Speaking at 4.15 PM on Friday 3 May to school leaders' union, the
NAHT's annual conference in Newport, general secretary Paul
Whiteman will:
- Call for an education champion at
the Cabinet table,
- Warn all parties that education
must be a priority in their election manifesto,
- Say that Prime Minister has failed to provide
funding for education after he called it a “silver bullet” in
his speech to the Conservative Party conference last year,
- Reiterate the need for urgent
Ofsted reform, describing the current system as a “diseased root
which creates further havoc across the school
ecosystem”:
“I suspect that the election manifesto for the government is
pretty well cast. But Gillian (Keegan), you are the professions'
champion around the cabinet table. Children need you to be
successful in making that case.
“For the best part of fifteen years now, schools have been
treated as though they're a sideline, a niche portfolio to be
considered once all populist talk on immigration, polarised
positions on trans rights, and removing the right to protest have
been exhausted.
“The effect of such neglect on our schools has been pernicious.
“If political parties think the electorate haven't noticed, or
simply don't care, I strongly suspect they're all going to have a
nasty shock during the election campaign.
“I appeal to all our politicians ………raise your game out of the
gutter of smears, misdirection, and the creation of division to
simply win a vote.
“Instead have vision and put a compelling proposition to the
country.
“Don't simply be less bad than the others.
“As we meet here in Wales, the birthplace and home of one of the
UKs political giants I make that appeal.
“Nye Bevan, a politician with vision and determination.
“Demonstrating the use power, not for its trappings of for its
own sake, but for the good of the country.
“A transformative vision for a health service that even after 70
years we value more and more each day.
“Where is the modern politician that will have a similar level of
ambition for the nation's children and young people?
“Who will create an education system that the whole country will
value in the same way as the NHS?
“Who will promise an education settlement that goes beyond
talking big, and delivers great things for the future of the
nation?
Mr Whiteman will also speak about the need for Ofsted reform,
after the response to the education select committee report “left
a chill in the air”: Mr Whiteman will say:
“The accountability system, in its current form, resembles a
diseased root which creates further havoc across the school
ecosystem.
“From the monumental increases in workload, to never-ending
cycles of monitoring and accountability, and, most importantly to
the detriment of our members and their teams' well-being
and mental health.”
“It does nothing for children or their families either, despite
the rhetoric.
“Accountability and inspection need to be re-imagined in their
entirety.”
