Saturday 3 December 2011

A 'new look' education authority for Brent?

Following moves by various Brent schools towards Cooperative Trust status or Cooperative Academies, the Children and Families department of the Council  has put forward some proposals to headteachers for a possible  'new look' education authority. This would reduce the services provided  by the authority to a small statutory core with many more being provided through collaborative arrangements between schools. The collaboration could be formalised into a social enterprise.

I understand that this is based on:
1. An expectation of a sharply reduced central education budget.
2. A recognition of the enormous amount of expertise that exists within the schools.
3. A recognition that schools want more autonomy.

Although this addresses the attraction of the Cooperative model's ethos and criticism of the deteriorating quality of some LA services, it does not deal with the short-term financial gain some secondary schools hope to get through academy conversion.

In this week's Brent and Kilburn Times (see below) I called for an open debate on the future of the Brent education system. The initiative from the Council makes this even more necessary.

Click on image to enlarge


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