This month we bring you news of key new government education appointments, including the important announcement about the chair of the curriculum and assessment review; news on education legislative reform from the King’s Speech; news about the alarming increase in child poverty and details of the new government taskforce to tackle it; the challenges in children’s lives revealed by DfE census data; warnings about the lack of specialist teachers; parental concerns about school funding and the lack of specialist teaching; the link between mental health and school absences; and remembering Sir Tim Brighouse.
And Wimbledon may be over but we’re playing doubles with our Latest Thinking in this issue, as we have invited reflections on Music Hubs from two leading figures in the music sector! We thought it would be worth sharing a full update on the Music Hubs given the complexities of the current situation and also given the level of investment music has received over the last 14 years.
We also think it’s important to note that when the National Plan for Music Education was first published in 2011, Michael Gove and Ed Vaizey (as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Culture respectively) proclaimed in its foreword that: “This National Plan is clear about the importance of music: it will ensure not just that more children have access to the greatest of art forms, but that they do better as a result in every other subject.”
If we have been living with a hierarchy of subjects within the curriculum over the past 14 years – with the EBacc excluding arts subjects – we have also seen a hierarchy of arts subjects, with music at the top, and claiming the lion’s share of the funding. As a new government gets to work, we’re interested to have your thoughts on this, and how the new administration might approach funding across Expressive Arts subjects.
Meanwhile we applaud all the work that the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) and Music Mark and others do to champion children’s access to music. ISM and Music Mark work closely alongside each other alongside to champion music education, and both are there for those in the music education sector, providing support for those who need it. You can access them via the links above.
As the school term ends, we wish you a wonderful summer and look forward to being in touch again soon with all the latest news and latest thinking on arts and cultural learning.
Further key appointments to the Department for Education
CLA has already welcomed the new Secretaries of State and senior ministers at both DfE and DCMS to their posts. Since we first reported on the new appointments, there have been two further roles announced: Janet Derby MP and Stephen Morgan MP both become Parliamentary Under Secretaries of State at the DfE.
In addition, Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as a new Non-Executive Board Member and advisor on school standards, to play a crucial role in her department in breaking down barriers to opportunity. She writes “Sir Kevan Collins has spent his career driving up standards in education. He has fought fiercely for our children, notably during the pandemic.”
You may recall that Sir Kevan resigned as education catch up tsar in 2021 after his proposals for a ‘landmark investment’ of £15bn in teachers, tutoring and an extended school day – to help children catch up after the pandemic – were watered down to £1.4bn by the last government. His acceptance of this new role indicates that his proposals are likely to be more in line with the policy direction of the new government. The Times has reported that Sir Kevan will also focus on improving so-called “stuck schools” (schools that have previously been called “coasting” – those with two consecutive Ofsted judgments below ‘good’. It is estimated there are between 300 and 500 such schools. We will wait to hear how such schools will be identified once Labour has enacted another of its manifesto commitments – scrapping single-word judgments.
Labour curriculum & assessment review: Professor Becky Francis appointed Chair
It was announced on 18 July that Labour has appointed Professor Becky Francis CBE to chair its curriculum and assessment review. As we have reported, in their 2024 General Election manifesto Labour promised to launch an “expert-led” review of how pupils are taught and assessed.
Professor Francis has been chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) since 2020, taking over from Sir Kevan Collins. The EEF is a charity focusing on “breaking the link between family income and educational achievement”.
It is expected that Professor Francis will be seconded from her role at the EEF for a 12-month period whilst the review is undertaken and completed.
Prior to this, she was director of the UCL Institute of Education, the university’s faculty of education and society which specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education.
Professor Francis has previously taught and researched at the University of Greenwich, London Metropolitan University, Roehampton University and King’s College London. She was Director of Education at the Royal Society of Arts from 2010-2012, and is an elected fellow both of the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences. She was a standing advisor to the House of Commons’ Education Select Committee from 2015.
In an interview with TES in 2021, Professor Francis emphasised the importance of a “broad and balanced curriculum” in providing the foundations for higher studies. During the same interview, she emphasised the importance of quality early years education and suggested that if she were Secretary of State for Education, she would seek to incentivise “the best teachers [to go] into the schools in areas of social and economic deprivation” and would “involve employers in the review of foundation qualifications for those young people who don’t secure grades 4 and above at GCSE”.
In comments following Liz Truss’s government’s reported plans to consider the creation of new grammar schools, Professor Francis urged ministers to focus on “evidence not ideology”, which is particularly relevant for the work of CLA’s Evidence and Value Narrative Working Group, and an important signal following the policy direction of recent years. Professor Francis’ appointment has been warmly welcomed by many in the sector.
