Malcolm Blair Robinson
April 26, 2010 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Education

One of the greatest mysteries of the Tory campaign (the weakness of which is itself a mystery) is the element of the education policy proposing parents and charities set up their own schools with public money. This is a deeply flawed concept now causing controversy even among the Tories themselves.

We already have Academies, Trust schools and Foundation schools, as well as Faith schools, all of which operate outside LEA control of most of their activities. These are good developments to provided diversity, but it would be pointless to diversify further. There is indeed a problem, but not correctly identified by the Tories.

The problem is Local Education Authorities no longer have any power in the management of even their own schools. What is needed, to complement the independence of the other reforms, is the restoration of full LEA powers to manage their own schools, together with much greater authority over the allocation of money.

In the school into which I was parachuted as an emergency governor the only requirement to arrest the decline in academic standards was a change of headteacher. The LEA had no power to do this (!), only the governors could act and the majority would not. The solution was the disruptive rigmarole of an OFSTED report, putting the school into Special Measures.  This finally allowed the LEA to act and replace the Head. Unfortunately the process of complying with all the procedures this stricture demanded together with the bad publicity, caused a loss of pupil numbers, which in turn caused the income of the school to drop. The only way to get more money to avoid closure, was to become an Academy, the current results of which are very disappointing indeed.

What should have happened (and would have before excessive involvement of Whitehall in the detail of eduction, a process begun by the Tories under Thatcher) was for the LEA quietly to retire the deficient Head and allocate some extra resourses to support the improvements set in train by the new Head. An every day management adjustment taken in an easy stride. But the LEA had neither the power nor the money.

What parents want is a good school in their neighbourhood which will take their child as a matter of course and which will deliver a good outcome at the end. This is neither difficult to organise, nor requiring of any scheme, other than to restore to local government the educational power and budgetary control which both Tory and Labour governments sucked to the centre. Properly controlled LEA schools would provide the educational rigour to every neighbourhood, rather than just those with pushy parents and aspirational elbows.

In the end it is in the interests of this nation’s future to recognise that it is the children without parents who care about education or who have no aspiration for themselves or their offspring, who depend upon the community school being run by dedicated professionals with the power to deliver. Help them today and we help everyone tomorrow. The Tory plan will do a lot more harm than good.

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