ELECTION 2010

We have pledged to review the baseline funding of all schools and areas. Too many areas simply are not getting the money they need, particularly to provide extra support to the most disadvantaged children. Our plans to introduce a Pupil Premium will target extra money at all schools taking pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, no matter where they are in the country.”

Michael Gove: “The per-pupil funding formula for schools is impenetrable – it operates according to formulae kept secret by the DCSF – so it is impossible to know precisely how schools are funded. The complexity makes the waste worse and undermines accountability – nobody knows who is responsible for how much money. This must change. Because the need to improve standards is most

pressing in poorer areas, we would give parents from poorer backgrounds a key advantage. The amount the state would pay for a poorer child would be increased – a Pupil Premium – so that schools will work particularly hard to attract them. We would simplify the complex school funding

system and shift towards a system in which there is a simplified amount paid by the taxpayer per pupil – with the Pupil Premium on top. Through greater transparency on funding we would

help hold bureaucracies better to account. We would let every parent know how much their local authority receives to spend on their child’s education and then how much less is passed on to local schools. This information would be accompanied by details on the academic performance of local schools and other schools with comparable intakes or levels of funding which are doing much better.”

Do you feel that the new Ofsted framework, which places so much emphasis on attainment, provides a level playing field for all schools? The framework has created fear among heads who recognise how much the bar has been raised. Are you anticipating a rush for retirement and a heightened crisis in the recruitment of heads, especially in more challenging schools? (Andy Packer, headteacher, The John of Gaunt School, Wiltshire)

David Laws: “It is essential that we have an inspection framework which attracts the confidence of professionals as well as parents wanting to know how their child’s school is performing. I am concerned that Ofsted’s current approach is not fair to schools in some of the most challenging catchments. We need a fairer mechanism for evaluating school performance which does not deter heads from taking jobs in struggling schools.”

Michael Gove: “We must have a situation where any school, no matter its context or locality, can be outstanding if it is delivering sufficient improvements for its pupils. School inspection should provide an accurate assessment of the quality of education provided and we would like to see

improvements made by changing the way Ofsted operates. We would work with Ofsted to draw up a new

framework for assessing schools which focuses on the core activities of teaching and learning. This would mean that instead of the current 18 categories, schools will be assessed in only four areas: the quality of teaching; the effectiveness of leadership; pupils’ behaviour and safety; and pupils’ achievement.”

Ed Balls: “I believe that inspection has played an important role in helping to raise standards over the past decade. Recent research by the National Foundation for Educational Research showed that the vast majority of heads were satisfied with their inspections and nearly two-thirds believed being inspected had helped their school to improve. Of course, Ofsted did begin using a new inspection framework in the autumn that did raise the bar and was also skewed from strong to less well performing schools. I’m told that it’s always difficult to begin with when new frameworks are introduced and Christine Gilbert (Ofsted chief inspector) tells me that she is keen to work with you and with me to clear up any miscommunication and myths around pupil attainment being a limiting factor. The fact is that (headteacher) vacancy rates have

been below one per cent for the past 10 years, pay and training is better than ever before and school bursars have helped to free up heads to focus on leading their schools. We do need to continue to ensure that being a head remains attractive to teachers and that where heads take on jobs that mean working in or with underperforming and challenging schools, they are properly rewarded for it.”

Teachers feel their pension provision is being threatened by parties’ policies. What would you do regarding teachers’ pensions? Also, some academy sponsors have not adopted National School Teachers Pay and Conditions and do not recognise trade unions. What steps would you take to enforce compliance and trade union recognition? (Paula Roe, teacher, Redhill School, West Midlands)

Michael Gove: “We have no plans to reform teachers’ pensions. However, we will be reforming MPs pensions in order to bring them more in line with the reality of the current economic climate. We would take steps to enhance the prestige of the teaching profession, to provide more on-the-job training and to attract the best people into the profession. We want to give schools the flexibility to organise themselves as they wish and we would therefore give schools more flexibility over pay and conditions so that people can be rewarded properly for their work. It is essential that schools, particularly struggling schools, are able to pay the best teachers and subject specialists more in order to secure the best possible teaching staff for their pupils.”

Ed Balls: “As part of the Pre-Budget Report, I was asked to find £500 million of savings from the 25 per cent of my budget which hasn’t been protected. Teachers’ pensions make up a total of 17 per cent of my budget so finding those savings will be tough, but I won’t break our promises on teachers’ pensions. We recently reached the seventh anniversary of the signing of the National Agreement and I believe it was a big step forward for teachers and that it has made a big difference. Dr Mary Bousted, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ general secretary, raised the issue of compliance in academies when I first became secretary of state. She said that these aren’t optional extras for some, they’re statutory rights for all. I totally agree. I told her that if she has any evidence that academies are using their freedoms to deny teachers their statutory rights, I want to see it so that I can do something about it. So far, the evidence suggests that academies are using their freedoms to o f f e r

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We would reform the league tables so they take into account the performance of all their pupils, encouraging teachers to stretch pupils of all abilities rather than having to focus on those at the C/D borderline

David Laws

increased pay and better conditions to attract high quality staff. But I take this seriously and still want to see any evidence of staff being treated unfairly.”

