With the twentieth anniversary of the Baker Education Act of 1988, called a ‘Reform Act’, recently passing, veterans of the preceding post-War years can be excused for feeling some sense of disillusionment.
Certainly a good deal of ground has been won by a near doubling of expenditure on education, but proportionate gains are not evident.
Who knows what might have been achieved if full advantage had been taken of the foundation structure of universal education bequeathed to the nation in 1988 and equal treasure hasd been heaped upon it?
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FREE SCHOOL FROM GOVERNMENT CONTROL
Parents, teachers and other professionals need to combine forces with the teachers’ unions and associations and bring to an end government control of schools. But there should be no half-measures. It is root and branch pruning that is needed, with grafting new stock, not hedge clipping. It is not sufficient to say, ‘No more SATs’ or ‘Abolish Ofsted’: we must offer something better. This is why a coherent strategy for educational advance is needed, as is suggested in the following 12 points for a campaign.
1. All nursery, primary and secondary schools shall become collegial, meaning that the teachers, working co-operatively within school, locally with neighbouring schools, and involving parents and governors, determine the curriculum, teaching methods and assessment procedures that are appropriate for providing the best education for all their pupils.
2. Government and its educational agencies shall no longer issue to schools directives that impinge on curricula, teaching methods and assessment practices, but may offer non-mandatory advice.
3. Ofsted inspections of schools shall cease and be replaced by school self-evaluation, with local authority inspectorates providing support when requested by governing bodies.
4. The national curriculum and related teaching strategies shall no longer be obligatory and may be varied according to schools’ own decisions. Each school shall publish for parents a statement of aims with an account of its chosen curriculum.
5. Teacher assessments shall replace all external assessments of pupils prior to GCSE examinations. These assessments shall be communicated to each pupil’s parents regularly and the combined results discussed by governing bodies as part of school evaluation.
6. Government shall not set targets for school or pupil performance. Nor shall schools be ‘named and shamed’.
7. League tables of school assessments shall not be made. In their place schools shall publish annual reports from their governing bodies of school work and progress, making these available to the local authority and the local community.
8. Governing bodies shall be the prime agents of public accountability, supported by local authorities and reporting to them on an annual basis.
9. A Central Advisory Council for Education shall be re-established to advise parliament, government, general public, local authorities, schools, teachers, governors, and parents on significant issues in educational practice and on the relation of education to society. It shall be funded at a level to enable it to undertake and sponsor research and to carry out effectively the functions described below.
10. The Central Advisory Council in Education shall be responsible for the monitoring of standards achieved in the basic skills taught in schools through a robust national sampling procedure.
11. Local authorities shall report annually to the Central Advisory Council for Education on the state and progress of education in their area, drawing on reports from school governing bodies.
12. The Central Advisory Council in Education shall report annually to Parliament on the state and progress of education nationally, drawing on reports from local authorities and such other evidence as it obtains.
For detailed discussion of these points and press reports of professional judgement and research evidence see the website: http://www.free-school-from-government-control.com
Michael Bassey (Emeritus professor of Education)