Responding to the Conservative Party manifesto for the 2024 general election, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union, NAHT said:

“The Conservative manifesto is disappointing – filled with pledges to carry on with a status quo that is pushing schools to breaking point. It does not deal with the growing crisis in SEND, the manifesto pledges to maintain a funding system that in real terms has not grown since 2010, and omits any meaningful reform of the toxic Ofsted accountability system. Worse still, it includes a meaningless comparison of Ofsted gradings from 2010 with schools now, despite the frameworks changing substantially. All this does is underline the need for urgent Ofsted reform – including scrapping single word judgments, so that parents and teachers can carefully assess the merits of individual schools.

“We are, however, pleased to see a growing cross-party consensus on the need for a register of home schooled children. We have long raised concerns that with the growing number of families deciding to educate their children at home, the system of safeguarding needs to be improved. All children and young people, wherever they are educated, deserve to be kept safe.

“The recruitment and retention crisis is hitting all parts of teaching, including the leadership pipeline. Differential bonuses won’t solve the problem. What's needed is pay restoration to 2010 levels, and ensuring manageable workloads, so that teaching is once again a career to aspire to."