You can read the most recent interview with Bridget Phillipson in The Guardian here.
Curriculum & assessment review
The review follows Labour’s 2024 General Election manifesto pledge to “modernise” the curriculum and reform assessment.
The manifesto states that “every child should have a broad curriculum with an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths, and support to develop essential digital, speaking and creative skills”. It goes on to outline how the party will launch “an expert-led review” of curriculum and assessment, “working with school staff, parents and employers” to deliver “a curriculum which is rich and broad, inclusive and innovative”.
The review will also consider “the right balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations”.
In 2022, then-Shadow Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson said that a Labour government would reform the curriculum to “value skills as well as knowledge”.
This follows the House of Lords’ Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee report, published at the end of 2023, which found that focusing on a knowledge-rich curriculum “overloads students” and “stifles their engagement in education. The report called for a “significant reduction” in examination at Key Stage 4 and for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure to be scrapped. This call is echoed by our own CLA blueprint for an inclusive arts-rich education.
Curriculum & Assessment Review: Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference for the review can be read in full here, outlining in detail the aims and working principle of the review and the group which will be appointed to undertake it; a summary of the key points can also be found below. Additionally, Phillipson sent a letter to Professor Francis indicating that she will hold regular meetings with Professor Francis alongside Minister for Schools Catherine McKinnell MP and Minister for Skills Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith to discuss progress and emerging findings.
- The Review will have a consultation period – yet to be announced.
- The Review Group will publish an interim report early in 2025 setting out interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The Department for Education plans to publish the final review with recommendations in Autumn 2025.
- The Review will seek to deliver a curriculum and assessment system that:
- Provides ‘an excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and maths’
- Covers subjects including music, art, sport, drama and vocational subjects ‘so that children and young people do not miss out’
- Embeds ‘digital, oracy and life skills’ to ensure children and young people ‘leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work’
- Reflects ‘the issues and diversities of our society’
- ‘Captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum, with the right balance of assessment methods whilst maintaining the important role of examinations’
- The Review ‘will seek evolution not revolution’ and ‘will seek to ensure that the curriculum and assessment system does not place undue burdens on education staff and, wherever possible, supports manageable and sustainable workloads’.
- It may also ‘offer commentary on the impact of accountability on the curriculum and assessment system and may wish to recommend how changes to curriculum and assessment should interact with accountability measures’, suggesting that an examination of Ofsted’s impact will fall under the review.
- The Review will ‘pay particular attention to the ceilings of achievement which exist’ ‘at Key Stages 4 and 5’.
- Attention will be paid to the practicalities of implementation and to the avoidance of unintended consequences and additional workload for education staff.
- The Review Group will not make recommendations directly in relation to core schools funding or workforce supply issues. These will be considered in the round by the Government at the next Spending Review.
CLA looks forward to submitting a detailed response on behalf of our members.
The King’s speech on 17 July – the education agenda from the new Labour government
On 17July the King outlined the legislative agenda for the new government for the next year ahead, and after all the speculation we can now see what the early phase of the new parliament means for schools. It was confirmed that Labour will introduce a new Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which will provide a wrapper for a range of education policies. The Bill is expected to become law this year. Of specific interest are the sections on:
- Curriculum review and assessment reviews and the requirement for all schools to follow the national curriculum
- Local authority co-ordination of SEND provision
- The children not in school register
- Consistency of inspection between academies and maintained schools
- The removal of VAT exemption on fees for private school fees
Other areas for legislation in the bill include:
- Limiting the number of branded items in school uniform
- Promoting the value and importance of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
- Regulation and inspection of independent schools
Number 10 issued a very helpful Briefing note with further detail on the bill under the heading ‘Break down barriers to opportunity’ which highlights that:
- 1 in 4 children are in absolute poverty as of 2023
- Multi-academy trusts currently run over 45 per cent of state schools and there is considerable variation in trust level performance
- There are nearly 9.1 million pupils in the school system, with over 8 million pupils across more than 20,000 state-funded schools in England, 170,000 pupils in special and alternative provision and 600,000 pupils in private schools
- More children than ever are not in school (a 14 per cent increase since October 2022)
New Ministerial Taskforce launched to start work on the Child Poverty Strategy
On the same day as the King’s Speech, Number 10 gave notice of a new taskforce to develop the future Child Poverty strategy. In the press release the government stated the background to the work as:
“Child poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010 with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This not only harms children’s lives now it damages their future prospects and holds back our economic potential as a country. That’s why we’re committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start at life. Government ministers will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, and campaigners in the coming weeks as we begin work to develop the strategy.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “For too long children have been left behind, and no decisive action has been taken to address the root causes of poverty. This is completely unacceptable – no child should be left hungry, cold or have their future held back. That’s why we’re prioritising work on an ambitious child poverty strategy and my ministers will leave no stone unturned to give every child the very best start at life.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson emphasised that tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving life chances for every child.
