Parliamentary Briefing - The Education and Inspections Bill
**UPDATED June 20th 2006**
Background to the Bill
The Education and Inspections Bill is due to have its Second Reading in the Lord’s this week.
As the Bill progressed through the Commons, Tony Blair and his cabinet team have become increasingly dependent on oppositions support, as backbench rebels aim to block key reforms.
A key area for dispute within the labour ranks is the creation of independently governed trust schools, a measure critics feel will encourage a two-tier state education structure.
Supporters assert that trust schools will build on the experience of specialist schools and academies, in harnessing the experience and energy of community and business partners to encourage flexibility and innovation.
Another crucial sticking point is the proposals to grant schools greater autonomy over setting their admissions policy, which many claim will lead to selection by the back-door.
Parents will also be awarded new powers, crucially the ability to request new schools to be set up to reflect local need and demand.
Local authorities will be duty bound to consider such requests as part of their role to promote choice and diversity, and, where appropriate, use the capital investment provided by the government to build them.
The Bill also seeks to enable every young person to access any of the 14 new specialised diplomas, available to every young person aged 14 to 19.
Other important aspect of the Bill include granting school staff powers to tackle disruptive behaviour and impose order in classrooms, and measures to clamp down on the serving of low quality foods.
Summary of Responses
Advisory Centre for Education
- Checks and balances on schools which are independent of the local authority are not yet powerful enough to provide parents with a level playing field on admissions.
- A number of the discipline and behavioural clauses will serve to foster a “blame the parents” culture, and disproportionately on families where parents and/or children are poor, disabled, from certain ethnic minorities, or who face enormous social problems.
- Strongly opposed to the requirement for parents to prevent the appearance of excluded children in a public place for the first five days of an exclusion.
- The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) has welcomed plans to put structures in place to enable schools to work closer with further education colleges.
- The AAT believes there needs to be a more varied focus within the mainstream curriculum to includevocational qualifications.
- It also hopes that the Bill will make vocational learning more accessible to a greater number of young people.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
Association of School and College Leaders
- Welcomes the Bill, and strongly supports measures to enable heads to personalise the curriculum and improve pupil behaviour.
- Expresses concern over proposals for individual schools to acquire trust status believing it will reinforce school hierarchy.
- Welcomes the opportunity that trust schools will have to forge better links with business partners and to be able to appoint them to the governing body.
- Support making local authorities commissioners, rather than providers, of services to schools, but are concerned by proposals to increase the power of local authorities with respect to the provision of school improvement services
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
Association of Teachers and Lecturers
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- ATL does not support arguments that diversity of schools raises standards, but believes that fairer access would.
- ATL supports the great weight of opinion that the consent of the Secretary of State should not be needed by a local authority when proposing to establish a new community school.
- ATL supports amendments to strengthen local authorities powers and a duty on schools, including CTCs and Academies, to work with the local authority to ensure every child has a school place.
- ATL welcomes the recommendations of the Steer Committee. It is much more likely to improve learning and teaching than any other chapter of the Bill.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
Assessment and Qualification
- AQA welcomes the advent of the new specialised diplomas offering young people aged 14-19 the opportunity to have an education that meets their needs in a vocational setting.
- However, AQA has concerns about proposals to give graded results for the specialised diplomas (as opposed to a simple pass/fail result).
- AQA strongly recommends that the credibility of the diploma will be more assured if there is no grading of the overall result but instead the quality of each candidate’s achievement is provided by the grade profile across the units in his/her transcript of results.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full response from the AQA.
Business in the Community
- Welcomes the Bill’s proposals to encourage businesses and schools to forge meaningful relationships.
- Feels that the government must map out the business benefits of backing a trust.
- Recommends that only experienced companies with an existing track record of developing meaningful relationships with schools to consider the option of backing an independent trust school.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
CILT, The National Centre for Languages
- We’re at a point of opportunity and challenge for languages if more decision-making is devolved to schools.
- Activities, which promote languages within the school, will become even more important in context of competition with other subjects.
- We believe it is a good start that the government has now set out the requirement on all schools to ensure that most students follow a language course leading to a recognised qualification at KS4.
