The children’s wellbeing and schools bill aims to deliver important changes to the education sector, but it risks missing its mark unless policymakers work closely with the people on the front line.
In the Edurio Policy Scan we published last week, 123 school trust CEOs have flagged important considerations for the schools bill to help, not hinder, school improvement.
Their feedback reflects a nuanced picture that reaches beyond “for” and “against” the bill.
Two thirds say that at least one of the proposed changes will impact their trust negatively.
Less than a third (29 per cent) say that any of the provisions will have a positive impact on their school improvement work as they stand, though a similar number believes that some of the provisions might have a positive effect with revisions.
1. Fully fund reforms – or things could get worse
A recurring concern among CEOs is that funding might not match up the bill’s ambition. A prime example is free breakfast clubs in primaries. Many CEOs support the principle, but stress it must be fully funded to succeed.
As one leader explains: “It needs to be fully funded to be affordable – based on current figures, it is not affordable for our trust.”
Reflecting on the bill as a whole, another warns: “We all want to do our very best for our children and families, but unless funding is fair, and covers the increased costs imposed by the government, the situation simply worsens.”
2. QTS change could block trusts ‘growing their own’ teachers
Proposals to require qualified teacher status are aligned with trust priorities in principle – high-quality teaching is every school’s goal.
But teacher recruitment and retention is under severe strain. Trusts’ efforts to “grow their own” teachers could be blocked by an inflexible need for QTS.
According to one CEO: “Some of our teachers start out as teaching assistants or other support roles and are developed and encouraged to become qualified teachers through having opportunities to teach prior to gaining their qualifications.”
In small and rural schools or subjects like music, design and technology, and MFL, leaders say they rely on specialists who do not yet hold QTS.
Ending flexible pathways risks worsening existing staff shortages.
3. Reforms could cause problems for SEND schools
The bill’s moves towards uniformity in curriculum, staff pay, and other areas have a logic that appeals to some CEOs, but many worry that the provisions will fail to accommodate the diversity of pupils’ needs.
One special trust CEO explains: “We need flexibility to be able to design the curriculum to meet the aspirational outcomes for our young people – for some this will be level 2 qualifications, for some it will be full-time employment, for others it will be to have greater autonomy over their lives and so less reliance on others.”
Another warns that: “Finding teachers who want to work in the SEND world is very challenging.
“We use qualified teachers where we can and have unqualified on teacher training courses, however, we would have difficulty filling all vacancies without unqualified teachers.”
4. Support for reform aims, but do they join up?
Many participants of the Policy Scan emphasise they support the bill’s aims, seeing considerable value in raising teacher standards, extending school provision and ensuring consistency in accountability.
Their overriding concern is that individual provisions appear disconnected from a longer-term strategy.
One CEO cautions: “All of these things are piecemeal and lack an overall strategy. As they are all bolted together, they lack coherency and are in danger of far out-stripping the capacity and resources required to properly implement.”
Others question the erosion of academy freedoms that have helped drive improvements in the sector
“The incremental legislation specifically on academies runs the risk of eroding a spirit of innovation, of stifling locally creative ways of addressing barriers and challenges,” one trust leader said.
5. Listen to trust leaders to get bill right
Their central plea is for policymakers to refine the bill so that it fits the lived realities on the ground and preserves the innovative potential of academies.
These trust leaders will be the ones turning policy into tangible practice. By collaborating with them, the government can shift the bill from well-intentioned legislation with risks of unintended circumstances to a true vehicle for improvement across all schools.
