Rishi Sunak's announcement that a general election will be held on Thursday July 4 marks the start of a campaign in which schools policy is expected to be a major flashpoint.
The Prime Minister said this was “the moment for Britain to choose its future”.
But it means several important school policies are likely to be delayed as public bodies enter a purdah period, including teacher pay deals.
If Labor wins power as expected, a number of proposed policies, including minimum service levels, will also be scrapped.
This also means many schools will face disruption as schools used as polling places for the day are closed.
What school issues will come up in the election, who teachers will vote for, and what policies they will prefer – school week Here's everything you need to know…
What school problems do you think are most likely to occur?
In England, the vote comes at a time when school leaders are demanding more funding for schools, buildings are collapsing, the RAAC is still leaving some in disrepair and ministers are preparing for a new fight with unions over pay. I will participate.
The union relaunched its highly effective School Cuts website last year in anticipation of this year's election.
In 2017, education became the third biggest issue for voters, after Brexit and health. The Conservatives ultimately lost their majority.
A post-election poll found that 750,000 people changed their vote because of school funding concerns.
However, only 12% of people think education is one of the most important issues facing the country, according to a YouGov poll. This is much lower than other major issues such as the economy, health and immigration.
Important policies delayed (and some are likely junk)
Due to this election, Parliament is scheduled to be dissolved next Thursday (May 30). The public body will then be subject to the purdah rules. That means nothing can be done that could affect matters related to the election, although the date has not yet been set.
Previously this had delayed the announcement of new free schools and led to an 'inadequate' Ofsted report being shelved. In fact, the government is having a hard time making decisions or announcing anything.
This means that some very important things will be delayed and other proposed policies will never see the light of day if Labor comes to power as expected.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan promised the Government would make the details public. Teacher Salary Proposal But now it will likely be delayed again and passed on to the new government.
The government does not typically respond to recommendations from the Teacher Pay Review Body until mid- or late July. This causes great frustration for unions and leaders who must make salary assumptions when setting budgets.
that much Final Recommendations from the Workload Reduction Task Force It was scheduled for publication in the spring, but will now fall into obscurity.
The Ministry of Education is making the following plans. Updated Recruitment and Retention Strategy for 2019; But this won't matter anymore.
Ofsted is also consulting on the changes as part of that. great listening.
In the meantime, several talks on new things are underway. transgender map, Enhanced protection against unregistered provisions and sex education classes.
consultation on Minimum service level In the field of education, no conclusion has yet been reached, but Labor has already announced that it will abolish it if it comes to power.
How do teachers plan to vote?
When Mr Tapp asked this in October, 62 per cent of teachers said they planned to vote Labor.
9% planned to vote Liberal Democrat and just 3% planned to vote Conservative. 16% did not know.
According to the BBC's national poll tracker, as of May 20, Labor had a national approval rating of 44%, the Conservatives had 23%, the Reform Party had 11% and the Liberal Democrats had 10%.
When Tapp teachers were asked to choose one priority issue to address, nearly half of elementary teachers said funding. For secondary teachers, student behavior was the most popular (31%), followed by funding (23%).
What has Labor promised?
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has made education one of his key “missions”.
A key policy is to end tax breaks for private schools and use some of that money to hire 6,500 more teachers, but the party has not said how this will be achieved.
The party also wants a “national excellence program” to improve schools, £210 million to give teachers the right to CPD, Ofsted reform to abolish single-word judgments, free primary school breakfast clubs and access to counselors for all pupils. promised.
Labor also plans to review curriculum and assessment, establish new local school improvement teams and introduce a £2,400 retention payment for teachers who complete the two-year early careers scheme.
You can read all of their commitments in our policy tracker here.
What do teachers think of Labour's policies?
Labor's commitment to mental health is the most popular across the sector, a Tapp teacher poll has found. Open mental health hubs in every community ranked first, with the promise of more mental health professionals coming in second and third.
Replacing Ofsted grades with a “balanced scorecard” was fourth, and The Breakfast Club in all primaries was fifth.
The only policy that caused significant disagreement among some teachers was the party's plan to impose value-added tax on private school tuition.
On the other hand, secondary teachers were much less likely to favor the party's curriculum review policy.
What will the Tories' pitch be?
Ministers expect the Conservatives to focus on their record on education as they try to stay in power.
They have already started sharing endlessly misleading statements that the proportion of ‘good’ or better schools has increased from 68% to 89%.
The party will also tout the country's strong ranking in the PISA league table as evidence that reforms over the past 14 years have worked.
In his speech today, Sunak said the government had reformed education and our children were now some of the best readers in the Western world.
With respect to the new policy, this is less clear.
But Sunak will talk a lot about plans for new “Higher British Standard” qualifications, which would replace A-levels and T-levels and require all students to study English and maths by the age of 18.
What are sector leaders saying?
“Fourteen years of neglect and underfunding have left education from early childhood to post-16 in shambles,” said Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union.
“All political parties must address this issue in their manifestos. Use piecemeal solutions rather than vague terms. “But if they form the next government, they will have meaningful proposals for how this situation can be reversed.”
“Our message is we need a government that will invest in education and invest in young people. If you care about education, vote for it. “Let’s give our children the education they deserve.”
“All political parties must make it a priority in their manifestos to commit to providing schools and colleges with the funding and staff they need to provide a good education for all children and young people,” said Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the ASCL leaders' union. young people”.
For too long, education has been viewed as a drain on current resources rather than an investment in future success. “In the coming months, all political parties and candidates will have the opportunity to right this wrong, and we urge them to seize that opportunity.”