Greens issue radical education challenge to 3 main parties

Regular readers will realise I have been away for a few days. I have been in Liverpool for the Green Party Conference where we debated Education policy on Saturday:

The Green Party has sharply differentiated its education policy from that of the three main political parties in revisions adopted at the weekend.

Moving the revisions I said:

The neoliberal project is based on the premise of unlimited growth and unrestrained exploitation of the earth’s resources and sees society purely in terms of the market, competition, private acquisition and consumerism. This leads to the marketisation of education through the privatisation of schools, erosion of democratic accountability and the narrowing of the curriculum policed by testing and Ofsted.

Our rejection of this model enables us to put forward an education policy that is child-centred and provides everyone with the knowledge and skills to live a fulfilled life, restores local democratic accountability, teachers’ professional autonomy and children’s right to a childhood.

The revised policy that was overwhelmingly approved with only two or three votes against commits the Green Party to:

·        Abolish the current SATs and the Year 1 Literacy Screening Test and rigid age-related benchmarking

·        Recognise the great variance in children’s development in the early years and the need to offer developmentally appropriate provision including the important role of play in early learning

·        Strengthen the role of local authorities in terms of funding and the enhancement of their democratic accountability

·        Oppose free schools and academies and integrate them into the local authority school system

·        Restore the right of local authorities to build new schools where they are needed

·        Adopt an admissions policy that recognises every child and young person’s entitlement to access a fair, comprehensive and equal education system, regardless of their background

·        Embrace a diverse range of educational approaches within that system

·        Replace Ofsted with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with LAs. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the National Federation for Educational Research (NFER)

·        Ensure every child in the state funded educational system is taught by a qualified teacher

·        Reject performance related pay

Existing policy on the Curriculum which replaces the National Curriculum with a series of ‘Learning Entitlements remains unaltered.

Commenting after the policy changes were adopted I said:

We know that many despair of the current policies of Michael Gove and Tristram Hunt’s pale imitation and the great and reckless damage they are doing to the education system, teachers’ morale and children’s well being. We have clearly set out an alternative vision that replaces competition with cooperation, coercion with partnership, and fragmentation with cohesion.

Green Party Education Policy offers a real alternative

I will be moving a motion revising the Green Party's Education Policy at our forthcoming Spring Conference. The revisions take account of recent developments in what has been termed GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement) and the various campaigns that have sprung up as a result of privatisation, forced academisation, test led curriculum and pedagogy and the attack on teachers; conditions of service.

The full briefing paper on the motion can be read HERE. This extract sets out the background:

Since the current Education Policy was written there has been much change in the direction of education both nationally and globally. What has become known as GERM (the Global Education Reform Movement) emphasises competition between schools and between countries, education’s contribution to global economic growth and competition, the provision of a ‘market’ in education with increasing involvement of private companies, a narrowing of the curriculum through a concentration on basic subjects that can be measured through standardised testing, and a convergence between the world of work and education. 

In England the three main parties, to varying degrees, support this movement, which has resulted in the promotion of free schools and academies, the increasing role of private companies not just in sponsoring such schools but also in the provision of curriculum and learning materials. Companies such as Pearson and Murdoch are poised to exploit this situation. Testing at the age of four is now being mooted as well as the existing Phonics Screening Test at six, Key Stage 1 SATs at 7 and Key Stage 2 SATS at 11. In the secondary sector there is a huge emphasis on examination results. Test results are used by Ofsted as the first measure for judging school performance and schools spend an enormous amount of time analysing and ‘interrogating’ the data. A blip in these results can lead to a local authority school being forced to convert to academy status.

The paradox is that increased centralisation and the granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State for Education, in this government and any successor, have accompanied the rhetoric about setting schools free from local authority ‘control’ through academies and free schools. Currently the micro-management of schools by Michael Gove has extended to advocating particular policies on behaviour management. Peter Wilby has described the situation thus:

Michael Gove is on course to complete what Kenneth Baker began… the creation of a fully centralised school system in which the secretary of state for education has the powers of an elected dictator.

