Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT,
said: “Today’s select committee session covered a lot of ground
and the Secretary of State’s comments have raised a number of
issues of interest to school leaders.
“Whilst we agree that schools should be politically neutral
spaces, there is a need to allow debate to flourish, challenging
topics to be discussed and for pupils to begin to form their own
views free from the influence of government or other powerful
voices and organisations.
“In the absence of exams this year, schools have worked
incredibly hard to submit reliable and credible grades for their
GCSE and A Level students. Yesterday we welcomed the Welsh
Government’s announcement that a rebate of 50 per cent would be
available from the exam boards in Wales, recognising the enormous
input schools and colleges have had in awarding these grades.
NAHT strongly urges the Westminster government to take note and
follow suit.
“The news that exams for 2022 may be adjusted to take into
account this year’s disruption will surprise no-one in the
sector. The important thing now is that schools and colleges are
given clear information from government about how many scenarios
they should be planning for. The government cannot be allowed to
sleep-walk into a third year of uncertainty and confusion.
“The government needs to step up its recovery plans for
education. They cannot have failed to notice the very poor
reception their plans received when they were revealed last
month. The resignation of the government’s recovery commissioner
should be of huge concern to ministers who must know that their
plans lack the scope and ambition to truly tackle the scale of
the recovery task that schools will be engaged in.
“Funding is a key part of this. As our recent poll of members
showed, rather than dictating how education recovery happens, the
government needs to give schools the flexible funding and
resources to get on with the job in the way they know works best.
“NAHT’s Education Recovery Blueprint includes seven fundamental
areas of work that ought to lead to a stronger and fairer
education system for all. The government’s recovery plan just
isn’t ambitious enough, frankly.”