- There is a real opportunity to ensure that students are motivatedto continue with languages because the courses they are offered are both relevant and appealing.
- There will also be new opportunities for imaginative ways of using the curriculum.
- There is a great deal to be positive about and CILT is at the forefront of promoting a quality experience for all.
Please CLICK HEREto read the full comment.
Examination Officers' Association
- The government need to avoid a Curriculum 2000 type fiasco where Examination Officers in centres up and down the country were wholly unprepared for the new system of A-levels.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
General Teaching Council
- Believe that incentives for teachers to remain working in challenging schools will be at least as important as legislation to create new forms of schools.
- Essential that measures within the Bill work coherently alongside the Children Act and the legal duties of schools to address discrimination.
- Main target of the Bill should be whether it works for every child in a local area and provides additional support for those in greatest need of help.
Please CLICK HEREto read the full comment.
Institute of Directors
- Supports provisions that provide greater autonomy to schools.
- Welcomes government proposals to clamp down on failing schools and pupil indiscipline.
- The Bill’s proposes the creation of the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills; it is important that the new inspectorate pays attention to adult learning and training.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
Institute of Electrical Egineers
- Concerned about the potential consequences of a shift towards minimum entitlements. IEE believe there is a need to ensure that careers and guidance information is available to parents and students
- Feels that there is a risk that schools not specialising in science, technology or engineering will be unable to attract appropriately qualified science teachers.
- Schools need more support to ensure that subjects such as ICT are appropriately integrated into the national curriculum.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
Learning and Skills Council
- Supports the collaboration of providers of pre- and post-16 education so that schools and colleges can work together more effectively at a local level to improve the options available to young people.
- The Bill takes a further step in the implementation of 14-19 reforms that will benefit all young people.
- Diplomas offer high quality vocational qualifications, which help broaden the choice available to learners.
Please CLICK HEREto read the full comment.
Local Government Association
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment. Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
National Association of Schoolmasters
The National Autistic Society
- Expresses concern that the Bill does not take into consideration issues for children with autism, particularly around exclusions and admissions.
- The NAS feel that proposals for school discipline within the Education Bill will have a disproportionate impact on children with autism.
- Would like assurance from local education authorities that there is appropriate provision available for children with autism in their local area.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations
- The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA) vision is one of effective partnership between parents and teachers; it believes that this provides a substantial opportunity to advance education.
- The NCPTA believes parents will not welcome the increased complexity that seems the likely outcome of the new admissions procedures and banding.
- It also feels some parents will struggle to believe that selection based on aptitude for a Specialist school is any different from selection based on ability.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
National Governor’s Association
- Encouraging all schools to become autonomous may lead to less collaboration and co-operation
- Concerned that the proposed model for “Trust Schools” will enable the Trust to appoint the majority of the governing body.
- Concerned about the loss of community assets if all schools become ‘self-governing’
- Welcome proposals for local authorities to be able to propose new community schools, but remain unconvinced that the secretary of state should have a veto over such proposals.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
National Union of Teachers
- Welcomes provisions for personalised learning, the introduction of nutritional standards for school food and the clarification of the powers of teachers and other staff in relation to discipline.
- Concerned with the ability of schools to select by aptitude.
- Would like to prevent schools being able to vary teachers’ pay and conditions outside the nationally determined framework in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
- Would like the Bill to require local authorities to ensure that all children with special educational needs have access to a full range of special educational needs provision.
Please CLICK HEREto read the full comment.
Professional Association of Teachers
- Concerned about trust schools and implications for admissions procedure.
- Welcomes the Bill’s proposals where it has taken on board the Steer Group’s key recommendations to clarify teachers’ rights in disciplining pupils.
- Also concerned about what will happen to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, or those with social, behavioural or educational problems or special educational needs.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
- Welcomes the government’s endorsement of the key role of local authorities.
- The renewed possibility that local authorities can make proposals to open new community schools is also welcomed.
- Concerned about the government’s response to the select committee report on the impact of the Bill will have on the social mix of schools.
Please CLICK HERE to read the full comment.
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