The agreement between the three main parties on this gives the Green Party the space to offer a completely different approach based on our underlying principles:

• Our rejection of the economic growth agenda and the accompanying international economic competition enables us to have a broader interpretation of the aims and content of education.
• This in turn enables us to reject the narrow curriculum, testing regimes and league tables associated with the GERM model and to put forward a child-centred approach taking account of child development, especially in the early years.
• Our belief that decisions are best made at local level rather than by centralised diktat means that decisions about curriculum (apart from a broad entitlement) and pedagogy are made by teachers and the school community rather than the Secretary of State.
• This enables diversity and creativity to take place within the state funded local authority school system, which will have the effect of empowering teachers and developing their professionalism rather than deskilling them.
• Our belief in cooperation rather than competition means that we put forward collaborative models of school improvement including school to school support and a partnership role for an independent inspection service informed by educational research/
•  Our support for increased democratic accountability at a local level involves improving the representation of parents and pupils within schools and democratic accountability through local authorities and removing the excessive powers of the Secretary of State.
• Our commitment to social justice means that we put forward policies that support fair admissions and fair funding of schools and inclusion of children with special needs.

Greens: State schools discriminated against by private schools' privileges

Adrian Ramsay, Green Party spokesperson on education has responded to Michael Gove's weekend structures on private schools:

Michael Gove suggests that state schools should try to perform as well as private schools. Has it never occurred to him that the reason why private schools often perform well is that they cream off many of the most privileged pupils, and then provide far more money per head for the education of them than state schools are able to?

Until the injustice is ended of resources being disproportionately directed to the education of the few, in institutions that have tax-privileges, then state schools will never have a level playing-field, and their pupils will always in practice be being discriminated against.

Copland teachers strike for 6th time over Ark Academy takeover

Teaching staff at Copland Community High School are taking their sixth day of action tomorrow (Thursday). They have made the following statement:

How is it that a school staff can feel so united, that their pupils and their school and they themselves have been so badly treated, that they are willing to take such strike action?

Staff have passed a motion of no confidence in the IEB (Interim Executive Board) now running the school. (Please see below for the full text.) Staff have asked that a possible legal challenge be looked at as well as a complaint being made to all relevant authorities.

Michael Gove, supporter of ARK and their proposed takeover, almost daily shows the dystopian version of education by dictatorship and containment. He proposes, and is using academies and free schools, to bring in a 10 hour days for pupils. Schools to stay open 51 weeks out of 52. We say “give pupils a childhood”.

The Copland IEB's so called consultation was laughingly inadequate. Even their inadequate 'feedback form' gave a result of 86% of pupils against and 89% of staff against. Very few parents responded and though a majority were for conversion there had been no adequate correspondence with parents, no letters or documents translated to help understanding and no document explaining why the staff were against.

The Unions offered to call off the strike if the parents were given an independently overseen ballot but the IEB refused to communicate at all with the local unions.

There will be a picket at the school between 8 and 9 am tomorrow.

Copland Joint Unions Meeting 22/1/14

This Copland joint union open meeting supports;

1.        The motion of no confidence in the IEB

2.        That a complaint be made to all relevant authorities and bodies** on the basis of it and any other irregularities that come to light

**E.g. Brent Local Authority, Brent Audit and Investigation Department, The Audit Commission, Teacher unions, Michael Gove, DfE

3.        That legal action be investigated following the successful judicial review by Barking and Dagenham Council in support of Warren Comprehensive school with a view to taking legal action over the attempt to force academisation without proper information or consultation

Copland staff have no confidence in the IEB as they;

1.        Continued and oversaw a massive, indiscriminate, hugely expensive voluntary redundancy programme in the summer that took no proper account of the curriculum and failed to protect it to the detriment of pupils' education and the school.

2.        Failed to take action to improve the intake

3.        Failed to press action to get any of the money (£2.7 million) returned that was removed from the school under a previous administration, while at the same time claiming every cutback and redundancy was necessary on financial grounds.

4.        Secretly applied to the DfE to turn Copland into an ARK academy without informing, never mind consulting, and not even providing a time line to staff or parents.

5.        Have refused to allow an independently overseen secret ballot of staff or parents regarding their proposal, or properly negotiate on it, despite the Unions offer to pay for such a ballot.

6.        Have engaged in a fundamentally flawed and unfair 'consultation' procedure over support staff redundancies and are seeking such wide scale redundancies both in teaching and support staff that the education and well being of the pupils can only be harmed.

