Journalists are being banned from conferences where ministers, senior government civil servants and advisers are slated to speak.
Three events in recent weeks have seen Schools Week reporters denied access, either entirely or while Department for Education civil servants are presenting.
The Confederation of School Trusts will not allow the press at its “community” conferences, with ticket prices starting at £350.
This includes its CEO summit in July, where schools minister Georgia Gould will be speaking.
Its timely SEND and inclusion conference in May features a keynote from Tom Rees, who chairs DfE’s expert advisory group for inclusion.
Tim Coulson, the DfE’s director general for regions, spoke at CST’s finance and operations conference last month. Other speakers included MAT chief executives and finance bosses.
There’s no suggestion speakers requested media were not present, however.
Schools Week has attended some of these events in previous years.
CST: Media-free spaces ‘important’
Leora Cruddas, CST chief executive, said they were “trialling running our community conferences without a media presence.”
She said it is “important to create different types of spaces to support school and trust leaders”.
“We value the work of our media colleagues and warmly invite them to attend key events, such as our annual conference.”
The British Educational Suppliers Association curriculum conference this week began with a talk from Bethany Caines, DfE’s deputy director for qualifications and curriculum strategy.
The session was due to explore “major themes” from the recent curriculum review and “what they signal for the future of teaching and learning”.
However, BESA said they had an agreement with the DfE to hold the session without press attendance. It’s not clear how much tickets cost.
The DfE did not comment this week, and directed us to the Cabinet Office and Number 10.
Inconsistent rules
Last year, think tank the Institute for Government reported government had issued internal guidance that “banned any official from speaking at events that include question and answer sessions, or where the media are expected to be in attendance”.
Following a backlash, cabinet office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds replied to an IfG letter stating the guidance “makes clear that civil servants are able to take part in stakeholder engagement and sector engagement activity.
“Where media outlets are likely to be present at public events, further approvals may be needed, subject to the judgement of departments on the nature of the activity”.
There appears to be some inconsistency. Other events reporters regularly attend without restrictions include the Westminster Education Forum, which often features civil servants.
However, a Westminster Insight SEND reform event in May is closed to the press.
Speakers include sector SEND leaders, council officials and a member of DfE’s neurodiversity task and finish group. Other events of theirs are open to reporting.
Andy Jolley, a school transparency campaigner, said restrictions were “outrageous”.
Not allowing reporters to attend is “disadvantaging vast swathes of people”.
“Anybody unable to attend their event can’t follow the important things these senior people are saying. It really makes you question why they are doing it.”
The Schools Week view: A worrying trend
One of our fundamental roles as journalists is to relay what important, influential members of society say to a wide audience.
It ensures transparency, but also equity for those members of the sector who can’t – for various reasons – attend events in person.
It’s on this basis we feel deeply uncomfortable with the press being barred from attending numerous events this year where public servants are speaking.
There has already been debate about whether civil servants should be “gagged” from speaking publicly. There is clearly nuance in this debate, around officials’ seniority and other factors.
But for an academy trust body to stop the press from reporting on the schools minister’s speech at one of its events – in a year of major reform announcements – feels perverse.
Other conferences are also not letting us in, or placing restrictions on what parts we can attend if civil servants are speaking.
We are grateful to the conferences for hosting us. But we shouldn’t have to justify why our presence is important.
Transparency needed
With the rise of disinformation and deep fakes, reporting on elected and appointed officials’ words is paramount to transparency.
Not allowing press entry means access to the minister and other highly influential officials and leaders is only reserved for those that can attend, often because they pay to be there, or because they live close enough to travel there.
There is also an argument to be made that such transparency should extend automatically to speeches delivered by academy and school leaders too. They are, after all, public servants.
As sector press, we do not seek to catch anyone out. We are not trying to gain access to private, confidential discussions between colleagues. These are advertised speeches and workshops at major sector events.
A huge part of our job is reporting real experiences from the chalk face of education. That’s harder to do if we’re not allowed in the room.
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