David Laws: “Looking forward, there is a need to take a measured look at whether the design of public sector schemes for future accruals is fair and sustainable both for public sector workers and to taxpayers as a whole. We do believe that some of the highest earners at the top of the public sector have received very substantial pension pay-offs which are very difficult to justify in the present economic climate. That includes MPs and we have stated that our own scheme is first to be reviewed. But we do not wish to undermine good schemes in a ‘race to the bottom’. We want to keep good salary-related pensions, but make them fair and affordable. We would establish an independent commission to examine the long-term future of public sector pensions, and to make recommendations. We would reform the existing rigid and bureaucratic

National Pay and Conditions rules to give schools and colleges more freedom, including in offering financial and other incentives to attract teachers – particularly in shortage subjects and in schools with the most challenging catchments – while ensuring all staff receive the minimum national pay award. We would also ensure that all state-funded schools recognise trade unions.”

Given that you are driven by a political philosophy, just how much research in schools has gone into your education policies? (Ray Tarleton, principal, South Dartmoor Community College, Devon)

David Laws: “When developing our education proposals, we took evidence from many people involved in education, including teachers, parents, governors and pupils. I have also spent much of my time as the party’s education spokesperson, visiting schools and hearing about the challenges they face. But a key part of our proposals is to devolve more freedom, so that teachers can make the key decisions on how to get the best from their pupils, rather than having to follow the latest government diktat.”

Michael Gove: “I have spent two and a half years visiting schools and speaking to teachers. I have been consistently inspired by their commitment, their idealism, and their skill. In particular, I have been impressed by those schools which are achieving great things in poor areas. These schools have shown us that with great leadership, great teachers and strong discipline anything is possible. I have also been inspired by what I have read, seen and learned about the best schools in other countries. Singapore’s focus on excellent teachers and the sciences has greatly influenced our own emphasis on the same factors. Finland’s brilliant teacher training and CPD have motivated our own reforms in these areas. The potential of choice for parents and autonomy for schools to raise standards in Sweden led us to adopt a similar approach in our plans.”

Ed Balls: “I’m ultimately accountable for £60 billion of taxpayers’ money, putting the right legal

framework and reforms in place and also giving you the powers and support you need to do your jobs. The only way I can do that is by talking to you and seeing what’s happening at the frontline. Since I began this job, I’ve visited over 250 state schools and spoken to thousands of headteachers, teachers and parents. I also always insist on meeting the school council at every school I visit because that’s the only way to find out whether the school is doing well on healthy eating and on bullying. I also regularly meet with all of our social partners and other representative organisations so that we can ensure that our policies are helping, not hindering, hard-working school staff and I make use of the best possible expertise when considering important issues like testing, behaviour, improving SEN support and safeguarding. Most of the best ideas don’t originate in Whitehall but in schools, so having that dialogue is vital.”

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In recent years attendance at school has risen; behaviour has improved; attainment has increased substantially; staying-on rates post-16 have increased; and PE, school sport and club links are improving dramatically. How do you intend to resource and develop each of these areas? (Chris Dunne, headteacher, Langdon Park School, London)

Michael Gove: “We would strive to maximise the value of every pound in the education budget by tackling waste and unnecessary bureaucracy as soon as possible. We also believe that heads know best what they need to do to improve their schools, and how they would like to do it. Rather than imposing centrally decided initiatives,

we would like to devolve budgetary responsibilities to heads so that they can do what is best for their school. Rather than tying the hands of headteachers with multiple ring-fenced schemes and complicated bidding processes, we would like to give heads their own budgets to manage, and supportive frameworks in which to develop these areas. For example, to tackle poor behaviour, we would

make it easier for teachers to use reasonable force to deal with violent incidents and remove disruptive pupils from the classroom without fear of legal action. We would give teachers the strongest possible protection from false accusations and legislate so that teachers can ban any items that cause disruption in the classroom. We would stop heads being over-ruled by

bureaucrats over exclusions and reinforce powers of discipline by strengthening home-school behaviour contracts. As for sports, we believe that all children should be encouraged to play competitive sports.”

Ed Balls: “I’ve been clear that school funding and per- pupil funding will both continue to increase in real terms this year, next year and the year after. This means that we can build on the progress that we’ve made and continue to invest in frontline provision in all of these areas, as well as to meet our guarantees to pupils and parents. We’ve said that school leaders will have more

freedom and responsibility to drive their own improvement and that includes how they spend their budgets, but it does include one-to-one and catch-up tuition for every pupil in primary school and year 7 who needs it, sport and PE, and a guarantee of a place in college or training for all school leavers – with Education Maintenance Allowances also staying. It isn’t just about investment though. Take behaviour and attendance. All schools are now working together to tackle these issues in their local areas and we’ve also given schools the powers they need to tackle bad behaviour so we want to support them to use them and want to ensure there are tough home-school agreements so that parents fulfil their responsibilities too.”

David Laws: “We will invest an additional £2.5 billion in schools, but we do not think that politicians should tell schools how to spend this money. Our plans to give schools more freedom will enable them to focus and spend money on their priorities.”

SecEd

pete.henshaw@markallengroup.com

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