Education Mashup
In an attempt to force under performed primary schools to improve,
200 primary schools will be closed next year
and then re-opened as Academies. Mr. Gove the Education Secretary
claims this will force primary schools which under perform in maths
or English to improve. It sounds bit like taking a ‘sledge hammer
to crack a nut’. Mr Gove used the annual conference of the National
College for School Leadership in Birmingham to announce his plans
to close the 200 worst under performing schools first.
An “unacceptable experiment” was
the response from The National Union of Teachers.
In addition Mr. Gove the Education Secretary
said he intended to turn a further 500 schools that had failed to
reach the so-called "floor targets" in three of the past
four years into academies after 2012 as well. He added the
government will make it an "urgent priority"
to identify new sponsors for these schools, and re-open them in September
2012.
The new academies, taken out of local authority control, will be run
by more successful local schools, and according to Mr Gove was "a
tried and tested way" of getting the right head teacher in place
to turn a school around.
• Academies are funded directly by central
government, rather than through local authorities, they will be independent,
state-funded schools.
• They will gain control of up to 10% of their budget, previously
held back by local authorities to provide area-wide service.
• With freedom to set their pay, term times, school hours, and
curriculum.
• And sponsorship will be provided by outside organisations
such as universities, charities, faith organisations and "chains"
of providers, or be taken over by more successful schools.
The idea of putting a successful head in charge, or giving more support
to the existing head, and giving the head the same powers as an academy
head, hasn’t been considered, although it would be less expensive
and more practical.
Knights Academy, formerly Malory School, in Lewisham, south-east London,
was taken over by Haberdashers' Aske. Ofsted reported that within
nine months it had gone from being under "notice to improve"
to "good with outstanding features".
Tony Draper, head of Water Hall Primary School near Milton Keynes,
Bucks, has raised the number of pupils reaching the Sats benchmark
from 42% in 2008 to 74% in 2009, without a change in leadership.
Tony Draper, head of Water Hall Primary School near Milton Keynes,
Bucks, says a takeover in his school would have had a "negative
impact". Raising standards can be done through "a lot of
hard work" on the culture, teaching and learning in the school,
and with a "supportive local authority".
Initially Labour set up the academies to take
over failing schools. The coalition has widened it to all schools,
particularly focusing on those rated "outstanding" by the
schools watchdog Ofsted. In other words the government want to be
in charge of all the funding, and control of all schools.
This has angered many professionals, faced with an Education Secretary
who appears to have had made his mind up, without taking into account
the massive logistical exercise, and the affect of threats he has
made to the teaching profession, which can only reduce moral even
further. If he sacks the Heads and the teachers, who is going to take
over the teaching in these new academies, is there a massive number
of highly trained and experienced teachers sat at home just waiting
for the chance? I don’t think so.
It seems all this government can do is sit around all day long, dreaming
up grandiose unworkable schemes.
The BBC reports these comments from these unions:
The National Union of Teachers accused Mr Gove of "breathtaking
ignorance" in his belief that compelling primary schools
to become academies would improve standards."The
evidence does not support this," said general secretary
Christine Blower.
"This is a totally unacceptable experiment
to undertake with our primary school children.""Simply
closing schools and replacing them with academies will not have the
impact sought but will cause a great deal of confusion and distress
for parents, pupils and staff," she said.
The Association of School and College Leaders said it had "grave
reservations" about the government's "simplistic
approach”. Its general secretary, Brian Lightman, said:
"Schools will only improve with the full commitment and buy-in
of those who lead them. Takeover threats and perverse incentives do
not achieve this. They alienate professionals,
not engage them."
Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) deputy general secretary
Martin Johnson said Mr Gove was "using
draconian powers he has given himself in the Education Bill to run
schools from Whitehall"."Closing and opening schools
and finding sponsors for them on this scale will be a logistical nightmare.
Once again, Michael Gove is making up policy on the hoof and leaving
others to sort out the mess," he said.
But National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Russell
Hobby said: "If a school remains far below the floor standards
for years, with no sign of improvement, and if it has had good quality
support, then of course we need a radical solution."
And Specialist Schools and Academies Trust chief executive Elizabeth
Reid said academies set up to replace failing schools had "shown
dramatic improvements in many cases"."The same 'can-do'
attitude and drive to succeed which has transformed education in those
schools can be transferred to persistently under performing primary
schools," she said.
Ron
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