School principals know that problem-solving is a marathon, not a sprint

If it was clear from the emails that arrived after the autumn budget that school leaders and other education experts see solving problems in the English education system as a marathon, not a sprint.

This is because we face big challenges. Universities warn that yes threatened with bankruptcygoals have been missed rebuilding failing schools, teachers are leaving the profession and a system designed to help children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send). was called “broken”.

However, experts are not entirely agreed on how quickly the government should act at this early stage.

There are those who were hoping for a sprint this week.

Daniel Kebede, secretary general of the National Education Union (NEU), which has led teacher strikes in recent years, said the new funding announcements were “insufficient” and the government needed to “act much faster”.

The £2.3 billion increase in the primary school budget – a 1.8% increase in real terms according to the Education Policy Institute (EPI) – includes £1 billion for Send.

The £1.3 billion remaining for mainstream schools would leave principals in a “very difficult position”, Kebede said, given the difficulties they have recruiting teachers and retaining them.

Others see the budget as something that has a steady start – maybe a run – and hopes that the pace of its implementation will increase later.

Julia Harnden, of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said the £300 million announced for further education “does not match the Government’s ambition to focus primarily on skills” and that the £6.7 billion for school and college buildings – in total including removing dangerous concrete and transforming empty classrooms into nurseries – “does not cover the existing gaps.”

“While there is much to be positive about in (Wednesday’s) Budget, there is much more to be done and much of what we have heard concerns relatively small spending commitments that do not match the level of investment required by the education system,” she said.

However, some believe that the government still has time to increase this pace and should treat the next spending review, due in spring, as a milestone.

“The gross neglect of schools under the Conservative government has meant that it has always been difficult to provide school principals with all the financial support they need within the budget itself,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school principals union NAHT.

“This is a well-intentioned start, but must be underpinned by further ambition and investment as part of the multi-annual spending review due next spring.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the Treasury showed this week that it “recognizes the need for greater investment” in further education and that it hopes for a “better, longer-term” plan next year.

“We don’t expect this picture to change overnight, but we want the government to present an investment plan for the next three to five years,” he said.

EPI said any long-term plan for universities should include allocating funds based on the proportion of disadvantaged students who study there. “This alone will cost £340m a year” – exceeding the amount allocated for next year.

And as the government begins to announce funding, it will be acutely aware of calls for other system-wide reforms down the road.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, wants “fundamental reform of the Send system, focusing on improving inclusion in mainstream settings and writing off high-needs deficit councils”.

ASCL said a new Send plan was needed to “ensure funding always goes to the frontline”, while the NEU said it was in talks with the government on what reform should look like.

Universities, whose major calls for financial aid were not included in this week’s budget, also say they want to work with ministers on a new plan for higher education. They say decisions need to be made soon, including raising tuition fees in England in line with inflation.

Ministers are already in the process of increasing the number of free childcare hours – a reform introduced by the Conservatives that will remain under close scrutiny, especially since the £1.8 billion figure announced by the Chancellor last weekend was actually pledged by her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt .

As the government begins its marathon, every decision will have to be made based on the situation declining student numbers in the coming years – and that approximately 35,000 children could move to the state sector as a result of adding VAT to private schools.

There’s a bumpy road ahead of us.