What were the standout moments for you this year in education? From Rishi Sunak’s plan for new chess sets for primary schools to Labour saying they would bring in VAT on school fees straight away, it’s been another tumultuous 12 months.
Whichever sector you work in, there’s been something to get angry, sad or stressed about, and something to bring us cheer. The latter largely thanks to our colleagues and pupils, rather than any news item, of course.
“The year began ominously with the NEU, the UK’s largest teaching union, voting to strike over pay.”
Whatever your feelings about the past 12 months, here’s my editor’s pick of how School Management Plus covered some of the biggest issues of the year, and much more besides.
The year began ominously with the NEU, the UK’s largest teaching union, voting to strike over pay, strikes which caused predictable levels of fury and chaos across the media and in schools and families.
Our columnist Paul Dwyer warned that the private sector should not be “quietly pleased” about the misfortunes of state schools in this piece. He was right, of course, as private schools were not immune to staff discontent, with a number of institutions suffering strike ballots and even strikes over both pay and withdrawal from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, including the great Winchester College.
Fortunately, the main strikes ended in the summer when NEU members accepted a deal on pay, and planned autumn strikes were called off.
In February, the independent sector was shocked to the core by the sudden and violent death of Epsom College’s new headteacher Emma Pattison, which prompted an outpouring of grief.
Her recent interview with us, published just days before her death, was one of the most read articles on the site and we published some of the heartfelt tributes that poured in.
“Teacher recruitment in the UK continued to be a hugely pressing problem.”
These horrifying events occurred in a year where concern more generally for the wellbeing of headteachers has been rising. As schools came under increasing financial pressure, and Ofsted piled pressure on state schools, Dr Helen Kelly warned that heads can see self-care as a “sign of weakness” and risk burnout.
There were concerns in the international school sector, too, where a Tes survey painted a worrying picture about how staff feel about their workload and wellbeing more generally.
Despite this, heads and teachers continued to flock abroad this year – keen to embrace the lifestyle, tax free incomes and new challenge away from UK red tape. Teacher recruitment in the UK, perhaps unsurprisingly, continued to be a hugely pressing problem, with only half of the secondary teacher training target met this year.
In this piece, expert André Double warned of the pitfalls to avoid when finding work abroad and Mike Lambert from Dubai College considered how international moves affect leaders’ career prospects long-term.
This year was of course the year of ChatGPT, and we ran our first piece on the wonders of generative AI in February, written by none other than Dr David Wild, head of computer science at Sherborne School, who gave his verdict. Even computer science teachers, he warned, could be out of a job.
“While some schools embraced new technology, others were preoccupied with the financial squeeze.”
Other schools worried about what might happen to the art of essay writing while others – including Tom Rogerson at Cottesmore Prep – went all-in, hosting conferences on AI and education and appointing “an AI assistant headteacher.”
But while some independent schools were focusing on the benefits of technology, others were more preoccupied with the ever-increasing financial squeeze.
This was evidenced by a stream of announcements about the closures of well-loved schools, including the Old Palace School in Croydon, Redcliffe Gardens in Chelsea and Belmont School in Dorking.
Other schools sought to ensure their financial futures by opting to be taken over by the big groups such as Dukes Education, while others merged or went co-ed. One good example was Godolphin School in Salisbury who decided to accept boys for the first time as well as join the United Learning Group.
“Labour’s threat to charge VAT on school fees became the outrage du jour.”
Consultant Rachel Hadley-Leonard wrote about the tragedy of school closures, warning that marketing efforts needed to be made while schools are on the crest of a wave, not once they have fallen into the swamp of falling rolls.
Lindsey Hughes, head of Channing School in London, agreed, telling the AMCIS conference that marketing should be “the last thing to go” in an era of costcutting.
At the IPSEF conference in July, Ian Hunt spoke about the marketing of international schools – warning that “ugly duckling” schools in less obvious locations had to innovate to attract the best teachers.
As the year progressed, Labour’s threat to charge VAT on school fees became the outrage du jour, and the newspapers filled with letters and comment, mostly arguing the position of independent schools.
Andrew Lewer, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on independent schools, made a robust defence of the status quo in our print magazine and Richard Harman’s advisory piece was a huge hit with worried readers.
“Even the title of the transgender guidance has already caused controversy.”
The year ended with the publication of a consultation on the latest post-16 shake-up, the Advanced British Standard, that will cause many headteachers to sharpen their pencils.
In the last week before Christmas, long-awaited guidance for schools on “Gender Questioning Children” managed to cause controversy with its title alone – just as we were chomping into the mince pies. The 12 week consultation on the guidance promises to be long and fraught.
Brace for the start of 2024.