ELECTION 2010

Election ‘wash-up’ sees Labour’s reforms blocked

Mr Balls said he was “hugely

Reports by Chris Parr

A number of key education reforms, including the School Report Card and compulsory sex education for 15-year-olds, have been ditched in the “wash-up” – the frantic rush to get Bills passed before Parliament is dissolved for the General Election. Last Thursday (April 8) was the

final day on which Bills could be passed and, following a day of debate between the three major parties, a number of the policies forming the Children, Schools and Families Bill were blocked by opposition MPs. Although the reforms that would

have seen the introduction of School Report Cards, the Licence to Practise and mandatory PSHE for 15-year- olds have been at least temporarily ditched, Ed Balls, Labour’s educa- tion spokesman, said he would seek to reintroduce them if Labour wins at the polls in May.

disappointed” that the Conservative Party had sought to block a number of the reforms, adding: “By sabo- taging our Bill the Tories seem determined to deny children the extra help they need and would set back our drive to keep standards rising in every school. If Labour is elected children will get this sup- port – and that’s a guarantee.” However, a spokesman for the

Conservative Party said its MPs had acted to prevent the government from imposing “even more damag- ing red tape on teachers”. He said: “This Bill would have

meant a great new wave of bureauc- racy swamping schools and it is good news that it has collapsed. Teachers will breathe a sigh of relief.” David Laws, the Liberal

Democrat education spokesman, told SecEd: “Labour wanted to impose mountains of extra bureauc- racy on schools which wouldn’t have raised standards. “We are pleased that we man-

aged to kick much of it out. However, we are disappointed that the PSHE provisions did not make it through Parliament.

The big three fight to win over the unions

Just days before the General Election was called last Tuesday (April 6), the education spokesmen for the three main political parties addressed delegates at the annual conferences of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the NASUWT unions. In what were highly politically

charged events, the three campaign- ers used their addresses to reiterate some of their headline policies. Speaking to the ATL in

Manchester, Ed Balls, Labour spokesman for children, schools and families, defended the 14 to 19 Diplomas programme, claiming he had seen them used to great success in the schools that he had visited. He told the conference: “Our

Diplomas have been engaging pupils in a new way. All the reports are that they’ve been excited by the mixture

of academic and vocational learning that means they start by learning the theory, but then go on to also learn about how to apply it in practice.” The Diplomas are a key bat-

tleground in the election, with both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats pledging to reform the way the qualifications operate. Mr Balls also defended his

Licence to Practise scheme, that he has pledged to re-introduce after it was blocked by opposition MPs last week (see main article above). “I want teaching to be a profes-

sion, like medicine or law, in which you continue to learn throughout your career,” he said. “Licence to Practise is about

properly entrenching in your terms and conditions proper, legal entitle- ment to CPD, and for (government) to know that that’s being delivered

properly to every teacher in every school.” At the ATL conference, Michael

Gove, the Tory education spokes- man, outlined his party’s plans to streamline the Ofsted inspection regime. He said: “I think it is wrong that

schools are held accountable for 18 different categories, that there are so many different boxes that you are expected to tick.” The Conservative Party would

implement a system that would see schools inspected in only four areas: quality of teaching; quality of leadership; pupil achievement and attainment; and pupil behaviour and safety. Mr Gove continued: “Everything

else is peripheral. Far less con- centration should be paid during inspection to published data, and far more attention should be given to the craft of classroom teaching.” At the NASUWT conference in

Birmingham, David Laws, of the Liberal Democrats, said that under his party’s regime, school league tables would take into account issues such as whether children come from an immigrant back- ground, or are on free school meals. Such tables would be put together by an independent quango. Mr Laws said: “They should be

produced at a distance from gov- ernment, so that their integrity and accountability is not undermined.

They would allow focus on schools that appear to be doing well because they have a good bunch of young- sters from privileged backgrounds, but are doing less well than similar schools.” He added: “I do think there has

to be a spotlight on school per- formance and an understanding of what’s driving it. Government data shows half of young people who are disadvantaged don’t go to schools that are considered so.”

Labour, SNP and Plaid set out election stalls

The Labour Party, which is bidding to win a fourth successive term in office, unveiled its election manifesto on Monday (April 12). The secondary education section

of the document, subtitled “excel- lence for all, personal to each”, promises to ensure all pupils have a personal tutor of studies, and extends the provision of one-to-one tuition for pupils preparing to sit GCSEs. It also claims that a Labour gov-

ernment would ensure that more youngsters have the option to study individual sciences and languages, and pledges to reform and improve the gifted and talented programme by guaranteeing more personalised support.

