News

Suspicions raised over DfE’s ‘lead-in time’ protocol for new education policy

The Department for Education promises schools one year’s lead-in time for ‘significant changes’ to accountability, curriculum and qualifications – but doubts linger over the inclusion of an 'override' clause. Pete Henshaw explains

The Department for Education (DfE) has published a protocol that requires a “lead-in time” of “at least a year” for any significant changes to accountability, curriculum and qualifications.

The two-page protocol document forms part of the government’s response to education secretary Nick Morgan’s Workload Challenge, which saw 44,000 teachers and school staff responding to a consultation on workload.

However, school leaders, while welcoming the new protocol, said it did not go far enough on issues such as Ofsted, a key driver of workload. They also questioned a clause in the document which allows the DfE to “override” the protocol “in cases where a change is urgently required”.

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