I have written this blog for the University of Liverpool Institute of Education. it has appeared on their website today. click the link to read the blog.
Do we need democracy in our schooling system?
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Fine words butter no parsnips
What is one to make of a government that announces an expansion of the place of the creative arts in the National Curriculum review literally weeks after cutting the bursary for trainee teachers of music? Labour’s determination to recruit new teachers doesn’t include music | John Howson 8th October 2026
If I am being kind, it would be that one part of the DfE doesn’t know what the other is doing. Recruiting trainee music teachers has been a challenge over the past few years, and with universities eyeing the future of music degree courses, recruitment probably won’t get any easier.
Did a Minister, when sanctioning the bursary withdrawal, ask what the forthcoming Curriculum Review might have to say about the subject? If so, why was the bursary withdrawn if the creative arts re to play a larger part in the new curriculum?
Hopefully, someone at Westminster will ask this question over the next few days. Perhaps media arts programmes might also like to interrogate a Minister about this curious state of affairs.
Of course, it is possible that the talk of expanding provision is just that, and the government has no real intention of putting funds behind any expansion in order to make it happen. Blame can then be laid at the door of schools for not switching resources into the creative subjects.
After all the government just said that
‘A new core enrichment entitlement for every pupil – covering civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoor and adventure; sport and physical activities; and developing wider life skills.’ New curriculum to give young people the skills for life and work – GOV.UK
Not much meat on the bone there. Delving into the detailed response from the government we find that
“We recognise the Review’s concerns around access to music and that some schools require support to deliver music well, including from specialist teachers, particularly to help pupils to develop their knowledge and skills in learning to read music and play instruments. We continue to invest in instrument stocks through the music hubs. Our £25 million investment will provide over 130,000 additional instruments, equipment and other music technology by the end of 2026, with around 40,000 already in the hands of teachers and pupils. We will consider how we maximise the impact of this investment to ensure the opportunity of and access to a reformed music curriculum is fully realised.” Government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review page 34.
Not much joined up thinking there. Encouraging singing has a much lower capital cost than instruments, and can capture more pupils – see the great scheme at Debry Cathedral that has over 900 possible singers.
The first sentence of the paragraph bears no relation to the rest of the paragraph, so don’t hold out hopes that music will achieve more than lots of instruments sitting on shelves or being played by children whose parents can afford the lessons.
I am very disappointed in the music section of the government’s response, especially that now I chair the Oxfordshire Music Board and so music is a particular interest of mine.
Not more B…..y Vikings
During her interview on the Today Programme, just before 8am this morning, I heard the Secretary of State talking about the need to review how to remove duplication in the teaching of the National Curriculum. That very sentiment was in part the Reason Kenneth Baker introduced a National Curriculum in the 1988 Education Reform Act.
In the 1980s, discussion was about the repetition of the same topic, with little additional learning taking place when it was taught in both the primary and secondary sectors, so that an eight-year-old was drawing the same Viking boat as a thirteen-year-old – we didn’t have ‘year with numbers’ back then. There was both duplication and a lack of progression.
This morning, the Secretary of State cited the lack of coordination over languages between what is taught in primary schools and the secondary schools they feed into as an issue.
Now, during the past forty years since the idea of a National Curriculum became common currency in education, progress has been made in codifying what is taught, and England’s PISA scores have increased. Both no doubt great achievements.
However, many of my maths friends tell me there has been a price to pay in their subject. I think the idea of a new diagnostic test in Year 8 for English and mathematics highlights the dilemma facing secondary schools. How do you staff a school to both develop pupils’ knowledge and experience when they are on track, but also work to try to build on the knowledge and skills of those that have fallen behind where they are expected to be at that age?
Will the test be used to see the difference a school achieves in Progress 8 between the end of Year 8 and GSCE? More importantly, what will be the consequences of under-achievement? If there are no consequences, then why would schools do more than pay lip service to these new tests?
In the original National Curriculum, there were 10 levels, and every child had another level to aspire to reach. That was about motivation, not checking for failure. After all, as Phil Willis sometime Lib Dem spokesperson on education used to say, ‘you don’t make pigs fatter by just weighting them.’
But, back to the issue of continuity across all subjects. This requires mandated programmes of work about what is taught and when to be fully achievable across all schools. Such rigidity risks undermining teacher flexibility and professionalism as it has been recognised in the past.
However, in a more mobile society, some continuity of delivery across the country must be a price schools have to pay to support change. Hopefully, technology is the friend of teachers in that respect. The digitising of the curriculum is a useful suggestion, and one Oxford Brookes University’s School of Education first undertook in the early 1990s, when increased computer power made it possible.
