puzzle of education reform. And over the last four years it has become more apt than ever. Overnight, accountability is changed, assessment criteria changed on a whim, grade boundaries shifted by diktat – this frenzied churn of ‘initiative-itis’ has seen the workload of the average primary classroom teacher, secondary teacher and headteacher increase by nine, six and six hours since 2010 respectively.

This explains, in part, why 40% of new teacher trainees leave the job within the first five years. Why too many experienced teachers leave the profession altogether. And why the high stakes nature of modern school leadership is so often compared to the role of Premier League football manager (without the salary). Yet the worst impact is the hidden one: it gets in the way of teacherssupport network which added a staggering 4.1 million hours of additional leadership capacity last year.

But what I hope will change for The Key with a Labour government is the nature of its conversation with school leaders. Never forget that the Labour Party is the party of the original sponsored academies programme. A commitment to equipping outstanding heads and inspiring teachers with the autonomy they need to improve attainment is a key component of our education philosophy. From David Blunkett ‘passporting’ school funding down to school level in 1997, to the code of practice for local authority and school relation in 1998 and the dedicated schools grant in 2006 it was a defining principle of the last Labour Government’s action on school improvement.

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