The Changes You Really Need to Know from the DfE’s Schools White Paper

On 28 March, the Department for Education outlined a raft of proposed reforms to education in England in the new Schools White Paper, titled ‘Opportunity for all: Strong schools with great teachers for your child’.

The Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has introduced the White Paper as the vehicle for his vision to raise standards, increase the support available to children who are struggling and, more generally, ‘give them the tools to lead a happy, fulfilled and successful life’.

Rather than any revolutions in education policy, the White Paper’s contents build on and expand current frameworks. Relatively cautious and incremental as they are, its proposals will still have a considerable impact on many facets of education in this country, from teacher training to behaviour management to academisation.  

These reforms seek to realise two ambitious topline targets for 2030:

•    That 90% of primary school children will achieve the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, with the percentage meeting the expecting standard in the worst performing areas increasing by a third.
•    That the national GCSE average grade in both English language and maths will increase to 5.

At 68 pages of A4, the White Paper is no pamphlet. To help you quickly make sense of the changes on the way, we’ve pulled together the key points that educators and school leaders should be aware of.

The White Paper commits to ensuring that ‘by 2030, every child will be taught by an excellent teacher trained in the best-evidenced approaches’.

To achieve this, the DfE pledge to deliver 500,000 teacher training and professional development opportunities by 2024. On top of those included in previously-announced reforms to Initial Teacher Training and the Early Career Framework, the government will be funding scholarships for 150,000 NPQs. A new Leading Literacy NPQ is on the way in September 2022, with an NPQ for Early Years Leadership to come at some point after, while the DfE is ‘consulting’ on a new leadership level NPQ for SENCOs to replace the National Award in SEN Coordination.

The tentpole policy here is arguably the proposed Institute of Teaching, a ‘flagship teacher development provider, delivering cutting-edge training’ with degree-awarding powers. This new institution will deliver training across ‘at least’ four regional campuses.

To make teaching a more attractive career choice, the starter salary will be raised to £30,000. The government are also throwing money at shortages in certain subjects: modern languages graduates can look forward to a targeted scholarship, engineers will be eligible for a special ITT course to tempt them into teaching physics, while the Levelling Up Premium will provide up to £3,000 for STEM teachers to work in disadvantaged schools. 

The White Paper promises to establish a new ‘arms-length’ curriculum body that will work with teachers to create free resources. These will be accessible by pupils and teachers through a ‘digital hub’. There will no change to the National Curriculum.

To gauge schools’ performances in core skills, a small sample of Year 9 pupils from each school will undergo a new literacy and numeracy test. Schools’ efforts to improve progress in these areas will be buttressed by dedicated English and maths hubs. 

Top of the list of the White Paper’s reforms in this area is a new National Behaviour Survey which will collect data on behaviour and attendance. Further details are yet to be confirmed.

To help schools ‘develop strong cultures that reduce poor behaviour’, teachers and leaders will also be given access to a fully-funded NPQ in Behaviour and Culture.

Schools should now expect safeguarding audits every three years, undertaken by Local Safeguarding Partnerships. 

The centrepiece of the White Paper is the DfE’s new ‘Parent Pledge’, a promise to parents ‘from government, via schools, to famlies’ that any child who falls behind in English or maths will receive ‘timely and evidence-based support’ to catch up.

To deliver this, the DfE will continue to expand provision of the National Tutoring Programme, with its model of small-group, targeted intervention to become a ‘core academic option in the pupil premium menu’ by 2024. This will be made possible through access to a ‘vibrant tutoring market’. 

One of the White Paper’s more noteworthy targets is that, by 2030, all children will be taught in a school within a multi academy trust ‘or [a school] with plans to join or form one’.

These trusts are ‘expect[ed]’ to serve at least 10 schools or 7,500 pupils. While no numerical limit will be imposed on trust sizes, there will be a cap placed on the proportion of schools any one trust can run in a particular area.

Local authorities will now be able to set up new multi academy trusts in underserved areas. In another first, good schools will potentially be allowed to move trusts ‘in exceptional circumstances’.

A consultation is expected ‘shortly’ on moving schools that have received two consecutive Ofsted ratings below ‘Good’ into trusts, starting in the DfE’s designated Education Investment Areas.

For some expert perspectives on academisation and other pressing topics in UK education, read the latest free report from our Education Advisory Board here. 

As the UK’s leading educational recruitment agency, we place tens of thousands of educators in positions at our 5,000-strong network of partner schools across England. Whether you’re an educator looking to explore the potentials of catch-up tutoring, or a school leader expanding their arsenal of targeted support, we’ll be here for opportunities and advice. All you have to do is get in touch.