Elsewhere, in the announcement, I applaud the extension of the National Curriculum to all schools, but am horrified that support for the IB has been withdrawn from the small number of schools teaching that curriculum. Here is another example of national direction versus local flexibility.
In Oxfordshire, with many parents from across Europe working in the science and technology industries, this rigidity of approach might be counterproductive if the Europa School cannot continue teaching a language-based curriculum. Westminster may not always know best.
Classroom teacher turnover in London needs watching
Historically, the turnover rate for classroom teachers in London has tended to be higher than elsewhere in England
| Year | Inner London | Outer London |
| 2016/17 | 14.9% | 12.5% |
| 2017/18 | 13.1% | 11.9% |
| 2018/19 | 12.8% | 11.4% |
| 2019/20 | 9.9% | 8.4% |
| 2020/21 | 11.1% | 9.6% |
| 2021/22 | 12.8% | 11.1% |
| 2022/23 | 12.3% | 10.7% |
| 2023/24 | 12.5% | 10.7% |
Source DfE evidence to STRB October 2025 Data annex
In 2016/17, turnover for classroom teachers in the Inner London boroughs reached 14.9%, or around one in seven classroom teachers either leaving the profession or moving school. Three years later, in the year where covid disrupted the summer term, turnover rates dropped below 10% for the only time in the last eight years. Once the pandemic subsided, turnover quickly returned to over 12%, or one in eight teachers.
In Outer London turnover rates have followed a similar pattern to those in Inner London, but a couple of percentage points lower than in the Inner London boroughs.
By way of contrast, in the North East, during 2023/24 turnover for classroom teachers was just 7.7%, some 4.8% lower than in Inner London schools.
Leaving aside the two years where covid affected the recruitment round (2019/20 and 2020/21), the national turnover rate for all levels of posts (classroom, leadership and headship) has generally been between 9-10%, but has been falling. In 2023/24 it was 9% compared with 10.6% in 2016/17.
Rates of turnover for assistant head and deputy heads probably reflect demand side issues more than what is happening on the supply side. When school rolls are rising, new schools may be created increasing demand: falling rolls may mean posts are cutback, and demand reduced, so less turnover.
Headship turnover is very closely linked to the age profile of headteachers. When a cohort of new younger headteachers has replaced a generation that has retired, turnover is likely to fall for a few years. However, turnover tends to be within a narrow range of between 9.5-10.5% per year. There is now no discernible London effect on headteacher turnover, as there used to be many years ago when headteacher salaries were more tightly controlled.
Might we now be entering a period of stability, with lower turnover rates for classroom teachers , especially should the possible upheaval in the graduate job market created by the AI revolution coincide with the period of stable rolls in the secondary secto,r and falling rolls in the primary sector?
| Year | Primary | Secondary | STEM subjects | Non-STEM | All Teachers |
| 2016/17 | 86.35 | 83.1% | 81.2% | 84.5% | 84.9% |
| 2023/24 | 90.0% | 89.4% | 88.0% | 90.2% | 89/7% |
The table taken from various tables in the DfE evidence to the STRB shows a consistent trend of improved retention for teachers at the end of the first year of service. However, the same tables show that there is still a job to be done to retain these teachers in larger numbers beyond their first few years of service. The government needs to be aware that teaching is now a global career, and teachers from England can easily find work overseas.
Overseas teachers in England. More or less?
How far have teachers from outside the United Kingdom helped keep schools in England staffed during the period when there were teacher shortages? Although it takes a great deal of research to know what and where these teachers are working in England, the DfE in its evidence to the STRB (Teachers Pay Body) did provide some interesting data about changes in numbers of these teachers by their country of origin, between the 2015/16 and 2023/24 November teacher census returns. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evidence-to-the-strb-2026-pay-award-for-teachers-and-leaders data annex
For the purpose of this blog, countries have been divided into three groups: EEA – effectively all of Europe; countries with 20th century links to the United Kingdon, either as current Commonwealth countries or for other historical reasons, and countries that do not fit into either of the two other groups.
