This is the text of a booklet written and published by Michael Bassey in February 2016
Crisis 1. Over a quarter of English children at 10 and a third at 12 express a dislike for going to school.
Crisis 2. Teachers are oppressed by an excessive and stressful workload outside teaching hours.
Crisis 3. Government pressures on schools seem to be about training the future workforce for economic growth.
Crisis 4. The National Curriculum - very demanding for teachers in local authority schools but not academies.
Crisis 5. OFSTED acts as an enforcer of Government policies and terrorizes many teachers.
Crisis 6. There is a growing shortage of qualified teachers, especially in maths, English and science.
Crisis 7. There are more children in our schools but local authorities are not permitted to build new schools.
Crisis 8. Nearly two-thirds of England’s secondary schools and nearly a fifth of primary schools are now academies and independent of local authorities.
Crisis 9. Teachers’ pay is falling in real terms with a 1% cap.
Crisis 10. Grammar schools and fee-paying schools promote injustice and unfairness in society.
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OUR SCHOOLS SYSTEM IS IN CRISIS:
WHAT LABOUR COULD DO
Preamble
Lucy Powell, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, in a powerful address[1] to the Education Reform Summit North last month said, “One thing we have in opposition, is time. Time to reflect, time to talk and listen, time to learn, time to plan.” After saying “there has been significant improvement in our schools’ system in the last twenty years both in terms of standards in the classroom, the quality of teachers and the physical and learning environment in many schools” she went on to say that “there are danger signs which I believe are a result of the government taking the system in the wrong direction and making bad choices”.
In this booklet I identify ten “danger signs”, of which several are points of crisis in our schools’ system. In opposition we should challenge and in next government act on these points of crisis. For each I suggest actions the next Labour government could take.
I suggest power should be transferred from the Department of Education to a National Education Council (NEC). This is envisaged as an expert body, independent of but funded by government, composed of teachers, union representatives, parents, academics, politicians, business and professional people, and charged to redesign our education system as both child friendly and future looking – embracing the likely consequences of global warming as much as the opportunities of global markets. Its members must be fully committed and well supported by research teams and a competent secretariat.
These are the people to make educational decisions for the nation – not here-today-and-gone-tomorrow ministers!
The House of Commons Select Committee on Education has just published the written evidence submitted for its Inquiry into the purpose and quality of education in England[2]. For anyone with a day to spare it makes interesting reading. This was my contribution to this inquiry. The first clause is from the Labour manifesto of 1945.
The great purpose of Education is to enable individual citizens to be capable of thinking for themselves, moral beings well equipped with the many and varied attributes that they learn in their years of schooling, and able to continue to develop and learn purposefully throughout their lives in a contented pursuit of worthwhile life, liberty and happiness.
Michael Bassey February 2016
[1] http://www.lucypowell.org.uk/lucy_s_speech_at_the_education_reform_summit_north
[2] http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news- parliament-2015/purpose-quality-education-evidence-15-16/ {No longer accessible)
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CRISIS 1: OVER A QUARTER OF ENGLISH CHILDREN AT AGE 10 AND A THIRD AT AGE 12 EXPRESS A DISLIKE FOR GOING TO SCHOOL
An on-line study in England by the Children’s Society in the winter of 2013/4 asked 979 ten-year-old children and 1,317 twelve-year-old children (equal numbers of boys and girls) how they felt about school. These were their responses to the statement: “I like going to school”:
Year 6 (10-11) “Totally” 34%; “A lot” 27%;
“Somewhat” 14%; “A little or not at all” 25%
Year 8 (12-13) “Totally” 18%; “A lot” 25%;
“Somewhat” 25%; “A little or not at all” 33%
MB Children spend over 5 hours a day for 39 weeks, year after year in school on lessons. When over a quarter of them express a clear dislike for school this must be seen as serious.
38% of children said that they had been hit by other children in the past month: this was 60% more common in Year 6 than in Year 8. Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, described the findings as “deeply worrying”. He said: "School should be a safe haven, not a battleground.”
The ChildLine counselling service of the NSPCC reports that in 2013/14 it had 34,517 sessions about suicide with young people, which was more than double such sessions in 2010/11.
MB: The next Labour government should encourage every school to
look into this and should commission several university departments to collate
findings and recommend through the (proposed) National Education Council ways
of overcoming dislike of school.
