ELECTION 2010

Teachers head to the polls in closest race for decades

by Chris Parr

As SecEd hits schools across the UK today (Thursday, May 6), hundreds of thousands of teachers are heading to the polling stations to cast their vote in the 2010 General Election. Education has been at the fore-

front of the campaign for all the major political parties, each try- ing to win over around 240,000 teachers, and tens of thousands more support staff from second- ary schools across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The national opinion polls point

towards a hung parliament or a narrow Conservative majority, but a straw poll of SecEd’s editorial board reveals that the picture in the education sector is quite different, with the Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party battling it out for first place. Our editorial board is made up

of around 200 practising heads and teachers from all sectors of the sec- ondary education system. According to our findings, 44

per cent of our board will be vot- ing Labour, 38 per cent Liberal Democrat, and just 11 per cent Conservative. Seven per cent of the board

members taking part said they were still undecided. The findings come three weeks

after SecEd challenged the educa- tion spokesmen from the three main political parties to answer questions from our editorial board. This week, we went back to three

of the questioners to find out what they thought of the answers. Mike Griffiths, head at Northampton School for Boys, argued that it was wrong that current legisla- tion was preventing parents from articulating their child’s individual needs when applying for a sec- ondary school place – unless their child has a SEN statement. Ed Balls, the Labour education

spokesman, said that the current system gave all children a fair and equal chance of getting into the school of their parents’ choice, “regardless of their background, parents’ income, or individual needs”. Michael Gove, Conservative

education spokesman, pointed out that one in six parents failed to get their first choice of school this year and said he would ensure parents can choose a school according to their child’s needs by “giving all schools greater autonomy”. David Laws, of the Liberal

Democrats, said something need- ed to be done to allow parents to discuss their children’s needs with schools, but in a way that would “not include a huge bureaucratic burden on schools”. We asked Mr Griffiths which

party he felt had given the best answer to his question. He told us: “They all miss the

point contrasting the rights of those without statements compared with those with statements of SEN. I am opposed to a free-for-all, but remain unconvinced that this is the only alternative to the randomness of lotteries. “Michael Gove at least acknowl-

edges that parents should choose the school that meets their par- ticular needs, but still stops short of saying that – in over-subscribed schools – the needs of the child can

D-Day: SecEd’s poll shows Labour on 44, the Liberals on 38, and the Tories on 11 per cent

be used to decide to whom places should be offered.” Simon Viccars, head at Leon

School and Sports College in Milton Keynes, wanted to know what will happen to the new 14 to 19 Diplomas. Mr Gove confirmed there

would be changes to the content of the qualifications under a Tory government, and that schools would no longer be obliged to

Birmingham teacher puts leaders on the spot

Education was one of the hot topics of the final election television debate, after the three main party leaders were grilled by a Birmingham teacher on their plans to ensure young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have the same opportunities as those from wealthier areas. Michael Crowhurst asked:

“I teach in a deprived area of Birmingham. How do you ensure, as a leader, (that my students) will have the same opportunities in life as those from any other school?” Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal

Democrats, re-iterated his party’s long-standing commitment to a “pupil premium”, which would see schools that take pupils from lower- income homes supported with addi- tional money. He said: “We would take £2.5

billion from the £15 billion of sav- ings that we’ve already identified elsewhere in government spending, so that we can raise the money given to pupils, the million poorest children, some of the children that Michael’s talking about, to the same level which children get if they go to fee-paying schools.” David Cameron,

the Conservative leader, opened his

4

response by claiming that disci- pline was the most important tool to raise pupil performance, and saying he would give heads and teachers “control over their schools”. Answering Mr Crowhurst’s ques-

tion more directly, Mr Cameron said: “Why not focus the money on where it’s really needed, and also use the money that we can save elsewhere to invest in those individual children who need that individual care? “It could be Saturday morning

classes, evening classes, one-to-one tuition, the smaller class sizes, all the things that I know as a parent and Michael no doubt knows as a teacher, make the most dramatic difference to a child’s education.” Gordon Brown, leader of the

Labour party, went on the attack, claiming that the other two parties would scrap child tax credits, and that the Conservatives would cut school funding, leaving disadvan- taged families at risk. He said: “I feel passionately

about opportunity for infants and young children. That’s why we introduced the child tax credit. That’s why we’ve created the chil- dren’s centres that are now focuses for the community. That’s why nursery education is at three now

