Hunt dashes hopes for clear Labour support for democratically accountable schools

With the last non-faith secondary school in Brent about to be forced to become an academy and four free schools in the pipeline for the borough, many teachers, trade unionists and parents have been looking to Labour to propose an alternative.

They have been disappointed locally by the Labour Council's failure to support the campaign against forced academy status for the popular Gladstone Park Primary School and its sacking of the governing body at Copland High School.

Nationally there was much impatience with Stephen Twigg's failure to take on the Coalition over education with the same energy and commitment as Andy Burnham had done with health. He failed to adopt a clear position on free schools, academies and privatisation and became known on Twitter as the 'Silent Twigg'.

However any hopes that his post-reshuffle successor would be any better have been shattered by Tristram Hunt's statements on free schools over the weekend. He came out in support of free schools with a few caveats, and failed to address the issues of democratic accountability and supporting the role of local authorities..

After his appearance on the Andrew Marr show my Twitter feed was full of disillusioned comments. Here are a few of them:

alistair smith ‏@alatalite 1h

I read this and despair! Its a free for all! Hunt signals Labour policy shift on free schools

 Amy. ‏@thisisamy_ 1h

Dear Labour, if I wanted Tory style welfare policies, I'd vote Tory.

Jim Clarke ‏@Jorvic_JJC 2h

Where is the evidence based policy?Why aren't we comparing with other countries? Failure of Free Schools in Sweden and Charter schools in US

 Tom Miller ‏@TomMillerUK 2h

So given today's announcements it's a pretty bad day to be on the Labour left. Remind me how the reshuffle was a cull of Blairites?

The Govertaker ‏@Bedtonman 1h

Seen as Labour are determined to be the same as Gove on education I think it is time to leave the Labour party & join the Greens

 Michael Rosen ‏@MichaelRosenYes 2h

How many media interviewers will ask Hunt why he has rejected the democratic model of a 'free school' and adopted a Tory one?

 Michael Rosen ‏@MichaelRosenYes 2h

Tories co-opted and distorted democratic localism in schools and turned it into market localism controlled by Sec of State = totalitarianism

 Martin Maloney ‏@MartinGMaloney 3h

@TeacherROAR @TristramHuntMP I'm 52 a teacher I have only just joined the Labour Party, and now I have to tear up my card, shame on you Hunt

 sue shanks ‏@ShanksSue 3h

Looks like only #Green party believes local authorities should be in charge of schools now.#laboureducationpolicy

 Christine Townsend ‏@IfBChristine 3h

@bevclack @TeacherROAR @TristramHuntMP what experience of state education have u got? were u state educated? ever taught in a state school?

 Rachel Ellis ‏@60isnew18 3h

@IfBChristine @TeacherROAR @bevclack @TristramHuntMP Not good one of his first comments should be to support Free schools. shame on him!

Tom Copley ‏@tomcopley 4h

Very disappointed by Tristram Hunt's "parent-led academy" idea. Local authorities need a stronger role in education, not a weaker one

 Charlie Kiss ‏@charliekiss 6h

Don't expect change from Labour- they're keeping free schools and so continuing with destruction of local democracy http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/13/tristram-hunt-labour-free-schools?CMP=twt_gu …

 Itsmotherswork ‏@itsmotherswork 7h

Naturally if Tristram Hunt knew anything at all about state education he would know that local authorities haven't "run" schools for years.

Local authorities must be permitted to build new schools to provide extra places

Today's publicity about the shortage of primary school places once again underlines the sheer stupidity of the Government's policy. Michael Gove's obsession with his ideological free school and academies policy means that local authorities are not allowed to build new schools. Instead they have to rely on free school providers or academy sponsors moving into their area or expansion of schools which are often already on crowded sites.

Labour should have been  campaigning vigorously for LAs to be given the finance and right to build new schools where there is a shortage of primary places. Unfortunately Stephen Twigg's lack of drive and his ambivalent attitude towards free schools has meant that the case has not been powerfully made.