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The Building Schools for the

Future programme will also con- tinue, the manifesto confirms, while parents will be subject to court- imposed orders if their children fail to adhere to their school’s behav- iour policies. Frontline spending on educa-

tion will also continue to rise over the next three years, the manifesto states, although increases will not be as high as in previous years. Chris Keates, general secretary

of the NASUWT, welcomed the spending commitment. She said: “More and more chil-

dren and young people are learning in state-of-the-art facilities. Staying on rates at 16 are higher than ever

before. More young people are going to university. This progress achieved to date must be protected and enhanced. The commitment to sustaining the investment in educa- tion is essential for the future of state education.” Elsewhere, the manifesto also

reiterates the government’s com- mitment to introducing a Licence to Practise, which teachers would have to renew every five years by proving they are up-to-date with their CPD. Christine Blower, general sec-

retary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “I am disappointed that the manifesto includes refer- ences to the Licence to Practise for

teachers. The licensing proposal was unceremoniously and rightly thrown out by Parliament last week.” Another controversial part of the

manifesto states that where par- ents are dissatisfied with the choice of secondary schools in their area, local authorities will be required to act by securing takeovers of “poor” schools, expanding “good” schools, or in some cases, providing entirely new provision. The manifesto states: “Where

parents at an individual school want change, they will be able to trigger a ballot on whether to bring in a new leadership team from a proven and trusted accredited provider.” The Scottish National Party

also launched its Westminster cam- paign this week with leader Alex Salmond claiming that the “London parties” represented a “real threat” to spending on public services. Mr Salmond, first minister in Scotland, said: “Labour and Tories now deep- ly threaten cherished policies like free personal care, free education and community policing.” While the SNP cannot win the

election, Mr Salmond is hoping to form a strong block of Scottish MPs who can fight for Scottish interests at Westminster. He also pledged to form a

Westminster alliance with Plaid Cymru in Wales to “secure the best possible deal for our nations”.

Plaid also launched its campaign

this week. Leader and Wales’s dep- uty first minister Ieuan Wyn Jones said: “With a balanced Parliament, Plaid’s duty will be to negotiate the best deal for Wales and the best deal for our communities. “Only Plaid can be depended

upon to ensure greater support for our pensioners and fairer funding for the Welsh budget to protect jobs, schools and hospitals.” Both the Conservative Party and

the Liberal Democrats were set to unveil their own election manifes- tos as SecEd went to press. See SecEd’s Election Watch next

Thursday (April 22) for details or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk for updates.

SecEd • April 15 2010

“Sex and relationships educa-

tion is vitally important in tack- ling this country’s high teenage pregnancy rate. Unfortunately, the Conservatives and their outdated views blocked this part of the Bill from making it into law.” The Conservative spokesman

responded: “We supported having better sex education but the govern- ment insisted on removing parents’ rights to withdraw their children from classes they thought damaging – and we think parents must have such a right.” Teachers welcomed the demise

of a number of the Bills’ proposed reforms, particularly the Licence to Practise and the School Report Card. Chris Dunne, headteacher at

Langdon Park School in London, told SecEd: “I’m very relieved that the Report Card has been ditched in the wash-up. I haven’t heard anyone say anything positive about it, apart from Ed Balls. “The idea that the quality of

a school can be summed up on a piece of cardboard is as offensive as it is ridiculous.” Dr Bernard Trafford, head at the Royal Grammar School in

The wash-up – what was lost from the Children, Schools and Families Bill

• The Pupil and Parent Guarantees, designed to guarantee core rights and entitlements for pupils and parents, including catch-up lessons and one-to-one tuition.

• Home School Agreements. The Bill was set to introduce stronger powers to enforce parents’ responsibilities in supporting the school to maintain good behaviour, or face the possibility of a court-imposed parenting order.

• The PSHE provisions, which aimed to ensure that all children receive at least one year of compulsory sex and relationships education by lowering the age at which parents can withdraw their children from classes from 19 to 15.

• The new Licence to Practise, also known as an MOT for teachers, which was designed to reinforce the professional standing of teachers.

• Plans to introduce a compulsory registration scheme for home educators. • The School Report Card, designed to be another accountability measure for schools and to give parents more information about the schools their children attend.

• Plans to strengthen local authority powers to intervene in schools causing concern, and to give more power for the secretary of state for education to intervene where improvement is not deemed good enough.

• Parental satisfaction surveys, which would have required local authorities to proactively seek parents’ views on the range and quality of secondary school places in their area, and then act on their responses.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, added: “The Licence to Practise was a bureau- cratic nonsense which would have done nothing to raise standards and everything to demotivate a profes- sional workforce that is fed up with being treated as if it is anything but professional. “Another plus is the loss of the

Union address: Ed Balls talks to hundreds of delegates at the NASUWT conference

totally unnecessary legal requirement for sex education. Governments have to learn one day that statutory pow- ers are not the best or most effective way to get even good and necessary things to happen in schools.” Ray Tarleton, head at South

Dartmoor Community College in Devon, said that the whole episode

had highlighted the “extraordinary incompetence of the government machine”. “Why didn’t they work a few

extra days during an earlier Recess? Imagine if we ran schools like this: ‘Sorry, we didn’t cover the syllabus, year 11, but never mind. Better luck next year’.” Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16