Creating Value In Schools
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ASCL’s paper ‘A roadmap for a sustainable education system’ addresses three key questions:
It argues that schools are being expected to meet an expanding remit of needs, and this isn’t sustainable. Adequate funding is needed, and an agreement as to what schools are responsible for. And in order to attract new recruits, we need more flexible working, a better status for teachers, and less admin work.
Are schools and trusts being expected to take on too many societal burdens – without funding or acknowledgement?
For A roadmap for a sustainable education system, the ASCL Council examined what they thought schools, trusts and colleges should be responsible for, and what they shouldn’t. They’ve displayed the results as red, amber or green.
For example, the behaviour of pupils when they are on site is green – a school responsibility. However, what pupils do on social media out of school hours is red – not a school responsibility.
The report acknowledges that some schools or trusts want to do more, and be a hub for community services, for example. This is fine, they say – but schools need to be properly funded to do it.
Furthermore, if it’s not a core education service, then the funding for it shouldn’t come from the schools budget.
The report also makes the point that accountability measures need to be tied to schools’ core functions.
This notion of schools as community hubs or anchor institutions came up in our podcast conversation with Benedicte Yue, CFO and school business champion. Benedicte describes schools as ‘civic institutions with a collective responsibility for the success of the children in their community’.
Being anchored in your community means having a joined-up approach with other civic actors and tackling barriers to learning. If children come to school but their learning is hampered by their family’s difficult situation, isn’t that something to address?
The paper identifies key barriers to teacher recruitment and ways to overcome them, such as:
Flexible and remote working: while remote or hybrid working has become the norm in other industries, it’s not an option for school staff generally. Is this putting people off teaching? How can teaching compete better with other industries? What can be done to create more flexible working options?
Download our concise guide to flexible working for suggestions!
Workforce diversity: ‘a diverse and representative workforce is essential for ensuring equitable educational outcomes’ says the report. It recommends more outreach and financial incentives for under-represented groups in initial teacher training – though doesn’t mention that a key barrier is getting accepted onto a course in the first place.
People from Asian, black and other ethnic backgrounds are over-represented among applicants to postgraduate ITT, but these groups are under-represented among trainees entering teaching. Racial equality in the teacher workforce - NFER
For more on the pressures within schools faced by staff from global majority backgrounds, check out Avoiding and addressing staff burnout.
