EPI: Election manifestos not addressing key challenges

The ‘most pressing’ school funding concern is the ‘crisis’ in SEND support, a think tank has warned. That warning comes from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), who have carried out an analysis of the education related policies of the major parties ahead of the general election next month.

Their analysis looks at the policy proposals of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberals Democrats, Greens and Reform UK against five key areas: early years; school organisation and outcomes; post-16 and higher education; school and college funding; the education workforce. The EPI conclude that overall the manifesto commitments do not go far enough towards addressing the key challenges facing the education system.

The analysis finds that there are key aspects of all five areas which are not sufficiently addressed in the published manifestos, but that the ‘most pressing concern, is that of high needs funding, for pupils with acute special educational needs.’  Commitments from the five parties are ‘limited’ in addressing this, and they call on whoever forms the next government to review funding for SEND, including how it is allocated. The EPI argue that the high needs budget should be ‘grounded in the level of need across the population and the true cost of provision to address those needs’. They also suggest that the next government should ‘take action to increase capacity within state-funded special schools’, and conclude with a warning that schools, local authorities, and some of the most vulnerable children will be ‘at risk’ if the current situation with SEND funding is not addressed.

As well as highlighting SEND as a strong concern, the EPI also say the five parties should be clearer on how they would recruit and retain the education workforce the system needs, as well as address the widening disadvantage gaps across all phases, through targeted interventions and funding.

The full EPI analysis can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/44pdhaph 

 

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