Following on from my earlier posts about The Spectator Conference and the Learning & Technology World Forum we’ve been watching the political debate around education and how the parties are positioning education issues within their manifestos. The profile of education is rising during the campaign and in my searches I came across SecEd – ‘The only website for secondary education news and jobs’. On the site is a page entitled: ‘Taking your questions to Parliament – 15 Apr 2010’ where a number of teachers and school leaders have posed questions to the three main parties. SecEd has written responses to the questions from Messrs Ed Balls, Michael Gove, and David Laws which have been summarised by the site editor. From the article:
On parents choosing schools rather than the other way around – the consensus appears to be that if all schools are good schools then everyone would get the school of their choice – of course, the approaches to achieving this are somewhat different!
On the gap between the funding that is spent on education and the funding received by schools – Messrs Law and Gove are both saying that there should be less money spent on ‘quangos’ and bureaucracy. Ed Balls has already reduced the budget for Becta by £40 million so perhaps he agrees – he states that with the increased settlement and further efficiency savings (within schools), schools should be able to meet the cost pressures they face. It’s interesting to note that part of the efficiency savings are to be met through smarter procurement – key aspects of the work of two organisations (quangos), Partnership for Schools and Becta – so let’s hope that the cuts within these organisations don’t make this goal unachievable.
On change, about having time to embed success before moving on to the next big idea – I’m not sure about their responses. Gove: we’re going to give schools more freedom – yet he’s already made pronouncements about curriculum reform. Balls: we’ve had a lot of successes since we came into office and we’re going to build on these successes. Laws: there’s been too much meddling by politicians – we’ll pass an Education Freedom Act to ban this meddling.
On how to keep politically driven agendas out of education – there’s a level of agreement here – greater freedom for schools with increased accountability – again though, how to achieve this varies considerably.
On Diplomas – the responses varied from Laws: they’re a flop, to Gove: they need some changes to Balls: they’re a success story but we need further work on some areas (functional skills in particular – have a look at Guroo for functional skills for useful resources). So no consensus there then!
On SATS, league tables and testing – Gove: we need some changes but without them the work of some of our brilliant schools would have gone unnoticed. Balls: we need a smarter and fairer accountability system. Laws: they don’t work and are in need of reform.
On fair funding – Balls: we’ve reviewed funding mechanisms and are proposing changes but there should be local investment where it’s most needed. Laws: unfair funding is a real problem and we’re proposing changes. Gove: funding mechanisms are too complicated and obscure and so we’re proposing changes. There’s a theme running through this response!
On OFSTED and head teacher recruitment– Messrs Gove and Laws: we need OFSTED and we need changes in the framework. Balls: there have been problems with the recent changes in the inspection framework; we need to clear up some of the myths. Head teacher vacancy rates have been less than 1% for the last 10 years; we need to ensure that we reward those leading underperforming and challenging schools.
On pensions, pay and conditions – Gove: we’ve no plans to reform teachers’ pensions; we want to give schools more flexibility on pay and conditions. Balls: we’ve no plans to reform teachers’ pensions; and we believe that the pay and conditions agreements are a universal right – organisations can supplement them but not dilute them. Laws: we need to examine pensions across the public sector and we need to reform the rigid and bureaucratic pay and conditions rules.
On whether their education philosophy is substantiated by research – Laws: we took evidence from many involved in education. Gove: I’ve visited schools and spoken to teachers, I think good things are happening in Singapore, Finland, Sweden, and the USA. Balls: I’ve visited many schools and had dialogues with those involved including students. Most of the best ideas come from schools not from Whitehall. I’m not sure that any of them answered the question!
On funding for attendence, behaviour and attainment initiatives, post-16 participation, PE, school clubs and sports – Gove: we’ll devolve budget responsibilities to schools – it’s up to them what they prioritise. Balls: school funding will continue to increase we’ll build on the progress we’ve made. Laws: we’ll invest extra funding in schools but they’ll have to decide where their priorities lie.
So – the debate is getting under way – there’s even consensus in some areas – if you want to read more then try the following links to the education manifestos: Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats.
Patrick Kirk