7.        Have adversely affected the school's finances by drastically reducing the 6th form numbers.

8.        Have actively pursued an anti union agenda;

a)    unilaterally abolishing the school's JCC

b)    declining to formally consult the unions over the ARK proposal

c)    unlawfully not allowing school union reps to go on training courses

Let Gove and Wilshaw spit blood - we'll organise for an alternative

Following on from the successful West London Education Question Time last week, I attended the Anti Academies Alliance AGM, and left optimistic that at last the agenda supported by both Michael Gove and Michael Wilshaw (their squabble is more about power and ego than policy) is being challenged on a broad front.

The AAA recognised the connection between the neoliberal privatisation and austerity agendas by agreeing to affiliate to the People's Assembly. They agreed to participate in developing the education policies and actions of the PA and to support their local and national activities that accord with those of the AAA and the National Campaign for Education.

The importance of democracy and accountability highlighted by the struggles around  academisation was the subject of a motion on Parental Ballots which was agreed by the AGM.

The notion read:

The AAA notes

• that many of the schools converting to academy status - voluntarily or forced - are doing so without proper consultation of parents
• the recent decision of Barking and Dagenham Local Authority to organise ballots of parents in schools facing academy conversion

The AAA believes

• that parents should have the final say on the status of their children's schools

AAA calls

• on all governing bodies in any school consulting on academy status - whether by choice or by direction - to hold a ballot of parents
• on all Local Authorities to organise parental ballots for all schools converting to academy status

I hope that Brent Council will take note of Barking and Dagenham's policy and adopt it. But B&D have gone further winning an historic injunction, alongside governors,  in the High Court preventing the imposition of an Interim Executive Board and an Academy Order on Warren School.(1) After Warren went into special measures a year ago a partnership was established with Rober5t Clack School and Warrens's results have risen by 16%.

The Director of Children's Services at B&D had said:

I believe the Secretary of State's proposal will disrupt the progress made, and could negatively impact on children's education.

The ruling by Mr Justice Collins is itself very interesting as he not only questions the decision itself, saying. 'It appears to me this decision should never have been made' but also questions the legislation which allows such decisions to take place in the face of local demoracy and th best interests of the children concerned.

The Judge said:

This is an extraordinary piece of legislation (Academies Act 2010). The Secretary of State has wide powers to make am IEB (Interim Executive Board) and AO (Academy Order) and thereafter consult. On the face of it that is crazy. How can he be impartial by consulting thereafter?

He went on:

(It) seems from reports the present Secretary of State thinks academies are the cat's whiskers - we know of course some of them are not.

Cllr John White, cabinet minister for  children's services, and Michael Pavey's equivalent in Barking said:

This (injunction) is a victory for both common sense and the education of our children. Our position remains that the improvements at the school, and the arrangements we have in place, are having a very positive impact on outcomes for children, and as such, imposing an academy will be disruptive to children's education.

This follows on from the Snaresbrook Primary school's victory against forced academisation where an effective parental campaign was backed by the senior management team of the school, the governing body and the local authority.

Even in Hammersmith and Fulham flagship Tory borough, the decision to close top performing  Sulivan Primary School to make way for a free school, has stubled with the Scrutiny Committee's decision to call in the decision.

There seems to be the potential for a cross-party and non-party campaign to at least slow down Gove's juggernaut.  This is only a small step though because the three main parties are still wedded to neoliberal ideas of education emphasising marketisation and the producing of children who are 'fit for work' or even in the case of some academies and free schools, 'fit for military service'.

We must both win small victories to slow down Gove's reforms but also build and win support for alternative ideas about what education is for, how it is organised, and how decisions are made.

Having been elected to the National Steering Committee of the Anti Academies Alliance on Saturday I hope to make a contribution to this strategy.

(1) Acknowledgements to paper circulated at AAA AGM

Greens should support national campaign for education

I have long argued on this blog that because of the broad and fundamental attack on education by Michael Gove and the Coalition that we need a national campaign which both exposes that policy and proposes an alternative.

I hope that the Green Party will be part of the campaign given that we have progressive policies on education which I hope will be strengthened at Spring Conference.

