The Education Policy Institute partnered with Education Support to hold a private roundtable on: ‘The schools white paper six months on – what will it take for schools to deliver effective education reform?’
The schools white paper sets out an ambitious education reform agenda. Six months on from its publication, schools are considering what successful delivery will require in practice, alongside major changes across accountability, curriculum and assessment, SEND, and workforce policy. Together, these reforms have the potential to improve outcomes for all children and young people, but only if schools have the capacity to implement them successfully.
At the same time, Education Support’s research continues to show unsustainable levels of workload pressure, stress and intention to leave across the profession. Schools are increasingly expected to deliver not only high-quality teaching and learning, but a wide range of pastoral, safeguarding and inclusion responsibilities. For many leaders and teachers, the challenge is no longer simply coping with workload, but maintaining the energy, engagement and capacity needed to lead change effectively.
This raises an important question for policymakers. Are we creating the conditions that enable schools to deliver on the government’s ambitions, so that every child can achieve and thrive? Realising that ambition depends on a thriving education workforce that is motivated, engaged and able to sustain high performance over time. Ultimately, unless the wellbeing of the school workforce is prioritised, the government’s policy agenda will be at risk of failure. Workforce wellbeing should therefore be understood not as an additional consideration, but as a critical enabler of implementation and long-term system improvement.
This roundtable brought together policymakers, school and trust leaders and education experts to explore how government and the wider sector can support schools through this period of significant change.
Partner with us
This roundtable was an invitation-only event as part of the Education Policy Institute’s partnership programme. To discuss running a private roundtable with EPI, please contact Tim Archer (tim.archer@epi.org.uk) or Adam Richards-Gray (adam.richards-gray@epi.org.uk) – or you can find out more about wider partnership opportunities here
