If you were the new Secretary of State for Education, what would you do? Here ASCL members have their say.

Educational experience

Build bridges

If I were appointed as the new Secretary of State for Education, I hope I’d have the sense to do exactly what Bridget Phillipson is doing so well and build bridges quickly with experts across the breadth of our profession. Recognising publicly that education is a vocation, a calling to public service that, when executed effectively, will positively shape the future of our society. Unifying us behind the ambitious reminder that every child deserves a superb education and the chance of a bright future. By listening to our voices, trusting our professionalism and being open with us, once again we have real hope that we can build a more effective, more cohesive and, ultimately, more democratic education system for the benefit of all.

Kate Claydon
Headteacher, Blatchington Mill School

Cheerful optimism

Bridget Phillipson is providing ‘cheerful optimism’ to the sector. In the words of the late great educationalist Sir Tim Brighouse, “Leaders should be dealers in hope, encouraging others to see the positives and spend time on solutions”.

She is already succeeding here, sharing an optimism that parallels Labour Prime Minister James ('Jim') Callaghan’s 1976 Ruskin speech (www.education-uk.org/documents/speeches/1976ruskin.htm). However, she should learn from her predecessors. Baker, Blunkett and Balls, while making tangible changes, probably regret not taking time to question the underlying problems within the system.

Avoid what past secretary of state Alan Johnson described as the ‘realpolitik’ interfering; take heed of former education secretary Charles Clarke’s words to “find common ground which locks in change” and be brave enough to dive into the ‘too difficult box’. School leaders will dive in alongside.

Helen Wakefield
Senior Deputy Headteacher, LiFE Multi Academy Trust

A simple decision

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has indicated that unspent post-16 bursary from prior years will need to be re-paid.
In my experience, schools and colleges with unspent income are directing this, over a period of time, to the most vulnerable and poorest students in our communities. Perhaps the new government could allow unspent money to be continued to be spent on those most in need, rather than be re-paid.

Jon Newman
Director of Finance, Ivy Education Trust

Minimum budget guarantee

Well, if I were education secretary, I’d start off by writing something along the following lines:

“Dear School Leaders, I know you can’t run a school budget ‘on the hoof’ and making it up as you go along isn’t a good long-term strategy, so I am going to give you a ‘minimum budget guarantee’ for the next three years. Put simply, you will know the minimum income you will receive each year for the next three years. Not the total income, but just the basic minimum so you can at least have a wild stab at knowing how many staff you can employ. And we’ll tell you by January. Kind regards, Secretary of State”

Carl Smith
Principal, Casterton College Rutland

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