Towards a National Campaign for Education has been formed to promote such a campaign and they have organised a meeting on January 22nd to which they invited the London Green Party. I will be attending and I hope other Greens will come too.

You can order free tickets for this event and a similar one due to take place in Brixton on February 27th HERE

You can Tweet questions with #eqtime @NCE2014

The Campaign has its aims on its blog: LINK:

This blog is aimed at anyone who uses, works or is just interested in our education system. It has two main purposes.

The first is to expose the faultlines in the 'neo-liberal' education reform movement and in particular to target the weaknesses, errors and political ideology in Gove's education policies.

The second is to develop a discussion that hopefully leads towards building a National Campaign for Education. There are many excellent education campaigns in the UK (see our Links page). There are also several different unions representing teachers and support staff. There are governor and parent organisations and a raft of specialist organisations dealing with subjects or specific areas such as SEN. This creates a complex network of organisations and individuals. The danger is that their work is duplicated and their impact is dissipated.

For some time now, people have been arguing that we need a National Campaign for Education (NCE). The NUT and UNISON unions have conference policy calling for the creation of such a campaign. At its last National Steering Committee the Anti Academies Alliance agreed to work towards creating an NCE by engaging in wider discussion and debate, hence this blog.

The argument is fairly simple. Gove's attacks on education cover almost every aspect of education. It is not just about academies and free schools. It reaches in to the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. It also affects the provision of school places and teacher education. It is about when and why our children are educated. On all these issues, the Coalition government have launched an all out attack. The breadth of their attacks require a coordinated and sustained response.

The idea for an NCE is modelled on the 1963 National Campaign for Education. This was an unprecedented education campaign that helped change the education landscape in the early 1960's. More on the history of the 1963 NCE will follow. But we want to make 2014 a year for education, a year of a National Campaign for Education.

For now this blog, will carry articles on a range of education issues with a view to engaging in a debate about how to defend education but, more importantly, about what sort of education system we want, about what sort of system is in the best interests of all our children.

This blog is not about replacing other campaigns. But it will argue more 'synchronicity' between different campaigns. Together we can build a campaign that halts the attacks and outlines the sort of education system that provides a good local school for every child.

The Green Party's Education Policy offers a real alternative

Tristram Hunt's proposals on licensing teachers ignited a furious Twitter firestorm last night with teachers declaring that this was the last straw: there was no one on their side and no party they could vote for. A surge of support for Labour amongst teachers recently recorded in polls looks like evaporating quickly.

There is a party that rejects the centralising and privatising educational agenda of the three neo-liberal parties and that is the Green Party.  Labour started the process of academisation and it is their granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State that Michael Gove is now utilising. Tristam Hunt's proposal should really not come as a surprise.

The Green Party's Spring Conference will be considering a series of amendments aimed at strengthening education policy  which will result in a real alternative which will be attractive to teachers and parents.

Starting from first principles we would state:

The Green Party believes that education should provide everyone with the knowledge and full range of skills they require to participate fully in society and lead a fulfilled life. The Green Party rejects market driven models of education that see its role only in terms of international economic competitiveness and preparation for work

We want to develop an education system that will nurture a desire to learn throughout life. We will do this through a child-centred approach to learning which builds on the skills and interests of each individual child.We will therefore end the current testing regimes and rigid age related benchmarking.

Education should be at the heart of communities and for communities, and should promote equality, inclusivity, social and emotional well-being and responsibility and be democratically accountable to them.

 The Green Party believes that the early years is a unique educational stage in its own right and not just a preparation for school. We recognises the great variance in children's development in the early years and the importance of a developmentally appropriate  provision which includes the important role of play in early learning

These principles lead on to

Education is a right and an entitlement and should be free at the point of delivery to people of all ages.Education is social rather than market provision and we oppose any attempt to privatise state-funded schools or to enable them to become profit-making.  

Free schools and academies, although publicly funded, currently lack local democratic accountability and oversight. We will reintegrate them into the local authority school system.

 In order to do this we have to strengthen local authorities and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State:

The Green Party recognises the key role of Local Authorities in the planning and provision of new school places, establishment of fair admissions policies, ensuring of equality of access for Looked After Children and those with disabilities and special needs, and the provision of School Support Services. We will therefore strengthen local authorities through adequate funding and seek to enhance their local democratic accountability. We will review and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State.

