Pepe Di’Iasio

Ofsted is not the answer to ‘raising standards’ and never can be - SecEd The new Ofsted school inspection framework will not raise standards in schools says ASCL's Pepe Di’Iasio

Improving the outcomes and life chances for young people won’t materialise from thin air because Ofsted has come up with another set of adjectives.
The answer lies in tangible investment and a strategic partnership from across a range of stakeholders

www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/blog...

Ministers seek 3-year pay proposals and directed time review STRB also told to consider a salary safeguarding reduction and allow maintained schools to pay bonuses

Working out how to enable a ‘Multi Year Funding Agreement’ could be a game changer for leaders- enabling greater certainty with more secure strategic sensible longer term financial planning

schoolsweek.co.uk/ministers-as...

Board named for inquiry into white, working-class pupils’ education The inquiry, commissioned by Star Academies, brings together leaders from across national and local government, schools, trusts and colleges

Delighted to be invited to work as part of the team aiming to bring fresh, evidence based, solution focused strategies to look at the challenges facing this underperforming group of pupils
www.tes.com/magazine/new...

We’re lurching towards a crisis over EHCPs - this is how to avoid it Scrapping education, health and care plans is an incendiary suggestion, warns ASCL chief Pepe Di’Iasio, who outlines what government must now do to build confidence in its plans to reform SEND support

The government must spell out how it is going to build capacity for SEND support in mainstream schools.

www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Pepe Di'Iasio | BBC Breakfast 6 July 2025 Pepe Di'Iasio, ASCL General Secretary, speaks to BBC Breakfast regarding school admissions and appeals. www.ascl.org.uk

Speaking ⁦‪@BBCBreakfast‬⁩ @bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social with ⁦‪⁦‪ @romeshranganathan.bsky.social about the challenges of navigating the difficult but important process facing parents gaining a place in their preferred school

vimeo.com/1099096525

‘Good inclusive teaching is, in many ways, just good teaching’ Excellent piece here to help us move forward into what is going to be a key theme for the Autumn term
www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

The government cannot afford to get this wrong - SecEd Reform is needed to the SEND system and government plans will be set out in the Schools White Paper this autumn

Why this is so potentially controversial is easy to see. If the government gets this wrong it will put itself on a collision course with parents-these are parents are used to fighting on behalf of their children against a system that many feel is stacked against them
www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/blog...

A room full of energy and great expectations for the year ahead. @ascl-uk.bsky.social New Headteachers Conference. Brilliant to hear from @keziah70.bsky.social @carolinebarlow.bsky.social @cmckinnellmp.bsky.social

Pepe Di'Iasio BBC Breakfast | 10 June 2025 Pepe Di'Iasio, ASCL General Secretary, speaks to BBC Breakfast regarding teachers using AI to save time on marking. www.ascl.org.uk

Much welcomed advice and guidance on the safe and effective use of AI in Schools and Colleges
@ascl-uk.bsky.social
vimeo.com/1092044870

Surprise extra £4.5bn for schools as Reeves goes to wire ... More money for SEND reforms and teachers’ pay while health and defence are big winners in spending review

The spin in the final sprint towards the Spending Review begins…..
observer.co.uk/news/politic...

We need our children to leave school ready for life in the real world | The Observer To ensure that young people embarking on a career have the skills and mindset employers are looking for, education must be linked more closely to the workplace

This excellent piece reminded me of the expertise and experience that exists around our government-who, I believe, would do well to listen to-learn from and lean into when developing policy
observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Who are schools for? Big systems are compromises. Our road network is a good example – the one I used to get here today. Some cars are safer at higher speeds. It’s more important for some people to be on time than it i…

Excellent piece👏
‘If we all made provision for children who find learning tough a priority for us then how far down the road might we go?’
I stand with Ben
bennewmark.wordpress.com/2023/04/29/w...