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CRISIS 2: TEACHERS ARE OPPRESSED BY AN EXCESSIVE AND STRESSFUL WORKLOAD OUTSIDE TEACHING HOURS
The DfE's 2013 workload statistics show an increase in working hours for all categories of teachers compared to 2010.
· Primary classroom teachers’ hours have increased by more than 9 hours a week to 59;
· Secondary classroom teachers have experienced nearly a 6 hour increase to 56.
Taking into account adjustments for school closure periods, when teachers continue to work an average of 13 hours per week, a survey by the Times Educational Supplement showed the average over a year is 48 hours per week.
In September 2014 an NUT survey highlighted the negative impact of high workload. 90% of respondents had considered leaving teaching in the last two years, 97% said workload has negative consequences for family or personal life and 82% said more trust in teachers would help retention.
Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT said in 2014 “excessive workloads and working hours of teachers are proving to be detrimental to the provision of high quality teaching and learning in schools.”
A survey reported in May 2013, showed that out of 37 European countries, UK teachers scored highest for 'burnout'.
The findings of the latest TUC Biennial survey of union safety reps, showed that stress was one of the top concerns for 80 per cent of respondents from the education sector.
MB: The next Labour government should get the (proposed) National Education Council, guided by the teacher unions, to show what government action could reduce the teacher workload and then quickly take appropriate steps.
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CRISIS 3: GOVERNMENT PRESSURES ON SCHOOLS SEEM TO BE ABOUT TRAINING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH
When Michael Gove was Secretary of State for Education he initiated reforms to GCSE making the examinations tougher and abolishing coursework as a contributor to the results.
His successor, Nicky Morgan, decided that every child starting in September 2016 is expected to study core academic subjects right up to GCSE: English, Maths, one or more science, computer science, geography, history, a modern language.
“It is essential that our young people leave education highly motivated, engaged, and ready for the world of work. Ensuring that every young person is able to achieve their full potential is not only critical to social justice but will also help us to achieve strong and sustainable economic growth.” Nicky Morgan Secretary of State for Education 10 December 2015
GCSE league tables will be replaced by Progress 8 scores.
Attainment 8 will be a measure of a pupil’s average grade across a set suite of eight subjects on a 1-8 point score scale, 1 = Grade G GCSE; 8 = A* GCSE.
Progress 8 is defined as a pupil’s Attainment 8 score minus the average Attainment score of all pupils across the country with the same attainments in primary school in KS2 tests.
The new league table will be schools’ average Progress 8 scores.
MB: These pressures can result in the all-round nature of education as living and preparing to live a good life being neglected. Government centres on exam results: publishing them in league tables. Thus schools focus on academic study.
MB: The next Labour government should abandon league tables and floor
standards. It should focus on support of
all-round balanced education (cognitive, creative, cultural, moral, physical)
through the agency of the (proposed) NEC.
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CRISIS 4: THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM – VERY DEMANDING FOR TEACHERS IN LOCAL AUTHORITY SCHOOLS BUT NOT ACADEMIES
In 2013 a
new version of the National Curriculum was introduced to “provide pupils with an introduction to the essential
knowledge that they need to be educated citizens.” It contains 263 pages.
At key stage 2 (ages 7-11) it includes 11 subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, Art and Design, Computing, Design and Technology, a Foreign Language, Geography, History, Music, Physical Education. There are about 189 “attainment targets” (ATs) for teachers in Year Four (age 8-9). These are examples, each preceded by the words “Pupils should be taught to …”
English (59 ATs) Plan their writing by discussing
writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand
and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar.
Mathematics (42 ATs) Recognise and use factor pairs and commutativity in mental calculations.
Science (19 ATs) Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
Art and Design (3 ATs) Improve their mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with a range of materials.
Physical education (9 ATs) Use running, jumping, throwing and catching in isolation and combination.
Music (6 ATs) Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.
MB: How do teachers cope with this enormous inventory? It must lead to a tick box approach - “done this, tick it”. So, why is it not required of academies and free schools if it is “essential knowledge for educated citizens”?
MB: The next Labour government should downgrade
the national curriculum to being an advisory document – not a mandatory
requirement.