Local authorities have the local knowledge to plan new schools where they are most needed and the expertise and resources to ensure that such schools are fit for purpose, have access to school support services and are professionally staffed so that they hit the ground running.  Free schools, even if they happen to be provided in areas of shortage (and many are not), do not have these guarantees.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide education and parents have a legal duty to ensure that their children attend school. Gove's policy, despite all his protestations, is actually thwarting both and in the process damaging children.

Millar's withdrawal from Hampstead and Kilburn highlights Labour's failures on education

The announcement yesterday that Labour education activist Fiona Millar has withdrawn from the contest to represent Hampstead and Kilburn is a clear sign of the frustration that many party members, teachers and parents feel about Stephen Twigg's failure as Michael Gove's shadow.


Twigg's failure to take Gove on regarding examination reform, free schools, forced academies and the curriculum have led to him being given the hashtag #silenttwigg and facebook commentary on Silent Twigg focus on his latest non-pronoucements as open goals loom before him..

Millar herself is quoted in the Standard as saying:

It is very important that Michael Gove and his policies are challenged vigorously. At the moment that is probably easier to do from outside the party machine and is what I will continue doing.

She went on to say that Labour policy on education 'is too vague at the moment'.

Fiona Millar, along with Melissa Benn and Francis Gilbert are part of the Local Schools Network LINK

Their core message is:

1. Every child has a right to go to an excellent local state school, enabling every child to achieve their full potential.
2. Every state school should have a fair admissions procedure.
3. Every local school should be responsive to their parents and pupils’ needs and wishes and be accountable to the local community.
4. That local schools in difficulties should be supported to improve, not attacked and  demoralised.

Fund school places not free schools, Twigg urges

The following news report from the BBC should be of interest to Brent Labour Councillors and the local Labour Party who are currently debating whether the Council should go into partnership to promote a free school:

The government should tackle the growing crisis in primary school places rather than building more free schools, says shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg. The equivalent of 2,000 primary schools' worth of children - some 450,000 - need to be found places in England's schools by 2015, he says. Cash should be allocated where it is needed the most, he added.

 The government says it will spend £4bn on easing the pressure. This sum includes £1.9bn already announced for 2011-12 and an extra £600m announced in the autumn. It also includes a further £800m for the coming two years, which the Department for Education is expecting to be allocated. Mr Twigg accuses the government of "ignoring" what he says is a growing crisis. He highlights the fact that much of the money promised for new places has been ear-marked for free schools - the majority of which are secondaries where pupil numbers are falling.

 As free schools are parent-promoted they do not necessarily emerge where the population pressure points are. Mr Twigg says it would make more sense to spend the money on tackling the shortfall in primary school places, but that this could include some free schools. He says: "Across England we need nearly half a million more primary places - the equivalent of building an extra 2,000 primary schools between now and the general election.

"At the moment, the government has only promised an extra 100 new free schools, many of which will be secondaries. The government seems oblivious to the problem, preferring to focus on pet projects rather than real need. If we are to improve the number and quality of our primary schools, the government needs to start rolling up its sleeves."

 Mr Twigg is not saying that 2,000 primary schools need to be built, and readily acknowledges that many of the children could be accommodated in expanded primaries. But he urged ministers to address the issue head-on in the Budget, "allocating all its education capital to meeting real need, not salami slicing some off for pet projects".

He added that if the government did not address the real need the effect on pupils' education would be dramatic, with many "squeezed into temporary bulge classrooms in Portakabins".

The problem is particularly acute in London with 100,000 places required by 2015. Extreme measures are being taken to tackle the problem. In Barking and Dagenham, where an extra 8,000 places are needed, the council are proposing to rent out an empty Woolworths and an empty MFI store. And in Sutton, the council leader has asked for permission to end the infant class size limit of 30. In Brighton, where 2,000 more places are required, there are plans to teach children in a football stadium, a bingo hall and redundant churches. And in Lancashire alone a whopping extra 14,000 places are needed and predictions show 11,000 places are needed in Birmingham, Leeds, Hertfordshire and Hampshire.

 Hannah Richardson BBC New March 20th