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duty to co-operate with the LA is to see that all local services for children are appropriately supported and challenged to ensure wellbeing.”


A change of heart The government has had a change of heart, at least temporarily. Schools minister Nick Gibb in the last stages of the Bill in the House of Commons announced that the requirement to work together would stay. He explained that shifts in the educational landscape were responsible for this adjust- ment, “having considered the mat- ter further and reflected upon it, it is better to maintain the duty until deliberations over those measures are complete”. The measures he refers to are the


Health and Social Care Bill and the SEN Green Paper. Both of these include multi-agency proposals that may be hard to implement if departments are not required to work together. The introduction of an Education, Health and Care Plan to replace statements is, to say the least, an unknown quantity.


In the end? Even with its retention, there is confusion about exactly what the duty to co-operate will look like for schools. The House of Lords debate revealed the lack of clarity around it. Who must co-operate? Is the duty between schools and LAs, services within LAs, or LAs and academies? In the end, however it is interpreted, it has been decided that it is better in than out. For the time being that is.


• What do you think? Email david. taylor@markallengroup.com


Twigg: Group students based on ability, not age


Students should be taught in classes based on their ability rather than their age, the shadow education secretary has said. Speaking at the North of


England Education Conference in Leeds, last week (Thursday, January 5), Stephen Twigg said students are too “rigidly separated” in the classroom and many schools are set up like factories. Mr Twigg believes that some


children should be taught depending on their interests and grouped with children of similar abilities instead of by age. He told delegates: “On a


conceptual level, many schools are still organised like factories. The workers down tools when they hear the bell ring, and are strictly separated into production lines, focused on building the constituent parts of knowledge, maths, science etc. At the same time, students are rigidly separated. Taught in batches, not by ability or interest, but by their own date of manufacture.”


Elsewhere, Mr Twigg said the


school day should be extended to get students used to a “work-like timetable”. He added this would help to prevent some students becoming involved in gangs and enable the most disadvantaged children to study away from potentially “chaotic” home environments. He explains: “A long hours


culture has its drawbacks, but how many employers expect their workers to leave the office at 3.30pm? A longer day can be progressive in nature. Too many pupils who suffer from poor housing conditions struggle to find a quiet place to study or do their homework. “Providing a longer school day


will give these students a haven away from what in some cases can be chaotic and troublesome home lives. “It can take young people, quite


literally, off the streets. Numerous studies have shown that gang


activity is often most prevalent in the hours immediately after schools close, and providing longer school-based activities may prevent some from getting into trouble.” Mr Twigg also announced the


unveiling of a Labour Party review into the relationship between the world of work and schools. It will be led by the former education select committee chairman and Labour MP Barry Sheerman. Brian Lightman, general


secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the Labour Party’s review, but slammed Mr Twigg for telling schools how they should organise their school day. He added: “We are disappointed


that Stephen Twigg has ventured into telling schools how they should organise their teaching groups or their school day. These are professional decisions which should be left to teachers and school leaders to decide.”


Heads reveal social mobility fears


More than 40 per cent of school leaders believe social mobility has decreased under the current government, a survey has found. Furthermore, 47 per cent of


leaders told researchers that government reforms have had no impact on social mobility. More than 1,500 people took


part in the survey, carried out by The Key, a support service for school leaders, and many slammed the government for policies such as free schools, claiming they will create a “narrower social mix” in the maintained sector. One primary school headteacher


told the study: “I believe free schools will attract aspirational parents who may not be able to


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afford independent education and this will result in a narrow social mix in those schools that remain in the maintained sector.” Respondents also criticised


the government for increasing university tuition fees and abol i shing of Educat ion Maintenance Allowance which they believe will make it extremely difficult for some students to attend higher education. Elsewhere, more than a third of


school leaders said it was unclear what the financial impact would be if they became an academy. The report also finds that the advantages of being a school under local authority control differs between regions.


The report said: “Some local


authorities are already offering traded services, and the schools in those areas are not seeing huge changes. Other local authorities are trying to continue to operate by offering centralised services to those schools which remain with them in the same way they always have done. “However with reduced budgets


and resources, schools in these areas are questioning how long the situation can go on.” Respondents to the survey


said it remains unclear as to how academies will be funded in the future and some expressed concerns that the current level of funding on offer from government is “not


sustainable”, claiming schools which remain under local authority control will be “better off”. Brian Lightman, general secre-


tary of the Association of School and College Leaders, commenting on The Key’s findings, said: “While strongly supporting the principles behind the coalition government’s social mobility strategy school and college leaders are finding that the reality of changes to EMA, tuition fees and careers guidance com- bined with cutbacks to funding of youth support services, extended school activities and interventions such as one-to-one tuition is hav- ing a negative impact which makes their job of raising aspirations and hope far more difficult.”


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