CLA welcomes this focus on every child’s life chances, and the recognition that poverty impacts readiness to learn and access to opportunity, and also welcomes the strong cross-departmental approach indicated by Phillipson’s commitment to working with the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall in supporting families and communities. This shared mission approach is extremely helpful, as is the commitment to working with parents, charities and civic organisations, given the need to close the enrichment gap highlighted in our 2024 Report Card.
Increases in child poverty revealed as 8 in 10 primary schoolteachers spend their own money to help pupils
Figures just published from the Department for Education (DfE) school census of January 2024 show that 2.1m pupils qualify for free school meals, up by 75,000 from a year ago – that’s a quarter of state school pupils. The Child Poverty Action group responded by saying that up to 900,000 more might be living in poverty but didn’t qualify under current rules.
Children are eligible if their parents or carers receive benefits or universal credit and their household income after tax is below £7,400. You can read the Guardian’s coverage of the census data here.
Meanwhile, as the cost of living crisis continues to challenge families across the country, an NFER study has revealed that 8 in 10 primary teachers and a third of secondary teachers are spending their own money to help pupils. In primary schools a quarter of teachers said they had spent more than £100 this year. As well as clothing and food, two third of primary teachers reported spending on classroom material for arts and science, as well as books and revision materials. The crisis is slightly less severe in secondary schools but two thirds were spending their own money on pupils with one in five having spent more than £100 this year. You can read the Guardian’s coverage of this here.
CLA’s focus on access to arts education as a social justice issue is reinforced by the bleakness of these latest findings. We are looking at ways of including more equalities data in our annual Report Card for 2025 so that we can gain a better picture in relation to arts access for the most disadvantaged children.
Further increases in young carers and SEND need revealed by DfE census data
The DfE census also reveals that the number of pupils and young people with caring responsibilities has grown to 54,000 this year up from 39,000 last year, including 21,000 primary school children (this is only the second year such data has been collected.
The DfE census data reveals that the number of pupils attending schools for special educational needs has also increased rapidly. This year 157,000 pupils attended state-funded special schools in England, compared with 105,000 in 2015-16, coinciding with the growth in children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
All of these changes highlight the challenges in many young people’s lives and educational experiences, and are therefore relevant for CLA’s work – when we know that arts opportunities and experiences can bring profound benefits for the children who most need them.
Stark warning about lack of specialist teachers
Latest government data has revealed that full- and part-time teacher vacancies have increased by 20 per cent since last year. Prior to the election, seven non-arts subject associations warned that the use of non-specialist teachers has become “endemic” and must be addressed by the party that forms the next government.
In a joint statement, covered by TES, the subject associations said with teacher recruitment struggling to hit government targets, too many pupils were being denied the chance to be taught by a subject expert.
They said: “The impact of an educational system will always be determined by the quality of its teachers and young people deserve to be taught by teachers who are experts in their subjects. “However, we are concerned such positive experiences are becoming more limited, especially for young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds.”
To underline why this is so important, the signatories also noted how often public figures credit a teacher for inspiring a love of a subject and setting them on a career path linked to a subject. To tackle this issue, the associations said the next government must do more to “strengthen the recruitment of, and ongoing support for, expert subject teachers.”
We would endorse this call, which links to our own coverage of the issue in our 2024 Report Card, and to our manifesto ask for an entitlement to teacher training and teacher development – ensuring opportunities for Expressive Arts subjects, and a minimum level of arts training for primary teachers.
YouGov/NEU poll reveals parents concerned about school funding and lack of teachers
In a poll of 3,000 parents take before and after the election was called, research commissioned by NEU/YouGov highlighted their concerns with school funding and a lack of teachers – including non-specialists.
A total of 60% of parents with children in state secondary schools said their child had been taught by a supply or non-specialist teacher for more than a week once a month or more compared to 34% in state primaries. This figure stands at 58% for parents with children in years 10 and 11 who are preparing for exams. More than half (52%) of students in English state secondary schools are being taught by a supply or a non-specialist teacher – when asked how often their child’s education is disrupted 42% of parents said this occurred once a month or more.
When asked which policy priorities would help their child succeed, the most popular answers called for more resource, staffing and funding. 41% of parents said better facilities would help and 40% said more qualified teachers. 36% supported a greater choice over subjects they could study. 50% are dissatisfied with Government support for school trips and extracurricular activities.
