Memorandum submitted by the Association
of Croydon Governors (ACG)
The Association of Croydon Governors aims to
improve the knowledge, understanding and well-being of all members
of the governing bodies of schools and colleges in the London
Borough of Croydon. We ensure an effective way of sharing concerns
with governors so that their collective views can be offered to
the LEA or central government. Equally, where good practice is
developed within one school or governing body, this can be shared
by others through this association.
Whilst members of the Association recognise
the White Paper contains some very positive aspects for Education
and does not wish to detract from these, they have some areas
of concern:
The Minister has stated that the paper is aimed
at building on recent successes such as Academies. Thus the proposals
for Trust Schools, reflect in a great many aspects those of the
aforementioned. Academies, which are still in the early stages
of the governments latest change agenda for schools and their
impact on achievement, communities and governance will be under
scrutiny for some time to come.
The concerns over Trust Schools and expanding
schools are:
Model of Governance for Trust Schools—
It would seem that Trust Schools would have
a similar model as those of Academies in which the "trust"
would have the majority of members on the board, leaving one representative
from each of the other stakeholder groups: Parent, LEA and Community.
The ACG are concerned that there is no evidence
to support how it would be beneficial to the strategic management
of schools. It appears that the intention is to reduce parental
representation on the board, which effectively takes away their
voice and power, but then implement a parents' council which will
have an important consultative role but no power to vote. Effective
Governing Bodies not only readily consult and engage with all
parents but under the recent reconstitution of governing bodies,
parents are the majority stakeholder on the board in most schools.
The role of schools within the local community,
which we consider to be an important one with the Extended Schools
Agenda, appears to be compromised under the proposals to allow
some schools to expand and encourage pupils to travel further
away from their community. This seems a definite breakaway from
the Healthy Schools Programme in which schools have successfully
achieved. They have received funding to resource their Travel
Plans in order to encourage pupils to walk to school.
The expectation that expanding "popular"
or "good" schools will increase parental choice and
therefore raise achievement has little evidence to support this
view. Our concern is focused on the management of the increased
number of Admissions Authorities that will inevitably cause some
greater difficulties in the Pan Admissions approach. With more
schools setting their own admissions criteria it seems that schools
will become more competitive and therefore selective. There would
be little room for collaboration. We feel that federations reduce
parental choice. As "popular" or "good" schools
expand it may mean less successful schools become fmancially non-viable
and lead to their closure or merger, thus further reducing parental
choice. The Schools Organisation Committee has a vital role in
ensuring communities are best served and we would strongly disagree
with its abolition
If Trust Schools, like Academies, set their
own Pay Scales and Curriculum, we are concerned that there would
be an impact on the recruitment and retention of staff for the
smaller schools.
It does not seem practical to enforce such a
tight time scale for schools who are in difficulties. Many schools
have successfully turned around but their improvement plans may
have taken more than one year to implement. Closing the schools
so quickly causes a great disruption to pupils who are currently
on role and a new school may not support them.
The ACG welcomes the additional grants to support
personalised learning, but some governors are concerned that this
will be for a short period and when implementing the programme
into their School Improvement Plan there will be a tension on
resources when setting their three year budget plan.
Whilst the ACG will always welcome legislation
which will improve education for all and lead to greater parental
choice, this white paper appears to reduce parental choice and
will not lead to improved education for ALL only for some, particularly
those in "successful" or "good" schools. Those
attending "less successful" and "less good"
schools, who most need improved education, appear unlikely to
get it under these proposals.
November 2005
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