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Education white paper

Back to the future?

Is the Government's schools white paper a blueprint for an education system fit for this century, or the last, asks NUT Parliamentary Officer Emily Evans.

As night follows day, a new education white paper follows a newly elected government. Every new education secretary, whatever the party, wants 'improving' reform. But while every new secretary of state has the chance to benefit children, in practice ideology frequently leads to incoherent and inconsistent top-down measures - and children and teachers lose out.

Michael Gove is no different. He is convinced he can reform the system - and at a frightening speed. Even before the white paper was published, governing bodies were grappling with a raft of initiatives in the context of cuts to school budgets and local authority (LA) services.

The white paper covers the expansion of academies and free schools, proposals to reward 'outstanding' schools and persecute 'failing' ones, new powers to contain disruptive pupils, reform of teacher training and further curbs on local authorities. The list of proposals is long and contradictory. Of equal concern is what is missing.

In his foreword to the paper, Michael Gove states: "Our schools should be engines of social mobility, helping children to overcome the accidents of birth and background to achieve much more than they may ever have imagined." Yet there is scant reference in the document to meeting the needs of all children, nor how to address inequalities in teacher training, professional development and opportunities for promotion.

Teacher training and CPD

The Government wants a new national network of teaching schools, with trainees spending more time in the classroom. Teaching schools will also be expected to train future heads and school leaders.

There are parallels here with the early 20th century, before teacher training institutions existed, when people became teachers through a form of apprenticeship, with supervised training on the job. Today, most trainees will be graduates, not 16-year-old pupils. Gove believes trainee teachers should have at least a 2.2 degree - or have previously served as a soldier!

This will diminish the role of universities in training teachers, clearly for financial and ideological reasons rather than through evidence of what constitutes high quality training.

Two-tier system

The white paper proposes that pupil referral units (PRUs) be allowed to become academies. It also says the lowest performing schools, those attaining poorly, and those in

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