ASCL's ten asks for education 

We welcome the creation of a cross-government child poverty taskforce, and the extension of free school meals to all families in receipt of universal credit. However, we are disappointed that the publication of the government’s child poverty strategy has been delayed until autumn 2025. More concerted action is urgently needed to tackle appallingly high rates of child poverty in the UK.

We are encouraged by the focus being placed by the government on dealing with the crisis in the special educational needs system, and await a white paper in the autumn (2025) with its plans to reform the system. Future provision must be properly resourced with sufficient funding, training and specialist support. It must also reflect inclusive design of wider education policy across the board, for example curriculum, assessment, and attendance, to ensure equitable outcomes and provide consistency and coherence of education experience for all pupils. 

Schools and colleges have suffered more than a decade of underinvestment. The spending plans set out by the government in its June 2025 spending review do not go far enough. Education should be treated as an investment rather than as a cost. See our funding campaign for further information.

We welcome the government’s plans for up to 1,000 ‘best start family hubs’ by the end of 2028. However, we remain concerned about the strain on many local services, and the insufficiency of external support to deal with issues such as persistent and severe absence. 

The government’s commitment to recruit 6,500 additional teachers is encouraging in as far as it goes, but it is not clear that this will be anywhere near enough teachers to meet actual need nor is it clear how the government intends to achieve this. The target includes colleges where the estimated shortfall is between 8,400 and 12,400 teachers by 2028-29, and does not include primary schools at all.

We remain unconvinced that the government’s planned capital expenditure on the school and college estate goes far enough or fast enough. All schools and college buildings should be safe, comfortable environments.

Every year about a third of children do not achieve at least a Grade 4 in GCSE English and maths, impacting on their life chances and condemning them to a grinding cycle of mandatory resits in post-16 education. A new approach is needed as set out in ASCL’s landmark report on the forgotten third. We hope that the final report of the curriculum and assessment review in autumn 2025 will take steps to improve their fortunes.
 

ASCL continues to campaign for applied general qualifications – such as BTECs – to be retained in the post-16 qualifications landscape. They provide a proven pathway for many young people and should sit alongside A levels and T levels so that students have a choice of routes to higher education, apprenticeships, and careers. See the Protect Student Choice campaign.

We were pleased that one of the first actions of the new government was to scrap single-word judgements and set out plans to introduce a system of report cards. However, the translation of this policy into Ofsted’s incoherent plans for a five-point grading scale and its rushed implementation of the new framework, are a deeply retrograde step. We are vigorously pressing for a rethink.

We welcome the efforts of the new government to strike a positive note and work in partnership with the profession. Capturing and sharing examples of where leaders and schools are leading change can amplify the knowledge sharing and celebrate the professionalism of the sector.  We believe that work is now needed on building a new ‘social contract’ between parents and schools to facilitate a supportive relationship and together address issues over behaviour, attendance, and complaints.