Home
Abolish SAT tests
Abolish Ofsted
Accountability
Free curriculum
Collegial schools
What is Education?
National Educ Council
Politics of education
Political Charter
Secondary schools
School report card
Election-questions
Press Reports intro
Press Reports 2003
Press Reports 2004
Press Reports 2005
Press Reports 2006
Press Reports 2007
Press Reports 2008
Press Reports 2009 A
Press Reports 2009 B
Press Reports 2010 A
Press Reports 2010 B

Political Action: a Charter for Educational Advance

Political action for change is needed to transfer power over the destinies of our children from government to schools so that educational decisions as to what is right for pupils are determined by those who by training, experience and commitment are best qualified to decide – the teachers, working with parents and local communities.

Parents, teachers and other professionals need to combine forces with the teachers’ unions and associations and bring to an end government control of schools.

Government action on the education system has become counter-productive. It is time to return control of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to schools and to assert public trust in the competence, commitment and integrity of the teaching profession.

Would that government could express the necessary political change in words like these:


CHARTER FOR EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE


In celebration of the achievements of government and teachers in creating excellence in our schools, and to ensure the continuation of this process, it is now determined that:

    • while it remains the lawful duty of the secretary of state for Children, Schools and Families to promote the education of the people of England and the progressive development of institutions devoted to that purpose; and

    • recognising that the action of government in recent years has substantially raised the standards of pupil achievement, has enhanced the quality of school management and governance, and has enabled parents to have choice of schools for their children and the information needed to both exercise that choice and to follow their children’s educational progress; and

    • recognising the pedagogic competence of the members of the teaching profession in terms of their wisdom, humanity, morality, knowledge, skills, and ability to enthuse pupils with these same qualities; and

    • recognising teachers’ personal commitment towards the development of all pupils in fair relation to the pupils’ talents, abilities, needs, and potential; and

    • recognising teachers’ role in enriching and deepening national culture, by what they teach, what they do and what they are; and

    • recognising the self-regulating power and the achievement-raising potential of the collegial approach to schooling;

it is now seen to be the time to reinvest teachers and schools with the power to determine the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment procedures that they judge locally to be appropriate and in the best interests of their pupils.




TO THIS END IT IS DECIDED THAT:

    1. All nursery, primary and secondary schools shall be seen as collegial institutions, 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 any directives that impinge on curricula, pedagogic and assessment practices, but may continue to offer non-mandatory advice.

    3. Ofsted inspections of schools shall cease, but local authority inspectorates shall identify and support such schools as are in difficulties, and support self-evaluation in all schools.

    4. The national curriculum and related teaching strategies shall no longer be obligatory, but may be varied according to schools’ own decisions.

    5. Teacher assessments shall replace all external assessments of school pupils prior to GCSE examinations and these assessments shall be communicated to each child’s parents regularly.

    6. Government shall no longer set targets for pupil performance. Nor shall schools be 'named and shamed'.

    7. League tables of assessments shall no longer be compiled, but in their place schools will be expected to 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 their local authorities and reporting to them on an annual basis.

    9. A research-informed and independent-of-government National Education Council shall be established to advise parliament, government, general public, local authorities, schools, teachers, governors, and parents (with membership drawn from these constituencies)on significant issues in educational practice and in the relation of education to society. It shall be government-funded at a level to enable it to undertake and sponsor research and to carry out effectively the functions described below.

    10. The National Education Council shall be responsible for the monitoring of standards achieved in the various basic skills taught in schools through a robust and national sampling procedure. Local authorities shall report annually to the Council on the state and progress of education in their area, drawing on reports from school governing bodies. The Council 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.



Scroll back to the top of this page for the buttons which lead to elaborations of the ideas in this Charter.

It would, of course, be a brave step for a government to take this action because it would effectively depoliticize education. But we should not forget that for much of the 20th century governments saw matters of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment as beyond the competence of government, but the proper province of teachers and schools.

Campaign Letters

At present neither Labour nor Conservative parties are willing to return power to those who know best how to educate young people. The action of both parties would be to increase the pressure on schools and young people. So how can change come about?

Public opinion matters to members of Parliament, who are nearly always concerned about retaining their seat at the next election. So writing to them can create a groundswell of concern that can lead to political action. Readers of this website might care to write to their MPs along the following lines.

Dear …….

I write to you to express grave concern about the way in which the political parties of both left and right are damaging the life-chances of our children by their educational policies. Notwithstanding the best of intentions they are promoting the worst of outcomes through excessive testing, obsessive inspection and a restrictive curriculum.

Of course children in primary school need to be well-prepared for the literacy and numeracy demands of the secondary school, and adolescents in secondary school need to be well-prepared for the demands of future employment, but surely it must be teachers and not politicians who know best how to achieve these ends.

Beyond these expectations is the need for young people to experience a broad and balanced curriculum which opens many doors for their future and gives them opportunities to discover and develop their individual talents.

May I urge you to persuade your party that schools will only prosper when government brings to an end (1) external testing prior to GCSE, (2) Ofsted inspection, and (3) the obligatory nature of the national curriculum. We must put our trust in the expertise, commitment, professionalism and creativity of teachers.

Yours sincerely,

The address for correspondence to an MP can be found at: http://www.parliament.uk/about/contacting/mp.cfm

If a favourable response is received it will be worth sending a follow-up letter with a copy of the above Charter for Educational Advance. Ask the MP to find out the views of the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on the Charter. While ministers infrequently respond to correspondence from members of the public they are usually punctilious in responding to MPs. So you can expect that someone in the Department has to read the Charter and formulate the Minister’s rejection of it. If that someone in the Minister’s office has to write a 100 such letters it may help move the idea along the well-known seven stages of adoption: (1) ridiculous, (2) questionable, (3) plausible, (4) possible, (5) sensible, (6) best-thing-since-sliced-bread, and (7) our-idea-all-along.

You could also write to the prime minister at 10 Downing Street. If the PM received enough letters he might begin to see the political sense of action to make a change in policy and tell you that it was always his intention to make this part of his agenda for change!


Before writing to your MP it might be worth seeing what are the party's policies. Click below:

Education action policies of three major parties


This page was last edited on 21 April 2010