‘Every child achieving and thriving’: the broader reforms you should know about

In our previous article, 'Every child achieving and thriving': UK government sends clear message for schools and academies’, we explored the significant special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms proposed by the Government in the long-awaited white paper, ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ (the White Paper).

While SEND was central to this White Paper, it did include numerous non-SEND reforms which are worthy of attention. In this article, we consider some of these other agenda items.

Academisation

In The Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Bill the Government set out a significant reform of the academisation framework. Forced academisation would be brought to an end. The duty to make an Academy Order in relation to a ‘School Causing Concern’ would be repealed, replaced by a discretionary power for the Secretary of State to exercise. The message from Government was clear; that academisation would not be the default solution for struggling schools.

The White Paper marks a significant change in policy, stating that:

'Our best school trusts illustrate the transformational potential of schools working together for children. By sharing resources and best practice, and through strong governance, they have shown that they are more resilient, can meet children’s needs and deliver the highest quality education in partnership.

We [the Department for Education] will put collaboration at the heart of the system by moving to all schools joining or forming high-quality school trusts, including enabling new local authority established trusts'

This is a notable shift and a big vote of confidence for academisation, and the best examples of multi academy trusts (MATs). Even well performing maintained schools and single academy trusts (SATs) will now feel the policy push towards joining an appropriate MAT.

This will not happen overnight, with the White Paper stressing that DfE will prioritise ‘quality over pace’ . However, we can expect greater dialogue between existing trusts and the DfE to explore the implementation of this programme in the coming months.

Trust Standards and inspection

Accompanying this academisation shift will be the introduction of ‘Trust Standards’, aimed at strengthening accountability. Whilst detail of the standards has not yet been provided, we know that at a high level they will cover inclusion, value for money, and contributing willingly to community collaboration.

These Trust Standards are accompanied by new commitments to inspection, and ultimately intervention where the standards are not met. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill had already set out how it would look to introduce inspection at a trust wide level (as opposed to the current system which just inspects individual academies within the MAT). The push for bigger, high-quality MATs means that a coherent inspection framework will be of even greater importance.

The White Paper emphasises that the purpose of inspections will be to assess quality rather than check for compliance. DfE hopes that this will reduce the burden of school-level inspection, though it remains to be seen what this will look like in practice.

CEO pay

The White Paper sets out DfE expectations that pay for trust CEOs will be:

'justifiable, transparent, evidence-based and reflect individual responsibility'.

While accountability over executive pay is nothing new, the White Paper expresses concern that in some cases, high salaries have been agreed when compared to peer CEOs. DfE has committed to a tightening up of the academy trust handbook, by requiring executive pay increases to be proportionate and justified. They hope this will prevent excessive increases for individuals carrying out broadly similar roles and represent better value for money for the public purse.

Behaviour

As any education practitioner will know, issues around behaviour and SEND can be closely intertwined. As part of its overhaul of the wider school system architecture, the DfE will refresh its statutory guidance on Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions.

In addition, updated guidance has already been published on restrictive interventions. While there will be more on this to follow, an overarching theme is empowering teachers to protect the safety of staff and other pupils, while also ensuring accountability when intervening action is taken.

Another key measure to be introduced within the behaviour framework is the introduction of ‘Reintegration Support Partnerships’, which will comprise of a formal meeting following suspension bringing together the school, the pupil and their family to agree a reintegration plan, clarify responsibility and identify any additional support required. It is hoped that this will ensure that suspensions lead to constructive and planned reintegration rather than repeated cycles of exclusion.

What next?

The DfE will work with the wider education sector to implement the reforms in a sequenced, phased and manageable way. The changes required will include wide ranging changes to existing legislation, new legislation, statutory guidance and regulators.

If you are a school leader and would like advice on any of the issues raised in this article, please contact a member of the Hill Dickinson Education Team.

This article was co-authored by Trainee Solicitor, India Hall.