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CRISIS 5: OFSTED ACTS AS AN ENFORCER OF GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND TERRORIZES MANY TEACHERS
"NUT members want to hear Labour take a tougher line on reforming Ofsted, the schools inspectorate in England that some blame for inculcating a climate of fear”. Guardian 2 April 2015
NUT’s general secretary referred to “the foul miasma of Ofsted” Times Educational Supplement 10 June 2015.
NASUWT report “Inspectors Inspected” (2015): “Perceptions of the expectations of inspection can have adverse consequences in relation to levels of organisational bureaucracy, the workload of teachers and school and college leaders and their ability to use their professional skills, knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of learners.”
ATL general secretary’s conference speech 2015 “I make this challenge to the politicians. What are you going to do to reform Ofsted so that inspection is professionally conducted and empowering, rather than a weapon of fear and terror?”
MB: Over the 14 years of its existence OFSTED has become a ruthless enforcer of government policies with a narrow vision of education that has ignored local circumstances; for many teachers its inspectors are fear-inducing and unsupportive; for headteachers an adverse report may cost their job. Schools are not factories and do not need tick-box inspection: to raise their profile they need dialogue with experienced fellow professionals.
MB: The next Labour government should stop all school inspections for two years and during that time ask the NEC to devise a fair system of inspection based on appraisal, challenge and support.
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CRISIS 6: THERE IS A GROWING SHORTAGE OF QUALIFIED TEACHERS, ESPECIALLY IN MATHS, ENGLISH AND SCIENCE
“LONG HOURS, ENDLESS ADMIN AND ANGRY PARENTS – WHY SCHOOLS CAN’T GET ENOUGH TEACHERS. British schools are reporting a classroom crisis, with thousands of disaffected teachers leaving the profession, and new graduates discouraged from training because of the daily stress and grind. And with the number of state school pupils set to rise by 2022, the problem is only getting worse. ” Guardian 1 Feb 2016.
“TEACHER RECRUITMENT ‘A MESS’ AS EVERY SCHOOL SLUGS IT OUT FOR ITSELF. Abandoning government control of teacher supply has caused shortages in some regions and subjects and a surplus in others – just as pupil numbers soar.” Guardian 19 January 2016
“Six teachers' organisations have combined to warn of a national recruitment crisis in schools which has led to hundreds of thousands of pupils being taught by staff not trained in the subject they are teaching. They add that the squeeze on school budgets is leading to bigger classes and a reduction in subject options for key GCSE and A-level exams. Independent on-line 10 January 2016.
The National Association of Head Teachers said 59% of schools advertising for teachers "struggled" to get applicants and a further 20% failed completely to appoint anyone. Guardian 9 December 2015
MB: The
next Labour government should, through the (proposed) National Education Council,
develop effective planning to ensure that sufficient teachers are trained, preferably
in universities and working in close partnership with schools.
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CRISIS 7: THERE ARE MORE CHILDREN IN OUR SCHOOLS BUT LOCAL AUTHORITIES ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BUILD NEW SCHOOLS WITHOUT SEEKING ACADEMY OR FREE SCHOOL SPONSORS
The 2011 census shows the number of children is increasing: aged 0-4 3.3 million; aged 5-9 3.0 million; aged 10-14 3.0 million.
In consequence:
“PRIMARY SCHOOL PLACES: COUNCILS ISSUE SHORTAGE WARNING Two in five council areas in England will not have enough primary school places for the number of children by September 2016, say council leaders.” BBC Online News 3 April 2015
But:
Education Act 2011 “If a local authority in England think a new school needs to be established in their area, they must seek proposals for the establishment of an Academy” (including Free schools).
Free schools:
Free schools were introduced by Michael Gove to allow outside groups to apply directly to the DfE for permission to establish a new state-funded school, and were granted considerable freedom over employment and curriculum.
However:
A National Audit Office enquiry found that £241m of the £950m projected capital spend on mainstream free schools was in districts with no forecast need for extra school places while the DfE has received no applications to open primary free schools in half of the areas where there is a high need for extra places.
MB: The next Labour
government should repeal the relevant part of the Education Act of 2011 and
empower and require local authorities to build new schools where needed.
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CRISIS 8: NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF ENGLAND’S SECONDARY SCHOOLS AND NEARLY A FIFTH OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS ARE NOW ACADEMIES AND INDEPENDENT OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES
STATISTICS (1Jan16) Primary sch. Secondary sch.
