School leaders know that solving problems is a marathon, not a sprint.

If anything has been clear from the emails since the autumn budget, it is that school leaders and other education experts see solving problems in England’s education system as a marathon rather than a sprint.

This is because there are big problems. Universities warn that they risks going bankruptgoals were not achieved rebuilding crumbling schools, teachers are leaving the profession and a system designed to help children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), was called “broken”.

What all these experts don’t quite agree on, however, is how quickly the government should act at this early stage.

There are those who were hoping for a sprint start this week.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), which has led teachers’ strikes in recent years, said the new funding announcements were “insufficient” and the government needed to “act much faster”.

The £2.3 billion increase in the basic schools budget (a 1.8% increase in real terms, according to the Education Policy Institute (EPI)) includes £1 billion for the Send programme.

Mr Kebede said the remaining £1.3 billion for mainstream schools would put headteachers in a “very difficult position” given the difficulties they face in recruiting and retaining teachers.

Others view the budget as something of a strong start (perhaps a jog) and hope that the pace will pick up later.

Julia Harnden of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the announced £300m for further education “falls short of the government’s ambition to focus on skills” and that £6.7bn for school and college buildings, including demolition, is dangerous concrete and turning empty classrooms into children’s rooms – “does not cover the deficit that already exists.”

“While there are many positives in (Wednesday’s) Budget, there is still a lot to be done and much of what we have heard represents relatively small spending commitments that do not match the level of investment that the education system requires. “, she said.

However, some believe the government still has time to build on this momentum and should look forward to the next spending review, due in the spring, as a major milestone.

“The widespread neglect of schools under Conservative governments meant it was always going to be difficult to give school leaders all the financial support they need in this budget alone,” said Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT.

“This is a start based on good intentions, but it must be underpinned by further ambition and investment in the multi-year spending review due next spring.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the Treasury showed it “recognizes the need to invest more” in further education this week and that he hoped for a “better, longer-term” plan for next year.

“We don’t expect this picture to change overnight, but we want the government to develop an investment plan for the next three to five years,” he said.

EPI said any long-term plan for colleges must include allocations based on the proportion of low-income students who attend there. “This alone will cost £340 million a year,” it said, more than the amount allocated for next year.

And as the government begins with funding announcements, it will be keenly aware of calls for other system-wide reforms in the future.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, wants to see “fundamental reform of the dispatch system, focusing on improving inclusivity in normal settings and writing off the deficit required by councils”.

ASCL said the new dispatch plan was needed to “ensure funding always gets to the front line”, while the NEU said it was in talks with the government about what reform should look like.

Universities, whose main calls for financial help were not met in this week’s Budget, also say they want to work with ministers on a new higher education plan. They say decisions need to be made soon, including on raising tuition fees in England. in accordance with inflation.

Ministers are halfway through increasing free childcare hours – a Conservative reform that will remain under scrutiny, especially as the £1.8 billion announced by the Chancellor last weekend was in fact promised by her predecessor Jeremy Hunt.

As the government enters its marathon, every decision will have to be made against the backdrop of decrease in the number of students in the coming years – and this about 35,000 children may join the public sector as a result of the addition of VAT to private schools.

There is a thorny road ahead.