Ofsted report card inspections ‘too short for reliable judgement’ School leaders involved in trials of Ofsted’s planned new inspection system warn about the volume of work to be done in one and a half days

Excellent piece from Manny Botwe @ascl-uk.bsky.social President ‘It would be a tough ask to expect inspectors to arrive at consistent and reliable judgements on a five-point grading scale across so many different areas in such a short period of time’
www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Child poverty: History will judge this government very harshly unless it acts now - SecEd Levels of child poverty are at a record high and set to rise further during the course of this Parliament

Reducing the shocking level of child poverty in the UK is one of the most effective things we could do to improve the wellbeing and educational outcomes of millions of children
www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/blog...

A wonderful day commemorating and celebrating #VEDay80 with students. Nothing better than the power of music and song to help young people learn from and connect with such important moments in our history

I love that this piece reminded me of all the delights (and downsides)of what makes Headship the ‘greatest job in the world’

Very kind of you Dan
Impressive to see so many trust leaders travelling from across the SW to join the meeting

Let’s end this sorry tale of state neglect and make childhood magical again From child poverty, to unemployment among young people, to a lack of skills or training, the trends are deeply alarming

‘The elephant in the room is poverty.’

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

‘To govern is to decide’
The truth is -it will have been considered-discussed-and then a decision reached to prioritise ‘something else’
Who knows if it would have made a difference-but 6 votes feels very close

Talk of schools finding ‘efficiencies’ is a fantasy The government says schools will need to find ‘efficiencies’ to cover next year’s teacher pay rise. The truth is that this means more cuts, writes the ASCL general secretary

It is utterly self-defeating for the government to refuse to give schools the money they need to afford to pay that award to their teachers.
www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

‘We cannot raise standards without raising the expertise of our teachers and school leaders.’
Some great research promoting the power of investing in our workforce highlighting the positive impact this has particularly for our most disadvantaged

DfE confirms paltry 3p UIFSM funding rise 1.2% increase is far below predicted rises in food and wage costs

Policies such as free school meals and breakfast clubs can be a real lifeline to families who are struggling, but if they are going to be done on the cheap then their impact will be greatly diminished.They simply must be fully funded
schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-confirms...

Ofsted: We know we need to improve our inspection plans With Ofsted’s consultation on its proposed changes to school inspection coming to an end, the watchdog’s director of strategy and engagement outlines its key insights so far - and how it is adapting i...

Reassuring that the profession are being heard.I guess we are all looking forward to seeing what this will actually look like in reality. www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Nice touch from ⁦‪@tes‬⁩ Looking forward to judging the ‘Headteacher of the Year at the TES Awards’ this year-always a wonderful celebration of our profession

What Jonathan Haidt Thought When He Watched ‘Adolescence’ “The internet is just not a good place to let your child roam free 24/7.”

“…a little bit of online life sitting at your parents’ computer in the ’90s was fine, but living your entire life on a hyperactive commercial platform whose business model is to maximize engagement is not fine” www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Half of England’s state secondaries forced to cut staff in budget squeeze, poll finds More schools also reducing spending on trips, IT, extracurricular activities and GCSE subject choices

No school leader wants to be in the position of losing teachers or support staff, but the financial situation facing schools and colleges has seldom been as grim as it is right now
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

‘They called it the Lundy model, and it took off’: how an academic’s landmark paper transformed children’s rights Queen’s University Belfast is influencing thinking and policies around the world to help give young people a sense of agency

Excellent piece on student voice: ‘It was clear children felt they weren’t being heard.They weren’t being asked what they thought,they weren’t being listened to,or they were being punished if they spoke up and the term ‘voice’ didn’t capture what children needed.
www.theguardian.com/research-to-...

RISE ‘duplication’ fear as most ‘stuck’ schools improve after trust move Tes’ findings show that RISE teams risk targeting schools that are already improving under new governance, trust leaders say

We need to move away from stigmatising labels and towards a system that is genuinely supportive and recognises the unique challenges and trajectories of individual schools
www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Pleased to have the opportunity to join⁦‪ @john-camp.bsky.social ‬⁩ to share the priorities and challenges facing the education sector with ⁦‪@cmckinnellmp.bsky.social

Delighted to be able to support our friends at Parenkind at the launch of ‘The Missing Chapter’- A report exploring the cost of school for parents in poverty
Happy to pledge our support to a series of recommendations for the Government ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy