The Labour Party鈥檚 manifesto is 鈥渕issing鈥 key details on core school spending and offers 鈥渕ostly small鈥 resources for the many pressing 鈥渃hallenges鈥 facing education, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said. Labour鈥檚 manifesto, launched on Thursday, contained no new policies for schools on top of the raft already announced by the party. Here鈥檚 the key takeaways school leaders need to know… School budget uncertainty Farquharson Labour had no commitments on school funding. The IFS earlier this week criticised the Conservatives鈥 manifesto pledge to protect per-pupil funding in real-terms, which it warned would actually cut overall school funding by 拢3.5 billion because pupil numbers are falling. But in another damning assessment, Christine Farquharson, associate director at the IfS, : 鈥淲e, and schools, are left with no sense of what might happen to budgets.鈥 A recent poll by Teacher Tapp found 44 per cent of heads anticipate running a deficit budget next academic year. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, warned 鈥渇ailing to properly support education is a false economy and there is no indication in this manifesto that current cuts to education will be reversed鈥. 鈥楽mall鈥 promises on big issues Farquharson said the manifesto 鈥渋dentifies a whole series of challenges on education鈥 including 鈥渂urnt-out teachers, skyrocketing school absences [and] deficiencies in the special needs system鈥. 鈥淏ut the resources offered up to deal with these issues were mostly small, and targeted at specific new proposals. Key details on core spending were missing.鈥 Labour had briefed before its manifesto launch in Manchester that there would be no 鈥渟urprises鈥 in the document. Details of its core 鈥渕issions鈥 鈥 including education 鈥 had already been set out over the past 18 months. The party has also repeatedly warned the state of public finances will hamstring its ability to carry out sweeping reform if it wins the election. Knowledge-rich olive branch But the manifesto did offer an olive branch to traditionalists in the schools sector, spooked by earlier pledges to focus more on 鈥渟oft skills鈥. Paul Whiteman In the document, Labour pledged to 鈥渕odernise the school curriculum鈥, but said it wanted to 鈥渂uild on鈥 the success of 鈥渒nowledge-rich syllabuses鈥. In what is likely to be seen as a further effort to reassure the trad vote, the party also said its curriculum review would consider the 鈥渞ight balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations鈥. Paul Whiteman, of the NAHT leaders鈥 union, said the current curriculum is 鈥渙ver-crowded and any review should start by looking at where we can sensibly reduce unnecessary content鈥. Inclusive admissions praised The party has previously said fixing the SEND crisis will be an 鈥渆normous鈥 challenge, with a plan to come post-election. But the manifesto said Labour would take a 鈥渃ommunity-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs鈥. 鈥淲e will make sure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities and require all schools to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion, and place planning.鈥 Headteacher Andrew O鈥橬eill said it was 鈥渃lear that [Phillipson] has spotted issues with admissions of SEN children in our school system鈥. And trust boss Vic Goddard added the statement 鈥済ives me hope they鈥檝e listened to communities. Inclusion must become the norm.鈥 But still few policy details Labour has focused communications on its pledge to hire 6,500 extra teachers and other big-ticket items like breakfast clubs and more school nurseries. Bridget Phillipson Bridget Phillipson, shadow education secretary, tweeted that the 鈥渂est recruitment strategy is a strong retention strategy鈥. She added the party will 鈥渞estore the prestige and status of teaching. Teaching will be a profession of which to be proud once more.鈥 But there is little further detail on how the pledge will be achieved. The IFS also said the pledge would boost the teacher workforce by just 3 per cent and 13,000 fewer secondary teachers than required were recruited last year. 鈥楻elationship reset鈥 The party warned that 鈥渕ost children attend schools where the Conservatives are failing to provide the support and teaching that they need鈥. Phillipson has pledged to reset the 鈥渂roken relationship between government, schools and families鈥. The party has also pledged to work in 鈥減artnership鈥 with unions 鈥 a far cry from the current deadlock between leaders and the Department for Education. Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, welcomed the commitment, saying it was a policy priority as 鈥渢rust is integral to the functioning of society鈥.