Responding to this morning’s speech by shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson at the Labour Party conference, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“We welcome the ambition expressed by the shadow education secretary and her acknowledgement of some of serious issues facing schools.

“Be it the recruitment and retention crisis, crumbling buildings, or the high-stakes, often unfair inspection regime, we need a coherent plan to fix these problems, and prioritise children’s education. Action is also needed to address unsustainable levels of staff workload and years of below-inflation pay and funding settlements.

“It’s vital that Labour engages with the profession in fleshing out its proposals.

“We welcome the promised early years review. We have long argued that high quality early years provision is one of the nearest things we have to a silver bullet when it comes to education, and it is encouraging to see that Labour are making the sector a high priority ahead of the next election.

"Nurseries are facing a wide range of challenges and the workforce crisis in the early years sector is clear for all to see. This review will need to be bold and solution-focused, and we must have an honest appraisal of the investment needed in the sector. We look forward to being involved in the review."