Would you like to sign Brent councillors' and educationalists' joint letter opposing the goverment's forced academies policy?

Having appealed on Wembley Matters LINK for Brent Council to take a stand on the government's policy on forcing all schools to become academies I welcomed Cllr Jun Bo Chan's initiative in organising a letter to the Guardian on the issue and readily agreed to sign.  The letter was published last week in the newspaper with, as is the custom, only the first signatories included. I publish the full list here so that readers can see which of their councillors supported the letter.

Since tihs article was published some people have indicated that they would have liked the opportunity to sign it. Please feel free to add your name/organisation as a comment.

We recognise, support and celebrate the hard work of students, parents, teachers and educational professionals in all schools. We therefore object to the government’s latest education for all bill, which aims to force all state schools in England to become academies, even those that are good or outstanding. The education secretary’s decision to back down last month from the imposition of blanket academisation represented a victory for campaigners from a wide array of organisations. Nevertheless, this was merely a tactical retreat, and the government’s reaffirmation of “a system where all schools are academies” highlights plainly their continued stubbornness and zealousness. Although the headlines conveyed a ‘U-turn’ on forced academisation, the education for all bill proposes that local authorities are now coerced one at a time rather than all at once.

The government’s top-down plans, which are predicated upon no clear evidence, are a blatant disregard for local autonomy. The undermining of local government oversight of education, the demand that all new academies be subsumed into multi-academy trusts, as well as the forcing of good and outstanding schools to become academies, constitute a centralising tendency which is wholly unnecessary, unpopular and uncalled for. The only certainty is that such actions severely weaken the government’s ostensible localism, continuing a troubling trend towards centralisation in the government’s overall legislative programme.

Moreover, we are concerned that other government proposals as outlined in its earlier educational excellence everywhere white paper, such as the abolition of the national system for teachers’ pay and conditions, the scrapping of the requirement for elected parent governors, and the removal of qualified teacher status, will only impede the urgent business of improving our schools. Popular pressure compelled the government to retreat last month. We will therefore continue to work alongside parents, teachers and other educational professionals, non-teaching staff, politicians, trade unions, governing bodies and other organisations to oppose the plans as outlined in the education for all bill thus far, and work towards persuading the government to channel its energies towards properly addressing the more pressing issues affecting state education: teacher shortage and retention; chaos and confusion in the assessment system; and cuts to education funding.