We were particularly interested to see that 29% of parents said that more of a focus on arts education would help, and are heartened that parents see the benefits of Expressive Arts subjects even at a time when we are emerging from an era during which they were deemed strategically unimportant by the last government.
Mental Health main source of pupil absences say headteachers
According to headteachers, children’s mental health and anxiety are the biggest drivers behind the sustained rise in school absences since the pandemic. Nearly nine out of ten secondary school leaders – including attendance officers – said there had been a marked increase in pupils missing school over the past two years because of mental health issues. Those most disrupted by Covid seem to be the most affected in terms of absence. You can read more here.
Last year, the Department for Education (DfE) classed 150,000 children at state schools in England as severely absent – missing more than half their sessions – 150% higher than the 60,000 who were severely absent in 2018-19, before the pandemic.
CLA’s Evidence and Value Narrative Working Group is currently investigating the evidence for the ways in which studying the arts can provide positive experiences for children which can improve their mental health – we look forward to reporting on this again soon.
Remembering Sir Tim Brighouse, a true champion of education
On 15 June, people from across the globe gathered in London to celebrate the life and achievements of renowned educationalist, visionary leader and lovely man Tim Brighouse.
Tim attended Lowestoft Grammar School and then read history at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. He taught in Buxton and Chepstow before moving to educational administration, first in Monmouthshire. This was followed by appointments in Buckinghamshire, the Association of County Councils, and the Inner London Education Authority. Subsequently appointments were:
- 1978-1989: Chief Education Officer, Oxfordshire
- 1989–1992: Professor of Education, The University of Keele
- 1993-2002: Chief Education Officer, Birmingham
- 2003-2007: Commissioner and Chief Adviser for London Schools
- 2009: Knighted for services to education
Tim’s legacy in education is profound and enduring. He dedicated his life to helping others thrive in education, and his impact often reached colleagues and students in a personal way, leaving lasting impressions and many anecdotes to share. His visionary leadership, advocacy for comprehensive education, inspirational teaching, and influential writings have left an indelible mark on the field of education.
For an interview with Research Machines (RM) in 2005 Tim spoke about the purposes of education – a conversation the CLA is determined to continue:
“There’s a two-fold purpose to education. One is … are we going to make life better economically, whether as an individual or collectively as a society? The second, and in my book the far more important, purpose of education is a moral one: if you don’t have an educated people, they can’t be free. There’s a form of mental slavery which is as real as any economic one: we’re pledged to destroy it. Educationalists must do that, and they do it by unlocking kids’ minds.”
Sir Tim Brighouse
As we celebrate Tim Brighouse, we acknowledge the transformative power of a dedicated educator. His life and work serve as a reminder of the profound impact that one individual can have on the lives of many. His contributions to education will continue to inspire and guide future generations of educators and learners.
You can find out more about Sir Tim Brighouse’s life and work on the dedicated website for the event: www.alifeforeducation.co.uk and Schools Week covered the event here.
A book to celebrate Tim’s life and work is due to be published in October 2024. Edited by David Cameron, Steve Mumby and long-time friend of the CLA, Mick Waters, Unfinished Business is both a tribute to Sir Tim Brighouse and a call to action based on Tim’s approaches, commitment and ideas.
Quick news round-up
14 June: CLA data was highlighted in an article in the Guardian prior to the general election in which theatre leaders condemned the side-lining of arts subjects by the last government. The piece demonstrates the value of the CLA’s close analysis of government data sets to reveal the full picture of children’s arts access and engagement.
14 July: Arts Council England chair has a five-point plan for a cultural ‘reboot.’ Sir Nicholas Serota shared his plan in the Observer, recognising they are not new ideas. One is a focus on early years intervention in the form of an ‘Arts Start’ programme; the second, in line with our blueprint for an arts-rich education, is a creative entitlement for every child and young person.
18 June, BBC: Councils in England are forecasting a massive SEND shortfall in budgets. The BBC contacted 153 councils in England to request their financial forecasts, of which 113 responded, and found that councils face a deficit of almost £1bn in schools’ funds for SEND students. Since 2019, the accumulated deficit in England for Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (Send) has reached £3.2bn since 2019, according to the County Council Network.
16 July: Poorer pupils are now 19 months behind their peers at the end of secondary school. A report for the Education Policy Institute analysing exam data has found that the disadvantage gap for both primary and secondary pupils has widened since pre-pandemic (2019), and now stands at its widest since 2012. The disadvantage gap had been slowly narrowing slowly prior to 2019 but was already stalling by the time of the pandemic. By the end of Key Stage 2, poorer pupils are 10.3 months behind their better off peers, an increase of a month since 2019. The gap at the end of Key Stage is now 19.2 months, which is 1.1 months more than 2019.