Local authority schools 13,810 1,154
Academies (converters) 1,961 1,408
Academies sponsored 930 586
Free schools 117 120
“Converters” are successful schools choosing to convert to academies. “Sponsored” are under-performing schools taken over by sponsors. “Free schools” are academies set up as new schools by parents, etc.
ARE ACADEMIES BETTER THAN LOCAL AUTHORITY SCHOOLS?
“Current evidence does not allow us to draw firm conclusions on whether academies are a positive force for change. According to the research that we have seen, it is too early to judge whether academies raise standards overall or for disadvantaged children.” Select Committee report Jan 2015)
MB: Academies are schools taken out of local authority care. They stand outside the local family of schools and are no longer accountable to the local community. With this fragmentation there is a lack co-ordination of exclusion arrangements and catchment areas, and a need for academies to make their own arrangements for insurances, care of buildings, audit of finances, payroll support, advisory services on a range of issues, maternity provision and other matters: this is more difficult for primary schools. The governing bodies of academies can determine the pay and conditions of employment of staff. Whereas local authority schools often co-operate, academies are more likely to compete. Why do heads, governors, and sometimes parents want a ‘school’ to become renamed as an ‘academy’? Relief from the extraordinary demands of the National Curriculum may sway heads. Sounding more prestigious in a competitive world, perhaps it attracts more parents to send their children? The Anti-Academy Alliance says every child needs a good school, not just those going to academies.
MB: Jeremy Corbyn wants academies to return to local authorities. This will be tricky but perhaps within carefully defined parameters, like defining catchment areas for primary schools, and spelling out the support available, it could be acceptable. A policy of ‘no competition’ between schools is needed.
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CRISIS 9: TEACHERS’ PAY IS FALLING IN REAL TERMS WITH A 1% CAP
“Government policy, which has seen a 1 per cent cap on teachers' pay over the last five years, coupled with the introduction of pay flexibility measures, has created ‘chaos, confusion, unfairness and discrimination’ across schools, the NASUWT has claimed.” Daily Telegraph online 11 January 2016
“In a statement to the profession's pay review body, the six unions - four representing classroom teachers and the country's two major headteachers' organisations - warn the crisis will only deepen if teachers' pay continues to be squeezed - making it a less attractive a career to new graduates than other occupations.
"‘If teachers' salaries continue to fall in real terms, the Government stands no chance of recruiting the extra 160,000 additional teachers needed in the next three years to cope with the predicted rise in pupil numbers,’ said Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.” Independent on-line 10 January 2016.
MB: Performance-related pay in schools was started in September 2013. The NUT and ATL are strongly opposed to this. While it may be an incentive for workers engaged in routine operations, research has shown that it is ill-advised for workers engaged in complex cognitive activities like teaching. Success in the all-round nature of teaching cannot be measured so PRP should not be used for teachers.
MB: The next Labour government should firmly reinstate a universal Teachers’ Pay and Conditions policy and include abandonment of performance-related pay. Teachers’ unions must be effectively consulted on this.
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CRISIS 10: GRAMMAR SCHOOLS AND FEE-PAYING SCHOOLS PROMOTE INJUSTICE AND UNFAIRNESS IN SOCIETY
In England there are 164 state-funded grammar schools (about 4% of children), about 2,000 independent schools (fee-funded with 7% of children) and 3,104 non-selective state secondary schools (about 89% of children).
“New research shows that grammar schools 'increase inequality', and widen the income gap.” Independent on-line 29 May 2014
“Giving evidence to a House of Lords committee on judicial diversity and appointments, Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls, said that most judges were ‘white, public school men’. Asked by Lord Renton why that was of concern, Neuberger said it was a matter of justice and fairness.” Guardian 16 November 2011
“Nearly 50 per cent of army officers still come from the public schools.” The Spectator 31 January 2013
“Britain’s doctors and surgeons fail to mirror the profile of society: 80% of medical students come from households containing professionals or those in higher managerial roles, and more than a quarter from private schools.” Guardian 22 January 2016
“Private schools are charities. They are therefore subsidised to the tune of £100m per year”. Independent 23 Sept 2013
MB: The next Labour government should legislate to end the selection of pupils by any state-funded school. It should also remove the charitable status of public schools – as a first step to integrating them into the state system.
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This essay was posted on 23 February 2016