Cllr Jun Bo Chan Brent, teacher
Dawn Butler MP Brent Central
Melissa Benn Author and journalist
Tulip Siddiq MP Hampstead and Kilburn
Mary Glindon MP North Tyneside
Ian Mearns MP Gateshead
Kevin Courtney Acting general secretary, NUT
Hank Roberts Secretary of Brent Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and past national president of ATL
Lesley Gouldbourne Secretary of Brent NUT
Shyam Gorsia Secretary of Brent NASUWT
Andrew Baisley Secretary of Camden NUT
Cllr Nick Forbes Newcastle City, Leader of Newcastle city council and Leader of LGA Labour group
Cllr Margaret McLennan Brent, Deputy leader at Brent council
Cllr Mikey Pavey Brent, Lead member for stronger communities at Brent council, and Director of Labour Friends of Sure Start
Cllr Matt Bradley Brent, teacher
Colin Adams Retired teacher
Cllr Shama Tatler Brent, teacher
Cllr Pat Harrison Brent, retired teacher
John Bolt General secretary of the Socialist Educational Association
Prof Tim Brighouse Honorary Norham fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford
Prof Stephen Ball Distinguished service professor of sociology of education at the UCL Institute of Education
Dr Martin Dewey Senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Prof Ben Rampton Professor of applied and sociolinguistics at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Alan Fortune Retired senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Nick Andon Lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Melanie Cooke Teaching fellow at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London, and executive committee member of King’s College London UCU
Dr Ursula Wingate Senior lecturer at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Dr Roxy Harris Visiting senior research fellow at the department of education and professional studies, King’s College London
Prof Diane Reay Professor of education at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Prof Keith Taber Professor of science education at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr Michael Evans Reader in education at the at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr Christine Doddington University senior lecturer at the faculty of education, University of Cambridge
Dr George Anderson Retired lecturer at the school of physics and astronomy, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Karen Forbes Teacher and researcher
Dr Henry Tam Director of Question the Powerful
Dr Michael Calderbank Co-editor of Red Pepper and Co-convener of Brent Momentum
Sam Sampson Teacher
Mike Phipps Lecturer
Caroline Hill Teacher and Chair of Young Labour
Adam Klug Teacher and National organiser of Momentum
Emma Rees Teacher and National organiser of Momentum
Faduma Hassan Teacher and National committee member of Momentum
Ben Ackland Teacher
Kenichi Udagawa Teacher
Bob Sellers School technician
Jeremy Silk Teacher and NUT representative
Eddie Crust Teacher
Robert Young Teacher
Andrew Duncan Teacher
David Lee Teacher
David Dixon Teacher
Robert Pepper Teacher
Samia El-Ali Teacher
Vivien Sproule Retired teacher
Martin Francis Retired headteacher and governor
Anne Perez Retired teacher
Sarah Sharkey Retired teacher
Karin Barrett Retired teacher
Dr Jayne Lim Geriatric registrar and executive committee member of Chinese for Labour
Dr Tom Dolphin Consultant anaesthetist
Ria Bernard Speech and language therapist, and Vice-chair of the Young Fabians
Dr Martin Edobor Junior doctor and Chair of the Young Fabians
Dr Harriet Nerva Junior doctor
Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray Lead member for children and young people
Cllr Ruth Moher Brent, Former lead member for children and young people at Brent council
Mary Arnold Former lead member for children and families at Brent council, and school governing board chair
David Lister Chair of the Brent Labour local campaign forum and retired teacher
Cllr Matt Kelcher Brent
Cllr Sam Stopp Brent, Chair of the Labour campaign to end homelessness
Cllr Tom Miller Brent, Hendon GMB political officer and founding member of Open Labour
Cllr James Denselow Brent, Former lead member for stronger communities at Brent council
Cllr Eleanor Southwood Brent, Lead member for environment at Brent council
Cllr Lesley Jones Brent Former mayor of Brent and retired teacher
Cllr Kana Naheerathan Brent, former mayor of Brent
Cllr Sandra Kabir Brent
Cllr Neil Nerva Brent
Cllr Roxanne Mashari Brent Lead member for regeneration, growth, employment and skills at Brent council
Cllr Krupesh Hirani Brent, Lead member for community wellbeing at Brent council
Cllr Harbi Farah Brent, Lead member for housing at Brent council
Cllr Mary Daly Brent
Cllr Amer Agha Brent
Cllr Keith Perrin Brent
Cllr John Duffy Brent
Cllr Jean Hossain Brent
Cllr Ernest Ezeajughi Brent
Cllr Liz Dixon Brent
Cllr George Crane Brent
Cllr Janice Long Brent
Cllr Bernard Collier Brent
Cllr George Crane Brent
Cllr Arshad Mahmood Brent
Cllr Sarah Marquis Brent
Cllr Barbara Pitruzzella Brent
Cllr Aslam Choudry Brent
Cllr Lloyd Duddridge Redbridge
Cllr Naomi Fearon Fleetwood, teacher

 

Scott Bartle, Brent North Green Candidate, speaks out at Sudbury Hustings

The packed hustings was held in a beautiful but dimly lit church so please excuse the quality of the picture.

Natalie Bennett explains Green Party policy on education

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party, spoke yesterday at a meeting of the Anti Academies Alliance on Green Party policy. My apologies for the jerkiness of the video at the beginning.

Natalie Bennett to debate Green Party Education Policy ahead of the General Election

Natalie Bennett will be speaking on Saturday at a meeting on 'Education and the election - a discussion meeting about education policy' ahead of the General Election.

Cllr Peter Downes will be speaking on behalf of the Liberal Democrats and Cllr Emine Ibrahim for Labour.

Natasha Steel will be speaking from the Hove Park Campaign which successfully defeated academisation plans.

Education and the Election – which way forward for education?
Saturday 11th October 2-4 pm
Open Meeting ALL Welcome
Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU

Organised by the Anti Academies Alliance

Green Party Education Policy LINK

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.

Where next for Green Party policy on education?

My motion instructing the Green Party Policy Committee to initiate a policy development process in the light of Coalition policies, which would result in a  a redrafted Education Policy being presented to a future  Conference, failed to win a majority today. Part of the process I suggested was  to invite contributions from relevant teacher unions, educators and parent campaign groups to help shape the review.

