Got a question for the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan MP?

[RhiannonEMumsnet]

Hi all,

We’re pleased to tell you that later this week Justine will be sitting down with Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan MP to ask her Mumsnet users’ questions.

If you have a question you'd like answering, you can post it below. Please stick to the usual guidelines - one question per user, keep it civil, and if one topic is dominating, please don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point (we'll be deleting questions that are repeated multiple times). We'll be limited for time so please do keep questions as short as possible so we can ask more of them - as always, we'll try to make sure we cover the topics that we know are important to Mumsnet users.

We'll be closing this thread at 5pm tomorrow, so please do get your questions in before that - and watch this space to hear the responses. If you'd like a reminder of the format you can see our interview with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves here.

Thanks,
MNHQ

[swallowedAfly]

When will you be publishing the list of schools at imminent risk of collapse? Is there any justifiable reason for pupils and staff to be left unknowingly in danger like this?

Thanks.

[Bovrilla]

I have many, many questions but I will start with these.

What are the government going to do about falling recruitment and retention numbers, despite their "bursaries" for new teachers?

Why will the government not fully fund teacher pay rises?

What does the government plan for alternative provision for SEND and behavioural needs?

[Jason118]

If children are our future why do you not fund teachers properly?

[thecatfromjapan]

The situation with SEND children in schools is not acceptable.
The difficulty of getting an EHCP means children are in schools that cannot support them without taking on the financial burden themselves - which leads to cutting back an already threadbare budget elsewhere.
There is no joined-up thinking on this - EHCPs are managed outside education departments and SEND provision is shunted from department to department - but the impact is felt in schools.
It's beyond unfair.
The impact for schools is huge.
What can you do to take this firmly with DoE control and streamline the system to allow schools to deliver for all their children?

[handmademitlove]

Are the DfE liaising with the NHS to improve access for students with medical issues to get prompt access to assessment and intervention / treatment in order to take the pressure off (not medically qualified) school staff to 'fill the gap' as students wait years for support?

[twistyizzy]

• When will the government admit that education is in crisis and that they have created it through years of under-funding and demonising of teachers.
• Why do they feel that restricting the curriculum under Gove et al has been of any benefit to children considering it has been at the expense of Arts and creative subjects?
• Do they acknowledge that the closure of Sure Start centres has had a knock on effect in EYFS with the most vulnerable children starting formal education already disadvantaged and that the gap rarely closes?
• Why are they not fully funding the teachers' pay rise which is causing schools to move cuts elsewhere? Any cuts at any point in the school has a direct knock on effect on the children.
• Why do they not value quality education for ALL children considering that they are quite literally our future?

Finally- do they think that all parents are utterly stupid and unaware of what is happening in schools thanks to Tory policies?

[noblegiraffe]

Hi Gillian,

You said, in March, on the Sophy Ridge show that 'parents should not be worried about school funding'.

School funding has been below 2010 per pupil funding levels for 13 years, despite the pandemic, and even with the £2 billion extra promised for September 2023. School buildings are at imminent risk of collapse. Schools are having to cut GCSE and A-level courses as they cannot afford to run them. TAs are leaving to work in supermarkets as the pay is better. Teachers are having to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. Parents are being asked to set up direct debits to their children's school.

Parents can see the impact of the lack of funding on their own children's education. How can you justify telling them not to worry about it?

[IamSlave]

My daughter has dyslexia and couldn't learn to read with phonics. It was starting to impact her self esteem I did my research and age 7/8 I had to teach her myself with site reading, 100 high frequency flash cards, Peter and Jane, breaking words words into prefix, root word and suffix.

Thanks to covid I had the time to teach this and she went back to to school being able to read very comfortably Oxford reading tree 8, able to access the curriculum and lessons. I sent her back happy and confident.
I've since discovered so many children find phonics a barrier, not the road to reading.
Can you please please let and allow and encourage schools to be flexible.
Too many children are leaving primary school illiterate. Thanks to me, my child won't.

[LividHouse]

You called teachers “irresponsible” for striking. Do you really, genuinely believe this, or are you just doing your “job” by stirring up public perceptions?

