Former Department for Education (DfE) permanent secretary Jonathan Slater has said the school system in England is consistently failing the poorest children and requires reform. In a report published by UCL Policy Lab, he argued that the current system disincentivises schools from focusing on the pupils who need help the most.
Mr Slater highlighted that children receiving free school meals (FSM) are still twice as likely as their peers to end up not in education, employment or training (Neet). He recommended the government should make it a key priority for schools to ensure a majority of disadvantaged pupils achieve GCSE grades needed for good jobs, higher education or apprenticeships, and develop a new accountability system to incentivise this.
In the report, Mr Slater proposed that the DfE should select several areas of the country to test reforms over five years, led locally rather than from Whitehall. In these areas, inspections by Ofsted should be paused, except for safeguarding checks, and replaced with a new evaluation framework that encourages collaboration and innovation to boost outcomes for the most disadvantaged students.
Mr Slater, who served under former education secretary Justine Greening, noted that New Labour's approach saw FSM pupils' chances of leaving school with English and maths passes double, but reforms under the coalition government halted that progress. He said the current government cannot repeat New Labour's strategy due to lack of funds and increasingly complex challenges.
A DfE spokesperson said the government is taking action through its Plan for Change, including curriculum and assessment review, strengthened accountability, new regional improvement teams, free breakfast clubs, and expansion of free school meals.