One of the arguments against was that there had been a full and very thorough review in 2007 and that this should not be thrown away. Instead it was argued that a series of amendments should be tabled at a future Conference. It was also argued that the review would take time and may not be ready for the election period.

I believe something far more fundamental is required as you'll see from my speech notes, particularly as the ful schope of the Tory strategy was not evident at the time. . I wanted a far broader and participatory process but if we are to have a relevant policy in place for local elections in 2014 and the General Election in 2015 we must start thinking about amendments for Spring Conference now. The policy is 15 pages long so it is a substantial task. The current policy can be read HERE

These are the notes of my speech (not all of which may have been delivered as set out because of  the time constraints in a very rushed debate at the en of the morning session).

I want to start by acknowledging the work that went into the current policy and the many good and innovative ideas it contains. Don't blame me for the need for revision - blame Michael Gove!

The problem is, as Melissa Benn said at the panel on Friday, we are in a period of profound and unprecedented educational change in terms of both speed and ruthlessness. The post - war  settlement is being bulldozed into oblivion.

This is not just about individual policies but the neoliberal framework - subordination of education to economic aims and accompanying privatisation and profit making and the commodification of childhood.

Michael Gove is stealing our schools, our teachers' professionalism and our children's childhood.

Teachers 'deliver' lessons to deliver higher test results to deliver higher league table position and thus deliver us from Ofsted! (Prayer)

I am involved with many campaigns with parents, governors and teachers and am often  asked, where do you stand, what would you do? I have found the present policy wanting in giving a response.

The foundation of our policy needs to be strengthened - rejecting the Coalition's ideology and linking our approach to alternative views on the economy as well as the aims of education and the defence of childhood.

Although our policies are Green Government 'aspirational' they have to start with present realities and counter them. Don't protest -demand!

Areas for revision:

Local authorities fast disappearing regarding role in education   - academies & free schools and diminishing school improvement services.  We need to think about the 'middle tier' and role of Secretary of State. What democratic structures do we propose beyond the school level. What powers should the Secretary of State have?

We need to sharpen our critique of free schools and academies to stress issues around accountability, reinforcing social divisions and marketisation. Do we propose reintegration into a locally accountable community school system as we do with private schools? Should all schools have the same 'freedoms' as academies and free schools.

Sure Start - reducing and nature of early years education changing. We need more than 'continuing successful schemes such as Sure Start' what is our vision for the early years?

Ofsted - we say 'inspections will be revised' but we need to take account of its increasingly politicised role, the fact that it is privatised (Serco, Tribal) and overlaps with academy chains. What sort of school improvement service do we envisage - role and powers? How does this relate to institutions such as the HMI?

In our policy we say that the Inspectorate and LAs will be involved in the monitoring of governing body accountability structures - revision needed in the light of academies and free schools and decline in role of LA.

Pupil population expansion - because the Government has said any new school should be an academy or free school, LAs are being forced to expand primary schools with some in urban areas having more than 1,000 4-11 year olds and losing play space and additional rooms such as libraries and halls in the process. Again the role of LA in planning and provision has been undermined so we need to reaffirm their right to build new community schools to cope with the rising population.

Teacher education - university level teacher education is rapidly disappearing and being replaced by various 'on the job' training schemes with a neglect (and disparagement) of research, cognitive psychology, philosophy of education etc.   

I hope I have demonstrated sufficient grounds for revision, but more than this I am convinced that with the right policy, actively campaigned for in communities, teacher organisations, parent groups that we have a chance of building massive support and contributing to success in the forthcoming elections as well as having people flocking to support our campaigns. (I mentioned the successful NUT 'It's Time to Stand Up for Education' rallies aimed at parents, governors, teachers and pupils that were held in Brighton, Nottingham and London yesterday)

Declaration of Interests: I am a retired member of the NUT and a retired primary headteacher. I am currently chair of governors of two Brent primary schools and help convene the Brent Governors' Forum.  I am a trustee of the Brent Play Association and run Brent School Without Walls, a voluntary organisation that provides free nature and outdoor activities in Fryent Country Park for primary classes and out of school clubs. 

A video for all teachers suffering under government education policies

Don't watch this if you are offended by the F word and other obscenities. Do watch if you feel current education policy justifies such language use. The video pre-dates the Coalition and so applies to the target culture of the three main parties.