Julia Harnden, Deputy Director of Policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget speech.
“It’s concerning that the Chancellor spoke for an hour and the word ‘education’ did not pass his lips even once. Successive governments have placed a whole host of new duties and expectations on schools and colleges, while simultaneously squeezing the amount of funding available to them. On the face of today’s speech, it does not appear that anything has changed with this new administration.
“The government has made clear their ambition to boost vocational education and reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training. We wholeheartedly welcome these plans, but schools and colleges are integral to their success and they must be funded accordingly. As a share of national income, education spending is among its lowest level since the 1960s and is still seen as a cost rather than an investment in young people and in providing the knowledge and skills required for a thriving economy. Going forward the government must commit to ensuring that schools and colleges are properly resourced to deliver the learning and support that children and young people need, and that any new requirements are backed up with detailed plans setting out the funding required to deliver them and how this will be provided. We cannot go on with new policies announced with much grandstanding, and school leaders left scratching their heads as to how they can possibly deliver them. In future, rhetoric has got to be matched by resources.”