Last word: The University of Birmingham hosted the final leadership debate

and not, as before, at four. That’s why we are financing personal tui- tion for people in the schools so that if they fall behind, they can catch up.” Two of the leaders also took the

opportunity to praise the work of teachers. Mr Cameron said: “I’d like to say a big thank you for what you do, because I think teachers just perform the most incredibly impor- tant work in our society.” Mr Brown added: “You never

forget your teacher. You remember what they did for you.”

offer students access to all the learning strands. The party also plans to scrap the Diplomas in languages and international com- munication, science, and human- ities and social science, which are scheduled for introduction in September 2011. Mr Laws told SecEd the

Diplomas were “complex and costly”, and pledged to replace them with a “General Diploma”

that would be based on existing qualifications such as A levels and GCSEs. Ed Balls confirmed there were

some issues that needed to be per- fected, including Functional Skills, but said there were no plans to change the qualifications. “Pupils are excited by the mixture of voca- tional and academic learning,” he said.

Mr Viccars said: “I like bits of

all the answers, and despite my own political persuasion that sees me want to like one more than the others, to acknowledge all positives is necessary. “To Mr Laws; yes, Diplomas

are complex and costly, and need some remarketing and structuring – especially in content. But one Diploma is far too simplistic for the reasons why they were created initially. To Mr Gove, Diplomas need credibility with learner and employer alike. There are logistical and transport difficulties, and in school timetabling. “And to Mr Balls, Functional

Skills have not found a credible place yet in the qualification, and the equivalency of vocational and academic qualifications is crucial for many young people who aspire to further education.” Less satisfied by the politi-

cians was Peggy Farrington, head at Hanham High School near Bristol, who asked why her local authority (South Gloucestershire) remained the second-worst funded in England. Mr Laws pledged to review

the baseline funding in all areas, Mr Balls argued that funding in South Gloucestershire had risen by 40 per cent since 1997, while Mr Gove said that the government did not make information public about how funding is calculated – making it impossible for him to know how it could be changed. Ms Farrington said: “The

answers failed to address how the government intends to make fund- ing fairer. “Why should a child in South

Gloucestershire be worth less in funding terms than a child in some other local authorities which in no sense could be described as areas of deprivation?”

Education spokesmen fight it out in debates

The education spokesmen for the three main parties have been following in the footsteps of their party leaders, spending the final days of the election campaign engaging in high profile debates. Ed Balls, Michael Gove

and David Laws, the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat spokesmen, met at the podium on two occasions in the final days before today’s election, with the first encounter taking place at the National Association of Head Teachers’ (NAHT) annu- al conference in Liverpool on Sunday (May 2). Mr Balls used his address to

criticise the Conservative Party’s “free schools” plans, claiming the policy – which would allow groups of parents to set up their own schools – would deprive existing schools of investment. He said: “It is not right to say

to some parents that they can have a new school, but not say that it will mean cuts to other schools.” Mr Balls said that the policy

would see children in existing schools being left to “wither and decline”.

The Labour spokesman received

a frosty reception from delegates, following the NAHT’s decision to boycott the administration of key stage 2 SATs – a process that would normally start next week. Mr Laws was more warmly

received, using his speech to criti- cise the level of central government involvement in the current educa- tion system. The Liberal Democrat spokes-

man also received the longest round of applause, and even some muted cheers, for his criticism of league tables. “The crude league tables tell

us more about school catchment than they do about school perform- ance, and risk driving away the best teachers,” he said. Mr Gove, meanwhile, told the

conference he was in “receive” mode, saying it was impossible to have a world-class education sys- tem “unless you listen to headteach- ers, unless you trust headteachers”. He added: “We need to change

the rules on discipline. We need more powers to search students, more power to exercise physical restraint, and a guarantee of ano-

nymity for any teachers who face false allegations.” On Monday (May 3), the

three men met again on the Daily Politics show on BBC2. Among the issues debated was

school funding, with Mr Balls alleging that a Conservative gov- ernment would cut £1 billion from the education budget, meaning a number of proposed reforms would be lost. “The Conservatives would not

match our guarantees on funding or one-to-one tuition. That would set us backwards, not forwards,” he said. Mr Laws re-iterated that his

party was the only one promis- ing to significantly increase the schools budget. He said: “Only the Lib Dems

promise, in these difficult times, to put more money into education and take the politics out.” Mr Gove used the platform

to defend his plans for a “free” system, that would allow groups of parents to set up their own schools, claiming the idea was successful in Sweden, and was “gaining favour” in the USA.

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