Landmark investment in schools ‘barely enough to replace a plug socket’

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A landmark plan to ‘rebalance’ the English school system will eventually halve the gap in outcomes between poorer and better-off pupils,the government has said.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is set to unveil a white paper on Monday,setting out Labour’s aims for tackling disadvantages in education.

It will also include long-awaited proposals for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send),which have been months in the making.

But one of the country’s largest teaching unions has slammed the plans,saying the proposed investment is ‘barely enough to replace a plug socket’.

NASUWT General Secretary Matt Wrack said: ‘This is not a rewire or a reform – it is a rehash that risks placing additional burdens on schools and teachers.’

Phillipson called the white paper a ‘golden opportunity to cut the link between background and success’.

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Metro's senior politics reporter Craig Munro breaks down all the chaos into easy to follow insight,in Metro's politics newsletter Alright,Gov? Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.She said: ‘Our schools have made great strides in recent decades.‘Yet for too long,many children in our country have been let down by a one-size fits all system,denied opportunity because they’re poor or because they have additional needs.’Part of the government’s plans is using household income to decide disadvantage funding instead of the number of children who receive free school meals.This would leave to higher investment for schools supporting the poorest children,according to the Department for Education.The government is aiming to cut inequality in the classroom (Picture: Getty Images/Image Source)Teachers and other school staff will get a boost to maternity pay for the first time in over 25 years,while a new attendance target will aim to recover 20 million school days each year by the end of the decade.Further reforms to the Send system are expected to be outlined ahead of the white paper tomorrow.Councils are projected to spend £14.8 billion on Send this year,an increase of almost £10 billion in the last 10 years.But concerns over the possibility of some children losing support have alarmed parents,charities and MPs.In an appearance on Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC show this morning,Phillipson said: ‘The assurance I can give to parents is that under the new system,more children will receive support.’She added: ‘We are not going to be taking away effective support from children.’Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].