Higher Standards, Better Schools
for All
10. In announcing the White Paper in a statement
to the House of Commons on 25 October,[9]
the Secretary of State listed six reform priorities:
- More personalised, tailored
education for each pupil.
- Giving greater independence to schools through
the introduction of Trust schools, funded through local authorities
but able to "partner and be supported by not-for-profit trusts"
to bring "extra dynamism" to education.
- Improving school choice by giving less affluent
parents the means to make choice effective, and speeding up the
turn around process for weak or failing schools.
- Enabling parents to have a greater degree of
involvement in their children's education, with better quality
and regularity of information and advice and a requirement for
governing bodies to have regard to parents' views.
- Taking steps to improve behaviour, including
the provision of a clear statutory right for teachers to discipline.
- Giving local authorities a new role as "the
commissioner of education, the champion of the pupil and the parent
and the local strategic leader."
11. In the White Paper itself, Chapter 2, which introduces
the concept of Trust schools, also talks about parental demand
for new schools, the possibility of popular schools expanding
to meet demand and federations being formed so that good practice
at one school can be spread to others.
12. One of the most interesting things about the
White Paper is how few of its proposals are actually new. Much
of what is proposed was first published in the DfES Five Year
Strategy for Children and Learners in July 2004.[10]
Chapter 4 of that document, entitled 'Independent Specialist Schools',
discusses the Government's plans for secondary schools. It specifically
refers to the goal of those plans being 'More choice for parents
and pupils', which is the subtitle of the current White Paper,
along with 'independence for schools'. Paragraph 7 of Chapter
4 lists what are described as eight key reforms. Among these were
proposals which have found their way into the White Paper:
- "Freedom for all secondary
schools to own their land and buildings, manage their assets,
employ their staff, improve their governing bodies, and forge
partnerships with outside sponsors and educational foundations.
- More places in popular schools…
- Foundation partnerships' enabling groups of schools
to work together to do better for the children in their area.
"These…reforms will be underpinned by a
transformed Local Authority role, with Authorities as the champions
of pupils and parents."
However, there was no specific reference in this
document to Trust schools.
13. Chapter 5 of the Five Year Strategy is entitled
'Personalisation and choice in the secondary years', and covers
much of the same territory as Chapter 4 of the current White Paper.
As well as discussing teaching and learning tailored for individual
pupils, it also refers to proposals for improved behaviour management,
better management of excluded pupils, improving attendance and
a greater degree of involvement with parents.
14. These plans were outlined again in the Labour
Party manifesto for the 2005 general election, with reference
to independent specialist schools tailoring education to the needs
of each pupil, and with "successful" schools having
"the independence to take decisions about how to deploy resources
and develop their provision".[11]
15. In each of these three documents, there is a
strong emphasis on a framework of fair admissions, with explicit
rejection of a return to selection by the eleven-plus exam.[12]
16. If these proposals are therefore, generally speaking,
a re-statement of policy, why has there been so much concern expressed
about them? It is important to draw a distinction between proposals
which have generally been welcomed, and those which have not.
Those that have been welcomed have been those which relate to
what happens in schools; increased personalisation, improved in-service
training for teachers and head teachers, clarification about discipline,
proposals about the way in which excluded pupils are treated,
as well as greater certainty over budgets. Those that have been
criticised have been those which relate to structures; the introduction
of Trust schools, with greater independence and control over their
admissions policy; the role of the Schools Commissioner; the influence
of commercial and other sponsors on schools; the change in the
role of local authorities, including the proposal that no new
community schools should be established; and the emphasis on parental
choice in decisions on school provision.
17. The key issue here is one of clarity, or rather
a lack of clarity. On reading the White Paper, there appears to
be no difference between a Trust school and a foundation school
in relation to the control they have over their own affairs. Why,
then, is a distinction being drawn? Giving a new name to a type
of school which apparently already exists has emphasised its independence
from local authority control. This has led some critics to conclude
that Trust schools will bring about a fragmentation of the school
system and a widening of social segregation. This impression has
been bolstered by open disagreements within Government about the
proposals, including the concerns expressed publicly by the Deputy
Prime Minister that the changes could produce a two-tier education
system.[13]
18. We had hoped that when we took evidence from
the Secretary of State at the end of our inquiry we would be able
to bring some much needed clarity to this issue of Trust schools.
We did clarify some issues, but much of the detail about Trust
schools remains uncertain. Indeed, it is even unclear whether
the term Trust school will endure, as the Secretary of State told
us that there will be no separate statutorily-defined type of
school called a Trust school.[14]
19. The Secretary of State disagreed strongly with
the notion that Trust schools were the main "eye-catching
initiative" of the White Paper and said that it was not the
case that the other proposals in the White Paper depend on a large
number of existing schools becoming Trust schools.[15]
Yet the press notice issued on the day of publication put the
proposals for Trust schools at the top of the list of initiatives
contained in the White Paper,[16]
and in his speech on 24 October the Prime Minister placed great
emphasis on the reforms providing a logical and radical development
of both the academy and specialist school models. We and others
could therefore be forgiven for thinking that Trust schools are
indeed at the heart of the Government's proposals for change.
We deal with these issues in more detail in our chapter on Trust
schools. However, we note that, by taking one type of foundation
school and giving it a new name and a high profile, the Government
has managed to make a cause célèbre out of
something which already exists and for which no further legislation
is apparently necessary.
20. As our inquiry progressed, and as the debate
continued elsewhere in Parliament and outside, it became clear
that there is genuine confusion about what the proposals mean,
what they are intended to achieve and how they will work. Our
aim in this report is to try to bring clarity: to assess the main
proposals to see where more detail is required, concentrating
on those issues which have given rise to the greatest concern.
The Secretary of State told us that "This White Paper
is all about driving up standards for the most disadvantaged children"[17]
and we shall take this as the measure on which to judge the White
Paper.
3 
