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SecEd: On Your Side
Answering the
Swedish question
I have never been to Sweden.
Like most people, I have spent
Pete
a frustratingly large number
Henshaw
of hours trudging around Ikea,
Editor
and have even found myself
SecEd
singing along to Mamma Mia Campaign
after failing to turn off the radio in time. But I have never
actually been there.
According to the Conservative Party, it is a wonderful
place where groups of parents, charities and other not-for-
profit organisations set up their own schools, which offer a
high quality of education for all. A veritable super trouper
for the book
of an education system.
If you listen to the Labour Party, however, then it is a
divided nation, where well educated and somewhat snobby
families secure top-notch education for their own children,
“THE PRESENCE of a school government has lost sight of what it
leaving the less fortunate youngsters to fight for themselves.
librarian in every secondary school, The provision of a school library is not takes to create a literate society
and co-ordinated library support “It is no surprise that, where they
The winners take it all, you might say.
for every primary school, are
a statutory requirement in England.
can afford it, schools automatically
Last week, the Centre for Economic Performance the essential building blocks of a put in a library. It is only when
published the latest in a seemingly endless series of reports
thriving reading culture.”
Chris Parr finds out why this has
resources are scarce, and schools
on the perceived merits of unleashing Swedish-style
So says Alan Gibbons, popular
angered a number of campaigners
are forced to make tough decisions,
children’s author and frequent that libraries are not put in place.”
schools in England. It concluded that the scheme could
visitor to schools up and down the The debate is set to rumble on
be very expensive, and would be largely ineffective in a
country. Last week, Biddy Fisher, However, ministers are less still further, with Mr Gibbons also
country that has a far more diverse education system than Mr Gibbons’ “Campaign for president of the Chartered Institute inclined to add library provision expressing his dissatisfaction with
Sweden had when it began the policy 15 years ago.
the Book”, which boasts Phillip of Library and Information to their over-crowded list of the government’s response: “There
And perhaps this is largely the point. Our current
Pullman and Michael Rosen Professionals (CILIP), sent an open centralised diktats, claiming that is no room for complacency. In this
among more than 5,500 signatories, letter to Gordon Brown lamenting the decision should lie with the context it is just not good enough
education system does allow for a range of companies,
calls on ministers to make school the government’s response to Mr individual school. for government to describe the
charities and individuals to get involved in the schools
libraries statutory, and describes it Gibbon’s campaign. In response to the calls, the situation as it exists. It is time it took
system should they wish to do so. And parents can have
as a “national scandal” that less than In her diatribe, Ms Fisher writes: DCSF said: “Government policy is action to improve things,” he said.
their say too. Take the wonderful Elm Green School in
a third of secondary schools have a “Research has shown that schools to put as much money as possible Ms Fisher added: “Good school
Lambeth, south London. In 2004, around 5,000 people
qualified librarian. with a qualified librarian and a good directly into schools’ budgets, libraries and their librarians are an
Mr Gibbon said: “In many areas school library achieve better results allowing schools to target resources integral part of the teaching and
signed a petition calling for a new school in the area after it
of the curriculum the government than those without. School libraries appropriately and to make their own learning process.
was calculated that there would be a shortage of secondary intervenes strongly. Curiously, it does should rightly be a powerful weapon choices about their school library “Just as it is a statutory duty
places by 2011.
not consider reading and information in the government’s armoury for provision and book resourcing. to employ qualified teachers and
A group of parents, known as the Parent Promoters
retrieval an area that needs similar increased social mobility and “We remain of the view that it is deliver the national curriculum,
Foundation, worked with the local authority to encourage
strong direction. We think this is inclusion.” for headteachers to choose how to so it should be a statutory duty
wrong.” She adds: “(The government) spend funds delegated to them, and to provide school libraries with
the government to release the funds for a new school,
However, his view is not shared has given all schools advice about the Department would not wish to qualified librarians as an essential
worked closely with developers while the school was set by the Department for Children, the provision of information and constrain that freedom.” part of every child’s entitlement to
up, and continues to have a massive say on how the school
Schools and Families (DCSF), guidance in year 9 when deciding Speaking to SecEd, Ms Fisher a decent education.” SecEd
operates via its seven parent governors.
which last week declined to make options. At the very least, we would said she had been “shocked
provision of a school library a hope that the government would and surprised to receive such a
Further information
Elsewhere, Kunskapsskolan – which operates 30
statutory requirement following see fit to extend a similar directive ‘brush-off’ response from the For more on the campaign, visit
schools in Sweden – has already been named as the
pressure from Mr Gibbon and his to schools as regards school government”. http://alangibbons.net and for the
preferred sponsor of several academies. Indeed, Hampton campaign. libraries.” She told us: “To me, it means the CILIP, see www.cilip.org.uk
Community College in Richmond has already begun
incorporating Scandinavian ideas, and is widely viewed as a
“prototype” for the Tories’ vision. I for one will be keeping
a close eye on how these schools develop.
