Two Mr Ps in a Podcast — Bridget Phillipson on the White Paper

Two Mr Ps in a Pod(Cast)

Two Mr Ps in a Pod

Education

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, Lee sat down with the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, to discuss the government's Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper and the SEND consultation. I thought we would have had a lot more time than we actually had, which meant a few questions I had prepared from the 1,000+ questions submitted weren’t asked. And probably not being able to go back on every answer in the way I'd have liked, but I decided to focus on giving the Ed Sec a chance to bring clarity to some of what had been proposed. There were things left on the table and some answers that deserved more pushback than time allowed. That's worth being upfront about. The conversation covered SEND funding and what the £4 billion investment will actually look like in a mainstream classroom, the new Individual Support Plans, what happens to EHCPs, inclusion bases, the role of SENCOs, support staff pay and recognition, workload concerns including the future of the 1,265 directed hours, early intervention through the Best Start Family Hubs, curriculum changes, and Ofsted's new inspection framework, including whether the data suggests disadvantaged schools are being disproportionately affected. Some of those questions got fuller answers than others. Some of the answers raised further questions we didn't get time to follow up on. That's the reality of a time-limited sit-down with a Secretary of State. The SEND consultation is open now and closes 18 May 2026. Whether you're a teacher, support staff, parent or professional, they're asking for responses - https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-strategy-division/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-firs/https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-strategy-division/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-firs/ Head to neu.org.uk/abolish-ofsted to find the Ofterd risk assessment guide from the NEU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Right Adam, quick question. Has anyone ever actually enjoyed an Ostead inspection?
0:06.0	Um, no. No one. That's not a thing.
0:11.0	Right. Well, here's something useful. The N.U, the National Education Union, has put together an Ostead Risk Assessment Guide.
0:18.0	And yes, risk assessment and Oststed in the same sentence is very much
0:24.3	on purpose. That's because Ofsted is a risk. We're talking anxiety, stress, unsustainable
0:30.5	workload. The coroner investigating the death of Ruth Perry said that without action, future
0:36.3	deaths could occur. That's how serious this is.
0:39.3	So the NEU has created a proper five-step framework based on health and safety executive guidelines
0:46.3	to help schools identify the hazards, assess the harm and put protections in place before, during and after an inspection.
0:56.1	Things like banning moxtedds, no after school meetings while inspectors are in, an actual
1:01.6	recovery time afterwards. Wild concept, I know.
1:05.7	Your employer has a legal duty to do this and the NEU has made it as easy as possible. There's a guide, a form,
1:12.7	everything you need.
1:14.5	Head to NEU.org.uk,
1:17.2	forward slash abolish-Oftstead. To find the risk assessment guide, share it with your rep,
1:24.0	get it on the agenda.
1:25.4	Because you deserve better than white knuckling it through an inspection
1:29.2	week. So I once again joined with Secretary of State for Education Bridget
1:43.9	Philipson. This is
1:45.0	third, fourth time we've had a little chat about things, which is great. And obviously
1:49.0	White Paper got announced the other week. I asked my social media following to submit any
1:54.0	questions and so I'm going to try my best to get through as many as we can in the time we're given.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Two Mr Ps in a Pod, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Two Mr Ps in a Pod and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.