Backtracking Blair: PM forced to reconsider the Schools White Paper
07 February 2006
- Local authorities to be allowed to build new comprehensives- Key parts of the admissions code will be made mandatory- Interviewing parents will be outlawed in the primary legislation,including religious interviews.
Peter Reeve, Green Party Education spokesperson, comments: "The Green Partywelcomes the Government's change of heart, but the concessions do not go farenough. The proposed reforms still mean that the transporting of12-year-olds and upwards to secondary schools offered on their rated'aptitude' will hugely increase. This is undesirable from an environmentaland social community point of view.
"Trust schools will still be able to have governing bodies made up ofexternal sponsors but a list of authorised external sponsors has beenrejected. This leaves the door open for individuals, groups and corporationswith dubious motives to have a major input into the decision-makingprocesses of state schools. This is extremely worrying and could have aserious negative impact on standards.
"Current specialist schools and city academies have external 'sponsors' whothe government claims help to create the special ethos of the school. Halfof the flagship bodies were ranked among the worst schools in the country inJanuary's league tables. Truancy at some academies was running at more thanfive times the national rate and GCSE results ranked 50 per cent of theprivately-sponsored schools in the table of the worst 200 secondaries inEngland
"The Green Party advocate government investment in high-quality, localschools which accept pupils from all backgrounds and of all abilities. Thegovernment claims to want to promote social cohesion with such gimmicks as'British day' but when it comes to educational reform, Blair seemsdetermined to destroy communities and allow the private sector to gain amajor foothold in our schools. Let's hope the scrutiny of the White Papercontinues so that we have a real debate about who we want to hold sway overour children and our society."