Taking the EEA countries first. It might be expected that post-BREXIT the numbers their had reduced. This is true for some countries, including France and Germany, and, more interestingly, for the Irish Republic, where there was a loss of more than 900 teachers between 2015/16 census and the 2023/34 census.
| EEA | 2015/16 | 2023/24 | difference |
| France | 2210 | 2085 | -125 |
| Germany | 645 | 605 | -40 |
| Ireland | 3520 | 2595 | -925 |
| Netherlands | 225 | 225 | 0 |
| Sweden | 95 | 90 | -5 |
| -1095 |
Elsewhere in the EEA list of countries, there were more teachers in 2023/24 than in 2015/16
| EEA | 2015/16 | 2023/24 | difference |
| Austria | 60 | 60 | 0 |
| Belgium | 95 | 100 | 5 |
| Bulgaria | 100 | 205 | 105 |
| Czech Republic | 75 | 100 | 25 |
| Denmark | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| Finland | 60 | 60 | 0 |
| Greece | 260 | 590 | 330 |
| Hungary | 175 | 270 | 95 |
| Italy | 485 | 850 | 365 |
| Malta | 30 | 30 | 0 |
| Norway | 25 | 35 | 10 |
| Other EEA | 15 | 30 | 15 |
| Poland | 1155 | 1540 | 385 |
| Portugal | 255 | 430 | 175 |
| Republic of Croatia | 40 | 60 | 20 |
| Republic of Latvia | 45 | 80 | 35 |
| Republic of Lithuania | 110 | 160 | 50 |
| Romania | 350 | 740 | 390 |
| Slovak Republic | 150 | 180 | 30 |
| Slovenia, Republic | 40 | 60 | 20 |
| Spain | 1255 | 2100 | 845 |
| Switzerland | 50 | 55 | 5 |
| 2905 |
There were nearly 2,000 more EEA teachers in England in 2023/24 according to these numbers. Greece, Italy and Poland between them accounting for nearly half the increase in EEA teacher numbers, and Spain alone, a further 40% of the total.
For countries with historic links to the United Kingdom there has been a marked decline in teachers from Australia, New Zealand and Canada recorded in the DfE census, and increase in teachers from Jamaica, some countries in Africa, and from the Indian sub-continent.
| LINKS TO UK | 2015/16 | 2023/24 | difference |
| Australia | 1685 | 1290 | -395 |
| Canada | 1580 | 1330 | -250 |
| Guyana | 60 | 45 | -15 |
| New Zealand | 745 | 480 | -265 |
| Sierra Leone | 85 | 75 | -10 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 105 | 95 | -10 |
| -945 |
Jamaica, India and Pakistan and South Africa together account for the bulk of the increase in teachers from this group of countries.
| LINKS TO UK | 2015/16 | 2023/24 | difference |
| Bangladesh | 100 | 115 | 15 |
| Cyprus | 55 | 95 | 40 |
| Ghana | 515 | 665 | 150 |
| India | 865 | 1615 | 750 |
| Jamaica | 745 | 1550 | 805 |
| Kenya | 145 | 160 | 15 |
| Malaysia | 75 | 100 | 25 |
| Mauritius | 115 | 135 | 20 |
| Nigeria | 580 | 860 | 280 |
| Pakistan | 280 | 560 | 280 |
| South Africa | 1575 | 1815 | 240 |
| Sri Lanka | 110 | 165 | 55 |
| Uganda | 70 | 90 | 20 |
| Zimbabwe | 375 | 450 | 75 |
| 2770 |
Teacher numbers from other countries not in the above two groups tend to be small in number.
Israel was the only country with fewer teachers, down from 60 to 55; a loss of just five teachers.
| ROW | 2015/16 | 2023/24 | difference |
| Algeria | 55 | 90 | 35 |
| Brazil | 60 | 125 | 65 |
| Cameroon | 70 | 90 | 20 |
| China | 145 | 315 | 170 |
| Colombia | 55 | 95 | 40 |
| Iran | 130 | 160 | 30 |
| Morocco | 55 | 85 | 30 |
| Other ROW | 955 | 1540 | 585 |
| Russia | 80 | 120 | 40 |
| Turkey | 100 | 170 | 70 |
| Ukraine | 35 | 95 | 60 |
| USA | 845 | 985 | 140 |
| 1285 |
China and the USA were the only two countries providing more than 100 teachers during the period between 2015/16 and 2023/24.
As Michael Gove provided QTS to teachers trained in the USA over a decade ago, the number of teachers from the USA seems surprisingly small. However, it may not include those teaching in international schools in England that are part of the private sector.
While it is clear that a substantially more ‘overseas’ teachers were recorded in the 2023/24 census than in the 2015/26 census, their numbers alone would not have been enough to have solved the teacher supply crisis. Might they have made a difference to the percentage of teachers from some ethnic groups?
DfE confirms secondary ITT shortfall in evidence to STRB
The DfE’s evidence to the STRB (pay review body for teachers) contains some useful information about the state of the teaching profess, and changes over the past decade and a half since the DfE moved the teacher census from January to November each year. Much has remained the same, across the whole time period. But, before delving into the past, it is worth looking at the table for offers on secondary subjects for 2025 that I created for an earlier post, but now with the data from Table FD4-FD6 of the STRB evidence Evidence to the STRB: 2026 pay award for teachers and leaders – GOV.UK
Interestingly, the DfE doesn’t seem to have included the offers against targets that might have help the STRB to see where shortfalls are likely once the ITT census is published in December.
| Subject | Target2025/26 | % increase Sept on June | accepted Sept 25 FD6 DfE to STRB | over/under target |
| Total Secondary | 19,270 | 26% | 16843 | -2,427 |
| Primary | 7,650 | 34% | 9880 | 2,230 |
| Chemistry | 730 | 49% | 909 | 179 |
| Biology | 985 | 36% | 1397 | 412 |
| Mathematics | 2,300 | 35% | 2617 | 317 |
| Design & Technology | 965 | 33% | 678 | -287 |
| Art & Design | 680 | 33% | 902 | 222 |
| Geography | 935 | 33% | 981 | 46 |
| Classics | 60 | 32% | 42 | -18 |
| English | 1,950 | 31% | 1760 | -190 |
| Drama | 620 | 30% | 273 | -347 |
| Business Studies | 900 | 29% | 235 | -665 |
| Music | 565 | 28% | 343 | -222 |
| Religious Education | 780 | 28% | 418 | -362 |
| Others | 2,520 | 25% | 360 | -2,160 |
| History | 790 | 23% | 936 | 146 |
| Modern Languages | 1,460 | 21% | 1428 | -32 |
| Physics | 1,410 | 19% | 1313 | -97 |
| Physical Education | 725 | 17% | 1491 | 766 |
| Computing | 895 | 5% | 761 | -134 |
As I suggested in my previous post, despite the renewed attraction of teaching for new graduates, there are still some subjects that won’t meet their target. Interestingly, the target for recruiting primary teachers is likely to be massively exceeded this year. Whether all those trainees will find jobs next summer is an interesting question.
With the continued shortfall against targets, where do schools find their staff from, and are they appropriately qualified? The answer to the second part of the question seems to be it depends on whether the school is in Pupil Premium decile 1 or decile 10. (Table D7) The data in this table suggests that schools in decline 1 have higher teacher wastage rates; higher percentages of unqualified teachers; higher percentages of teachers with less experience of teaching and a higher percentage of lesson taught by teachers not seen as qualified in the subject they are teaching. None of this is very surprising, but if the government wants to do something to level up outcomes, then they should pay attention to these percentages.
As to where schools find their teachers to ensure they are fully staffed if there are shortfalls in the numbers emerging from training, there has been a shift in the number of teachers coming from the old dominions, and an increase in those from other members of the Commonwealth. I will discuss these changes in more detail in another blog, as well as trends in recruitment for Europe.
Finally, it is worth noting that the secondary school teacher population expressed as Full Time equivalents (FTEs) barely changed between November 2010 and November 2020, increasing by just 265 FTEs, from 218,736 to 219,001. By contrast, the primary teacher FTEs in the same period increased from 196,258 to 215,632 by November 2024, although this was below the 225,537 FTEs recorded in November 2020, before pupil numbers began to fall.
Pay your bus fare to learn
The government has responded to the House of Commons Select Committee report of earlier this year about bus services in England. I am sad to see that not only will free transport not be available nationally for those under the age of 22, but the government doesn’t even seem prepared to concede that there is an anomaly regarding free transport to school or college for those aged between 16-18.Buses connecting communities: Government Response
Recommendation 15
The Department’s review of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme should consider piloting a free bus pass for under-22s, valid for travel at any time of day. This would support access to work and skills opportunities for younger people and help embed long-term public transport use.
Response from the government
The Government recognises the benefits that free travel for under-22s could bring. However, we are operating in a challenging fiscal environment and the future funding for bus services has already been allocated through the Spending Review, with no funding available for such a scheme. Expanding concessionary travel would therefore be unaffordable within this SR period without diverting funding away from maintaining current bus service levels.
I read the dead hand of HM Treasury here. Perhaps the Select Committee could also have sent the recommendation to the Department for Education for their views, although I suspect the answer would be the same. Local authorities serving rural areas cannot afford to subsidise 16-18 travel as might be the case in the large urban areas.
My previous post showed how out of line education in Oxfordshire is compared with other key indicators for the districts within the county. Should the NHS pay more to support children with SEND? | John Howson This is a missed opportunity by the government to improve education for those in rural areas living in poverty. Sadly, it seems like a missed chance. Both a lack of ambition and a lack of resources seem to be the reasons.
Should the NHS pay more to support children with SEND?
The new index of deprivation, published today by the government, contains an important message about affluent areas such as Oxfordshire. English indices of deprivation 2025: statistical release – GOV.UK
Oxfordshire ranks highly on three of the four areas I looked at, and especially so on Health and Employment, where the lowest rankings are 65/296 in health and 36/296 in employment, and the highest 8/296 in health and 4/296 in employment.
| District Council | Education | Health | Crime | Employment |
| South Oxfordshire | 258 | 288 | 287 | 292 |
| Vale of White Horse | 235 | 284 | 283 | 275 |
| West Oxfordshire | 233 | 279 | 285 | 263 |
| Cherwell | 155 | 252 | 231 | 260 |
| City of Oxford | 156 | 231 | 123 | 262 |
| District Council | Education | Health | Crime | Employment |
| South Oxfordshire | 38 | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| Vale of White Horse | 61 | 12 | 13 | 21 |
| West Oxfordshire | 63 | 17 | 11 | 33 |
| Cherwell | 141 | 44 | 65 | 36 |
| City of Oxford | 140 | 65 | 173 | 34 |
However, the ranking for both Cherwell and City of Oxford districts for education, at 141 and 140/296 compare badly with the ranking elsewhere in the county. Overall, the education ranks are still the lowest ranking scores for all districts, except for the City of Oxford, where the ranking for crime is 173/296, over a hundred places lower than any other district in the county.
The comparison between the education rankings and the health rankings raises an interesting question. Why is education doing so badly in Oxfordshire, especially in the urban areas of Oxford and Banbury? It is difficult to blame the local authority, as all but one of the secondary schools and many primary schools are academies and part of MATs.
Perhaps the formula for education funding is so linked to the county’s rank across all indices that the current funding formula for schools cannot compensate for the needs of Oxfordshire children living in its most deprived communities.
It is clear that there are issues nationally with the formula for the High Needs Block that funds SEND, but again does Oxfordshire lose out more than other areas? After all, it schools are generally highly regarded by ofsted; it has two world class universities, and leading science and technology companies driving the economy.
On the SEND issues, one question is whether the NHS is pulling its weight on supporting children with SEND? Assuming that the overall ranking for the county is not going to see any government be more generous to Oxfordshire with regard to funding, however the present county may be configured post local government reorganisation, then there must be a strong case to require the NHS to spend more resources on supporting children with special needs even if its overall ranking slips a few places as a result. This would reduce the need for the county, and the schools within the county, having to prop up spending on SEND that should really come from the health budget.
There is no doubt Oxfordshire is not a county with a high degree of deprivation, but what deprivation there is can be concentrated in a few wards in the urban areas abut also spread out across the rural parts of the county. The former is easy to identify, the latter more of a challenge. Both need more funding for education.
Why ’V’ Levels are important for Labour
Alongside her campaign to become deputy leader of the Labour Party, the Secretary of State for Education has found time today to announce a new post-16 set of qualifications, called ‘V’ Levels, presumably to bring order to the landscape of such qualifications that she sees as confusing.
As I write this blog, the exact details of the new qualification to sit alongside ‘A’ & ‘T’ Levels has not yet been announced to the House of Commons, so we don’t yet know about the nature and format of ‘V’ Levels in detail.
However, as the following table shows, they may be important to many Labour Party members fighting non-metropolitan seats in the north of England, The Midlands and the South West region.
| Region | Number of pupils completing key stage 4 | Sustained education, employment & apprenticeships | Sustained education destination | Sustained apprenticeships | Sustained employment destination |
| North East | 26,931 | 91.5 | 81.7 | 4.6 | 5.2 |
| South West | 53,111 | 93.9 | 84.1 | 4.7 | 5.0 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 58,918 | 92.0 | 82.8 | 4.3 | 4.9 |
| North West | 79,550 | 92.1 | 83.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 |
| East Midlands | 50,002 | 92.6 | 84.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| East of England | 64,445 | 94.2 | 87.4 | 2.7 | 4.1 |
| West Midlands | 64,565 | 92.4 | 85.2 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| South East | 90,649 | 94.3 | 87.7 | 2.6 | 4.0 |
| London | 84,427 | 94.6 | 92.0 | 0.9 | 1.7 |
| Outer London | 55,921 | 94.8 | 92.0 | 1.0 | 1.7 |
| Inner London | 28,506 | 94.1 | 91.9 | 0.6 | 1.5 |
The data is for 2023 and was published last week by the DfE as Destinations of key stage 4 and 5 students: 2024 – GOV.UK although it doesn’t seem to contain the 2024 data yet.