In schools we will tackle the dominance of testing which leads to teaching to the test rather than real education:

There is currently too much emphasis on national tests and fulfilling marking schemes, which can oppress teaching and learning and create a great deal of unnecessary pressure on children as young as 5. Teaching and learning are too often dominated by meeting targets and ticking boxes both for teachers and for pupils. The Green Party will abolish external SATs nad the Year 1 Phonics Test.

We tackle the increasingly politicised role of Ofsted by proposing a new body:

 The Green Party will instate a system of local accountability using continuous, collaborative assessment of schools. We would replace OFSTED with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with LAs. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the NFER

Accountability will be important:

 Where pupils’ attainment and progress is reported as part of a school’s holistic report to parents and the wider community it will include assessments, including value-added, moderated by the National Council of Education Excellence and the local authority’s School Improvement Service as well as the school’s own self evaluation

Secondary and college students will have a right to attend meetings of the Governing Body of schools and members of the elected School Council will have voting rights. Governing Bodies in primary schools will have the duty to regularly consult with the elected pupil School Council.

 The Green Party will encourage schools and colleges to set up Parent Forums or Parent Councils to enhance the school’s accountability and improve communication and collaboration over issues such as curriculum, provision, homework, attendance and behaviour management

Inequality is entrenched in our school system, often through admissions systems and we will tackle this issue: 

Currently there exists a range of inequality within our education system. This can often stem from unfair admissions processes, particularly in private schools, grammar schools, faith schools, free schools and academies. These processes often serve to work against already the most disadvantaged young people in our society (such as those from poorer backgrounds or ethnic minorities). In order to provide an equal opportunity for all young people then admissions must be as balanced and fair as possible.

Selection by aptitude, ability, or social class runs counter productive to creating a high quality education system for all students. Excellent all-ability schools with balanced intakes are the best way of ensuring that every child receives a first-rate education

 The local authority will determine admissions arrangements for all local state funded schools. Ideally young people will be placed at their local schools. However currently, due to the social and economic characteristics of different areas, placing children in their local schools can be a source of segregation and inequality. Therefore local authorities should aim to provide schools (particularly secondary) in their local area with a balanced, comprehensive intake as far as practically possible.

 The Green Party recognizes that the current mix of local authority, private, faith, grammar, academy and free schools reinforces social and ethnic divisions in society. A truly comprehensive intake and mixed ability teaching, coupled with equitable funding based on need, will extend equality of opportunity. We will therefore create a system that facilitates and encourages greater integration.

The recent attacks on teachers conditions of service are clearly a major concern and risk an exodus from the profession:

Teachers are the key resource within the education system. They need first class initial preparation, continuing professional development and appropriate salaries.

Every child should be taught by a teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and Principals and Headteachers of state funded schools should have QTS.

 A Green government will work with the teaching unions to reverse the process by which teachers have gradually been deskilled and their professional autonomy eroded and will review pension arrangements and retirement age with them.

 The Green Party opposes the introduction of performance related pay in education.

The amended policy having stated why we are opposed to academies goes on:

  The Free Schools programme is similarly democratically unaccountable with even more power handed to the Free School providers to decide the curriculum, admissions policy and whether to employ unqualified teachers or headteachers/principals with no formal teaching experience or qualifications

 For these reasons the Green Party is opposed to creating more Academies and Free Schools and will support community, school and parent campaigns that share this aim.

The Green Party will integrate Academies and Free Schools back into the local authority school system. In the short term, where Academies are in operation, we would instigate a maximum 25% voting rights for sponsor appointees to ensure proper democratic and community representation on Academy boards.

Unlike other parties Conference is the Green Party's supreme decision making body and there is extensive pre-conference discussion of motions and a workshop at Conference before a motion is debated. Motions are prioritised by a ballot of members so I urge Green Party members to vote for this motion as first preference. It is a long motion and needs proper debate and a high place on the agenda will ensure there is sufficient time to debate it.

The prioritisation ballot closes at 23.59 on January 15th. Follow this LINK to the ballot.

The current Green Party Education Policy can be found HERE