Schools u-turn?
Did a double take when I saw the front cover of the Times while buying my coffee this morning:
Town halls to take over “coasting” schools
Schools that are “coasting” or failing to stretch pupils to their potential will be given just 15 days to make improvements spelt out in “warning notices” issued by councils. Failure to respond will trigger intervention by town hall hit squads with powers to take control of a school’s budget and appoint new governors. [...] Local authorities will have powers to compel a school to join a federation so that it can be run by a more successful neighbour. [...]
The powers effectively overturn years of policy from both Conservative and Labour governments, which have successively cut the powers of local authorities to intervene in the running of schools.
Interesting. The Times says it is about Mr Blair and Ms Kelly trying to win back Labour MPs unhappy with the creation of independent trust schools in the Education Bill. I can see how it might, but it still seems odd to take power from LEAs with one hand and give it with another… Oh well, at least this probably means we won’t have to watch Labour MPs shuffle through the same voting lobby as Tories now. That’ll blow Mr Cameron’s cosy “consensus”.
I don’t think there’s a contradiction between the bill and this proposal. There’s an overall drift towards more localised/private etc management - but with enhanced regulation.
That seems to me what this is about - taking away central management and replacing it with regulation.
Then there’s a debate about whether it works or not…