Should libraries be filled with
The problem is the Swedish debate has become one of
the key education battlegrounds for the general election,
with each of the main parties grabbing greedily at any
statistic that can help prove their point.
books? A profession divided
While Michael Gove points to research from Stockholm
University that shows pupil performance in English,
Yes
Also, as far as fiction is concerned,
No
straight to a computer and use a
Swedish and maths improves as more “free schools”
Ian McNeilly, director of the it is difficult to find comfort in a Ray Tarleton, principal, South search engine. Everything you
open, Ed Balls retaliates with the Trends in International
National Association for the brightly lit screen on a cold night, Dartmoor Community College, could ever want – I think – is
Teaching of English and head of cuddled in a quilt with a hot mug of Devon: online.
Mathematics and Science Study, which last month showed
English at Brantwood School, cocoa!” “We’re on the verge of the biggest You really don’t need
that average maths scores at age 14 in Sweden fell Sheffield: revolution since digital downloads the books on the shelf, with
significantly between 1995 and 2007.
“Library provision, with qualified Jo Smith, vice-principal, Long replaced CDs and LPs. The expensive tags in their spines to
The idea of a passionate group of parents or teachers
staff, should be statutory, no doubt Field School, Leicestershire: wrongly named ‘mobile phone’ be sure no one steals them, and a
about it. And I mean libraries “Anything that sees funding for is now the gateway to all the severe librarian in residence most
running their own school seems, on the surface, a good one.
too – not whatever 21st century books reduced in schools is a bad knowledge in the world. of the time and the library closed
But there are far too many unanswered questions about the
tag someone comes up with to thing. Some pupils are never taken The next generation of when she has her lunch.
Conservative’s policy as it stands. pretend they aren’t libraries at all. to a library by their parents and the these devices, e-books and the If ever there was a time
What will happen when the parents who set up the
Children, students and, indeed, government needs to protect this technological transformation to say something has become
school see their children off to university or college?
adults, should have regular opportunity for pupils fiercely. means that everything in schools redundant, surely now is the time
access to a building with as many In larger secondary schools, a is about to change – not just the for school libraries?
Will they still have the passion to keep the school going,
books they can cram into it as library is often a haven for younger library but also the classroom. The Personally, I love libraries,
or will they seek to set up their own further education
possible and someone who knows or less confident students and acts role of the librarian and the teacher and once spent a happy two
establishment? As Gillian Low, president of the Girls’
what they’re doing to help. The as an important social area. Being will have to change as well, and terms in charge of a school
Schools Association, asked recently, what will happen to
importance of libraries – for all a pupil librarian is also a way of soon. That’s the real no-brainer.” library – there was a time, also
the existing schools in the area? Will the money to fund
sorts of reasons, well beyond offering a leadership opportunity to now long gone, when it was a
formal education – can’t be pupils that might not excel on the Hilary Moriarty, national normal adjunct to an English
the new school have to come from the budget originally
overestimated.” sports field or in their peer groups. director, Boarding Schools’ teacher’s job.
earmarked for the existing schools? Of course libraries should stay Association (speaking I remember with enormous
The government claims that the running costs of the
Peggy Farrington, headteacher, up-to-date and offer resources in personally): fondness the days of my life
schools set up under a Swedish-style system could run
Hanham High School, near other media formats – they are a “I recently heard Dr Anthony spent in the library at Trinity
to £1.8 billion. If the Tories are to take a chance on the
Bristol: great base for school virtual learning Seldon (headteacher at Wellington College, Dublin, reading all the
“No matter how ‘techy’ we environment access or other College) say that when they Victorian fiction I could find,
Swedish system, it will likely boil down to one issue:
become, I can’t see the book information sources such as plasma investigated library use in his and Anglo-Saxon texts and first
Money, money, money. SecEd being replaced for many a screens or internet access. school, they discovered nobody editions of Joyce.
long year yet. With a specialist Call it what you like (Learning in it. That meant completely But that was then, and this
• Pete Henshaw is the editor of SecEd and Delivering
reference book, finding Resource Centre is fine) but make rethinking their plans to improve/ is now, and for today’s pupils, a
Diplomas. Email him on editor@sec-ed.co.uk or visit
information can be sometimes sure it contains real books, on real upgrade/rebuild it. school library is very close to an
easier than the web and you can shelves for pupils to enjoy and see Surely these days, when a pupil anachronism, like quill pens and
www.sec-ed.com or www.deliveringdiplomas.com
have many books open at once. as a relevant part of their education.” wants to know something, they go ink.”
6 SecEd • February 25 2010
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