London students, and especially those in inner London Key Stage providers seem overwhelmingly to remain in a sustained education institution, albeit not necessarily the institution where they undertook their Key Stage 4 courses. Less than 1% of inner London students proceeded to a sustained apprenticeship. Obviously, there is more room for such apprenticeships to be offered to these pupils. By contrast, the further away from London the region, the more likely that over 4% of students will proceed to apprenticeships.
The pattern for employment, not regarded by previous government as a key option after the raising unofficially of the learning leaving age to eighteen, mirrors that of apprenticeships, with higher rates the further away from London students are located. Indeed, London is something of an outlier in respect of employment rates for this group, following the pattern expected after the raising f the school leaving age.
Missing for the table are the NEETS – those not in any category in the table. Will ‘V’ Level qualifications help reduce this number, and might it help if such qualifications started at 14, the age when many NEETS fall out of interest in schooling? I was going to write, ‘fall out of love’, but many, I suspect, were never actually in love with schooling.
Anyway, I will be interesting to see whether the announcement helps the Secretary of State’s own election campaign and, if so, whether she will be in place to take the initiative forward?
Funding SEND – is the current system fair?
The DfE has just published data that sets the context for the expected White Paper, due this autumn. Looking at the data on the High Needs Block that has been the basic building block for the funding of SEND (special needs and disabilities), I can see why there must have been some very intense discussions between the DfE and the Treasury. Section 251: 2025 to 2026 – GOV.UK
The data on individual special school funding only refers to maintained schools where local authorities are responsible for oversight of the budgets. It would be really helpful to see similar ‘cost per place’ data for academy special schools and alternative provision, including Pupil Referral Units, even though they have a different financial year to maintained schools.
The data for the municipal financial year of 2025-26 for Oxfordshire was set while I was still the cabinet member for Children’s Services, including maintained schools. The data on funding per place for the three maintained special schools in Oxfordshire is illuminating. There is a total of 522 such schools in England listed in the data. The most expensive costs £8.2 million per place, and judging by its website does a great job educating some very challenged young people from the start of their education journey to adulthood.
Now special schools come in many different forms with clearly different funding needs. A school for pupils with hearing loss and no other disability might need less funding per place than a school for non-verbal young people with physical disabilities in addition
The three Oxfordshire maintained schools were placed 74th, 155th and 170th in the list of 522 schools, with funding per place ranging from £840,000 to £1,2 million. Schools with £2,000,000 per place of more were ranked 373 of higher in the list. Does this mean that Oxfordshire is efficient or under-funded compared with some other local areas? I do wonder.
Even allowing for issues such as higher salary costs in London and surrounding areas, the range of cost per place for similar types of school seems worth looking into more closely, and that is where the academy special schools’ data would be useful in order to allow full consideration of cost per place by local government areas.
The current High Needs block distribution formula clearly isn’t working, and I wonder whether equity of funding is an issue for the team putting together the White Paper? How does anyone judge what is fair in funding levels? Wiser heads than mine will know the answer to that question.
Of course, the other key funding issue for SEND, especially outside of the urban areas, is the cost of transport. The Section 251 budget statement for planned expenditure during 2025-26 by Oxfordshire at Line 175092 of the DfE’s spreadsheet suggests expected spending on SEND transport, including for post-16 students of around f£26.4 million. This compares with expected home to school transport costs of just under £21 million for all other pupils entitled to fee transport.
How will the White Paper deal with this cost? Hopefully, it will recognise that such costs should be met by government up to age 18 or even 19 for all such pupils, and not be discretionary beyond age 16. Could a government funded driver scheme for unemployed adults with a driving licence remove the profit element from such expenditure or would the administration costs be more than the saving made by not using private sector firms?
These are not easy issues to grapple with, but starting with some values about the needs of children with SEND would be a good basis for the outcomes in the White Paper. However, as my earlier analysis of Pupil Teacher Ratios demonstrated, funding and values are not common cause in government spending, regardless of the political persuasion of the government in power. Oxford Teacher Services -publications
John Howson 