[Potterbore]

I work in a school (non-teaching). What is being put in place to support teachers who don’t get to teach as their time is taken dealing with social, emotional and behavioural issues whilst simultaneously dealing with complaints that teachers aren’t doing enough.
My teachers are on their knees, tired, frustrated and likely to leave the profession.

[rockpoolingtogether]

Does the government have plans to radically change the way education is delivered as a service in this country? How?

[DoubleShotEspresso]

The SEND Crisis and the current method of approaching this by schools and local authorities is and has been for far to long a horrific process for children and families. When will you apply some proper tailored thinking and hold local authorities to account? When will you ensure adequate training and support is instilled in every mainstream school for SLT's and teaching teams? When will specialist teams /DFe /schools be allowed to effectively work together and not against families desperate for support?
And when will you address the appalling lack of support for parents, usually women who have been forced to drop their careers and financial independence/security ? 39P was never enough before the COL crisis, now it is an unpalatable fact that your policies are effectively killing many unpaid carers, forced to do so as zero provision exists. When will you help? These people have been isolate way before Covid was a thing-show some humanity.
Apologies this is a list of questions, I simply cannot narrow it down to one.

[Nothinglefttogiv]

Have you ever actually set foot in a state-maintained school in the last 10 years? Or spoken to a single person who works in one?

Are you pushing some higher Torie plan to dissolve state education? Or are you delusional? Or just dim?

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

Gillian, I'm a school governor. Our outstanding primary school has approved an in-year deficit in our budget this year. If we continue on our current trajectory, we will run out of money within the next 3 years. We have engaged voluntarily with an adviser from the ESFA who has agreed that there is nothing else that we can cut without significant detriment to our pupils. Our staff (and parents) are already dipping into their own pockets to help cover essential supplies. Unfunded pay rises and inadequate SEN funding are not helping the situation. When and how are you going to address the chronic underfunding of our schools?

[GinJeanie]

As an experienced UPS3 SEND teacher (with a decent Oxbridge degree and several Level 7 qualifications), I regularly work a 60 hour week for roughly £650 net or £10.83 an hour. Do I (and my wonderful colleagues in a similar position) deserve a payrise? I believe we're needed in schools and am fighting (i.e. taking part in industrial action) in order to be able to afford to continue working in a career I love. Many thanks

[starrynight19]

Teaching assistants are leaving their jobs because they can no longer afford to live, doing a job that they need qualifications for, on such poor pay.
Recruiting someone to work for less than minimum wage as you pro rata their salary is impossible and vulnerable children are suffering.
Have you any intention of making their wages liveable ?

[INamechangedForThisMadness]

I'd ask about teachers pay not having kept up with inflation for more than a decade, but I think that's been covered.

Instead: where is the accountability for failing multi academy trusts?

Sometimes Trust leadership can be excellent and bring schools up, for both students and staff, but when Trusts are poor they can absolutely devastate schools for both students and staff, with apparently no accountability or repercussions.

Will Trusts also be inspected?

[Kranken]

Could you explain why you think bursaries are the answer to all teacher recruitment and retention issues when they have been offered for years and years? Yes, you put money into them, but we still have a massive shortfall in recruitment and they do nothing for retention. I work in a sane and supportive school, but we have advertised four times for a particular subject specialist this year, still no joy and we are in danger of having to cancel a whole A Level subject. And this isn't STEM.

[5childrenand]

What do YOU think is the biggest issue in education (primary and secondary) currently?

With the follow up - do you think your government are able to solve it? What is your plan to do so?

[DoctorLawn]

Why doesn't teachers' pay come centrally and not from schools' budgets, so more expensive teachers are not pushed out, and schools can have a better balance of experienced and newer teachers, all who have something to offer.

[DoctorLawn]

Ditto for TAs - they deserve a lot more.

[TheCaddieisaBaddie]

How much per year is realistically needed to fully fund an average primary school and average secondary school and how much do they get in real terms? Not interested in being told how govmt has invested X amount over last X yrs or plan to in the future. Just answer a question honestly and like a person dedicated to education not a politician.

[lavenderlou]

What is the current government's rationale in consistently underfunding the education sector? How does the government intend to promote economic growth if it fails to invest in the education of its population?

[Username6000]

What is the point of truncation?