The Schools White Paper - turning ambition into delivery
The Schools White Paper is the bold and ambitious commitment to tackling educational inequity that England needs. Its central test now is delivery. We must work in partnership to turn aspiration into sustained, system-wide change.
At its heart, the White Paper recognises a simple but urgent truth. Too many children are being failed by a system that does not meet their needs. The commitment to halve the disadvantage gap, the first quantifiable target of its kind in English education policy, is recognition that it is no longer acceptable for children from the poorest backgrounds to leave school more than a year and a half behind their peers. That clarity of intent matters. It establishes educational inequality not as a peripheral concern, but as a defining challenge for the system.
Importantly, the paper does not treat inequality as a single-issue problem. It sets out a cradle-to-career programme of reform that addresses the structural drivers of educational inequity. Many of these proposals reflect recommendations we have made in our recent FEA Report Cards. The approach underpinning these policies is just as significant as the policies themselves – pursuing change not through top-down diktat, but through partnership and collaboration, harnessing the strengths and assets of communities, and driven by innovation and evidence.
This ambition and approach has underpinned the FEA’s work since our inception and we’re delighted to see so much of what we and our members have called for reflected in this paper.
In line with FEA’s thematic collaboration on Early Childhood, the reforms begin in the earliest years. Drawing on previous policy announcements investing in family hubs, strengthened early years provision and adding dedicated funding for SEND practitioners signal a serious commitment to prevention and early intervention. If we are to reduce inequality, we must address it before it becomes entrenched.
The introduction of two new place-based Missions focused on Coastal communities and the North East further acknowledges that inequity is geographically concentrated and cannot be solved through uniform national policy alone. Mobilising local assets and leadership is essential, and this approach reflects the principles set out in our Neighbourhood to National strategy.
Inclusion is a key focus in the White Paper. SEND reform is long overdue, and we support the ambition for most children with additional needs to be educated successfully in inclusive mainstream settings. The commitment to broaden the definition of inclusion, first called for by the Who Is Losing Learning coalition and reinforced in our work with the Disabled Children’s Partnership, represents a welcome shift. There is still scope for clearer expectations that all schools embed this definition consistently within their SEND, behaviour and relationships policies, but this progress is welcome. The recognition that high standards and inclusion are mutually reinforcing is also a positive shift.
The proposed reforms to accountability reinforce this shift. Broadening Progress 8, sharpening Ofsted’s focus on inclusive practice, introducing school profiles and incorporating measures of pupil engagement collectively point towards a more rounded understanding of school quality. We have consistently argued that inspection and performance frameworks must give greater weight to how effectively schools support pupils with additional needs and work in partnership to include them. These changes begin to align accountability with that ambition.
Requiring schools to monitor pupil engagement and sense of belonging by 2029 is another important step. As part of the Our Wellbeing, Our Voice coalition we have advocated for there to be a national young people’s wellbeing measurement programme. The forthcoming Pupil Engagement Framework is an important next step towards this. If it is broad in scope, flexible to local context, involves youth voice, nationally consistent, and has wide participation from schools it would provide schools and policy-makers with meaningful insight into wellbeing and culture. This is vital for enabling evidence-informed improvement rather than compliance-driven reporting.
Beyond structure and accountability, the White Paper recognises that opportunity extends beyond academic attainment. The expansion of enrichment, backed by funding and participation targets to ensure pupils from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are not excluded, reflects a broader understanding of what drives life chances.
Substantial investment in the teaching workforce, including targeted incentives in underserved areas and efforts to ensure the profession better reflects the communities it serves, addresses one of the most persistent levers of inequality.
The commitment to harness technology and AI, alongside significant funding to improve connectivity, acknowledges the scale of the digital divide. This is a core focus of our AI in Education working group. Ensuring equitable access to technology is now fundamental to educational fairness. Similarly, improved oversight of pupil movement through new dashboards and scrutiny mechanisms should strengthen both safeguarding and system transparency.
Stronger collaboration is a consistent theme throughout the paper. The move towards all schools being part of collaborative trusts, including local authority-led trusts, and the expansion of RISE school improvement create the potential for shared responsibility across the system. Combined with refinements to funding mechanisms, including efforts to sharpen the targeting and impact of the pupil premium and National Funding Formula, these reforms recognise that structural alignment is necessary if ambition is to translate into impact.
There are, however, areas where further clarity will be important. The process by which schools transition into new trust arrangements, particularly where local authorities are involved, requires careful planning and, potentially, dedicated resourcing. Clearer expectations around home-school partnerships and parental engagement would strengthen the emphasis on shared responsibility. In addition, the accountability framework for SEND outcomes within multi-agency partnerships must have clarity on roles and responsibilities between agencies if it is to drive improvement rather than confusion.
SEND reform itself will require patience and discipline. The White Paper is right to acknowledge that there is no quick fix to a system that has become deeply strained. Changes must be sequenced carefully to ensure that support for children and families is not destabilised during transition. Our longstanding call for greater investment in prevention, earlier identification and coordinated support is reflected in commitments to family hubs, Individual Support Plans and multi-agency teams. The proposed ten-year horizon appropriately reflects the scale and complexity of this task.
Ultimately, halving educational inequality cannot be achieved by policy alone. It will depend on sustained collaboration between schools, families, trusts, local authorities, employers and communities. The White Paper’s emphasis on partnership, innovation and evidence provides the right foundation. Its place-based Missions and improvement programmes suggest a willingness to test, learn and scale what works.
There are strong examples of effective partnership already operating across the country. The Fair Education Alliance’s place-based collaborations, our systems change approach set out in Neighbourhood to National, and our thematic work on early childhood, literacy and jobs for tomorrow demonstrate what is possible when organisations align around shared goals. We stand ready to contribute that learning to the next phase of reform.
This white paper shows that the government understands the scale of the challenge and wants to work collaboratively to get it right. This is the best possible starting point for a progressive transformation of the English education system. We are excited to continue this work with our members and government.
