‘Opportunity for all’ white paper: what schools need to know

The latest white paper aims to help level up across the country by ensuring every child receives the right support, in the right place, at the right time. We outline the main policies

Author details

Lisa Griffin is content lead at Optimus Education, focusing on leadership and governance. 

Headlines from the Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child white paper include the aim to raise the mean average GCSE grade in English and maths from 4.5 to 5, and the move to a fully trust-led system.

The paper is broken down into chapters detailing how the government aim to achieve its new policies.

  1. An excellent teacher for every child 
  2. High standards of curriculum, behaviour and attendance 
  3. Targeted support for every child who needs it 
  4. A stronger and fairer school system 

Below are some of the main policies from each chapter of the paper.

Chapter 1: An excellent teacher for every child

  • New training and development opportunities at every career stage.
  • Consultation on a new mandatory leadership level NPQ for SENCOs.
  • NPQ for early years leadership.
  • New scholarship to attract language graduates and a new ITT course to support more engineers to teach physics.

Chapter 2: Delivering high standards of curriculum, behaviour and attendance

  • All mainstream schools will run a 32.5 hour week by September 2023.
  • Introduce legislation to modernise the rules on recording attendance.
  • An annual behaviour survey.
  • A new careers programme for primary schools in areas of disadvantage and improved professional development for teachers and leaders on careers education.
  • Ofsted will inspect every school by 2025, including outstanding schools that haven’t been inspected for many years.

Chapter 3: Target support for every child who needs it

  • Ofsted will hold schools to account for a new ‘parent pledge’. Schools will let parents know if their child falls behind in English and maths and what is being done to help them catch up.
  • Schools will be expected to use their core budgets, including pupil premium, to pay for tutoring support.
  • More funding for the Education Endowment Foundation.

Chapter 4: A stronger and fairer system

  • All schools to be in strong multi-academy trusts, or in the process of joining one, by 2030.
  • A new CEO development scheme will be open to executive heads and senior trust staff.
  • Councils will get powers to force trusts to admit children. Admissions faces a 'new statutory framework' to reform over-subscription rules.
  • Councils will be able to launch MATs.

 

Last Updated: 
31 Mar 2022