Introduction
While talk of U turns and pause buttons dog developments in other Government Departments, Education presses ahead, carrying it seems much of the Government’s radical reform agenda with it.
A ‘proper’ framework of accountability for schools
This came as part of a keynote speech by Michael Gove on ‘the moral purpose of school reform.’ The moral purpose it transpires is fuelled by the Government’s social mobility agenda: “my moral purpose is to break the lock which prevents children from our poorest families making it to our best universities and walking into our best jobs.” The villain in this is the low expectation culture that the Secretary of State argues pervades the English education system particularly when compared to the high expectation culture of competitor countries. This is a theme he has developed in a number of speeches and one that lies behind such developments as the pupil premium, English Bacc and Free School movement. If, as the argument goes, some pupils enjoy the benefits of quality teaching and a rounded curriculum that takes in the five EBacc subjects considered essential for progression, why shouldn’t all?
Opening up access and raising aspiration is not a new agenda but with the Government keen to effect as much change as it can in one term and Michael Gove keen to display his reforming credentials, it’s one that’s being heavily pushed at present. As the Spectator put it: “What Gove is doing is not new. He has just taken the Blair education agenda and placed rocket boosters under it.” A big feature of this is changing the system of accountability where Michael Gove singled out three aspects.
First, and perhaps most significantly, gradually lifting the floor standard, the standard that sets minimum levels for the number of pupils achieving A*-C GCSEs in English and Maths. This is to rise from the current 35% to 40% next year and “my aspiration is that by 2015 we will be able to raise it to over 50%.” Those that fall short, by all accounts 870 schools last year, face being taken over by an Academy.
Second, and turning to primary schools, 200 of the weakest are being lined up to be turned into Academies next year with a further 500 put on notice. DfE figures suggest that some 1,400 primary schools fail to get 60% of their pupils up to a basic level in English and Maths by age 11 and many have been stuck in that position for a number of years. The current Education Bill would give the Secretary of State new intervention powers but the issue remains as to just how quickly it is possible to turn round an under performing school, views on this remain mixed.
Sticks, carrots and data, all part of a much more refined accountability system.
Developments in the school system
These came in a second speech in as many days by the Education Secretary, this time using the occasion to announce the results of the latest round of applications for Free Schools and University Technical Colleges UTCs. Along with Academies, Free Schools and UTCs form part of the new breed of schools and colleges through which the Education Secretary is hoping to transform attainment levels.
Each in their own way has had its critics but Michael Gove was able to declare that given the number of applications submitted this second round of applications had seen “no drop off in momentum.” For UTCs, the number of applications submitted for opening in 2012 was 37 while for Free Schools, where the rules were tightened up earlier this year, 281 applications have been received.
Acknowledgements
Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning
