel in their studies! Just 20-minutes, 4-times a week is proven to be as effective as 4 hours of traditional classroom teaching. This, combined with a personalised learning plan targeted to your child’s unique strengths and weaknesses, ensures that your child can succeed in their education. Tutorwiz also benefits from real-life tutor support for whenever your child gets stuck. A dedicated tutor is only ever a phone call away to help your child and ensure that they properly understand the topic at hand.

To find out some more information about how Tutorwiz can help your child to excel in their studies, or to enquire about how we can support your child with their unique educational needs, then please get in touch today. You can get in touch with the Tutorwiz team by using our contact form, by emailing us at: enquiry@tutorwiz.uk or by calling us on 0800 181 4221. Alternatively, why not request a FREE Education Assessment for your child so that we can help you to better understand their current knowledge gaps.

Our online learning programme really is one of the most effective approaches for helping your child to excel in their studies! Whether they are struggling, doing ok, or already a high achiever, Tutorwiz can help your child to do better! Just take a look at what some of our previous happy customers have to say about Tutorwiz. Discover the effectiveness of online tutoring with Tutorwiz today!