The speech was, however, of enormous
importance to the issue of Free Schools and to what is happening in Waltham
Forest, as we will explain below.
It was an odd speech in many ways. For
those who believe that state funded comprehensive education remains the best
way to provide a broad, balanced and high quality education to all children,
there was a disappointing, though perhaps inevitable refusal to disavow
Labour’s responsibility for academy schools or to make any commitment to bring
them all decisively under a single regulatory framework. There was also a big
nod to the ‘freedom’ and ‘choices’ agenda in the proposal to allow all schools
some freedom to move away from the National Curriculum in some areas. Quite
what this means in practice is not clear.
However, there was a relatively unambiguous
statement that the Free Schools policy, as currently conceived, will end under
Labour.
There will be much devil in the detail, but
there are some important points from the speech that need to be brought out.
1. Twigg was clear – new schools, of
whatever sort, will only be built where there is a real need for places. This
is a clear break with Gove’s policy. As
Raphael Behr wrote in the New Statesman, Gove only uses the idea of demand
as a cover for building new schools that can compete with existing ones, based
on the idea that they wreak ‘creative destruction’ on the schools around them.
Either they improve or they die.
2. Free Schools that exist, and any new
schools that are built, will have to employ qualified teachers, avoiding a race
to the bottom in standards (and costs). This will limit the freedom for Free
Schools to aggressively compete other schools out of existence.
3. New schools will be built and parents
will have a role to play in pushing for them. He referred somewhat opaquely to
‘Parent Academies’, which could be either trust schools or maintained schools
(the legal model that academies and free schools use).
4. But, as well as having to show a real
need (ie where there are not surplus places) they will have to be accountable
to local communities. Twigg was vague here, as it is a difficult legal issue.
Academies and Free Schools have no legal relationship with local authorities,
signing funding agreements directly with the Department for Education. But the
intention seems clear: there must be a local accountability framework for all
schools and local communities must have a say in where and when new schools are
being built. Twigg says he will be asking David Blunkett to lead a review of
how this can be best done – a thought that may not warm the hearts of many, but
how that review reports will be vitally important.
In general, it’s clear that those committed
to a universal, progressive education system will need to build and sustain national
and local pressure on the Labour Party and all parties ahead of the election.
What does all this mean for people in
Waltham Forest? In short, it means that what has just happened in Waltham
Forest in the last few weeks would not be possible under Labour, quite possibly
the next government.
While groups like WSSI might be able to
apply pressure for a new school, it is likely that they would have to work
closely with the Local Authority to make their case.
While they might be permitted, even
encouraged in many authorities, to seek a private sponsor, they would also be
allowed to consider a trust school as an option.
They would have to demonstrate that they
would be employing qualified teachers.
Finally, it is likely there would have to
be some demonstrable and transparent public process for consulting and ensuring
community support for any proposed school rather than the sick joke that has
just been played on the people of Waltham Forest.
All of which ought to give those pushing
the four proposed Free Schools pause for thought. Perhaps it’s time they
started taking more seriously the need to set out their case, conduct a
genuine, meaningful consultation and reflect, in a transparent manner, on what
they hear back.
Perhaps it’s time they had a bit more
respect for our community, our schools and basic democratic process.
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