Labour is facing calls to set out a clear “vision” for school improvement as the prime minister faced criticism that his schools bill neglects the standards agenda.
The government also had a bruising day on Tuesday as big trust bosses criticised plans to revoke academy freedoms.
However, the stakes were raised this week after Sir Keir Starmer was heavily criticised during prime minister’s questions over the lack of a plan to improve school standards.
Sir Jon Coles, the chief executive of United Learning, called for the government to “set out their strategy for … how we will drive improvement across the system.”
‘No clear improvement narrative’
“I think part of the reason for the response to the bill has been that the government has not published a policy document ahead of publication, so people have read into the bill their concerns and fears and worries.
“There has not been a clear government narrative about how the bill will drive forward improvements in the school system overall, and how we are going to tackle the achievement gaps.”
The bill is in its committee stage, which consists of witness evidence, a line-by-line examination of the legislation and votes on amendments.
Labour has already announced it will amend the clause that would have extended national pay and conditions rules to academies.
But at a Tuesday hearing Paul Barber, of the Catholic Education Service, called the bill a “jigsaw of many parts. What we need is an overall narrative into which these reforms fit.”
Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, also said: “What I want to see is the vision for how we are going to work together with the best knowledge we have about school improvement, and with a sense of absolute urgency about making sure that no child is sitting in a failing school, because childhood lasts such a short time.”
‘Outliers don’t speak for most of us’
However not all school leaders are critical.
In an open letter this week the Headteachers’ Roundtable said it was the “outliers in our system” who were “on the defensive. They don’t speak for the majority of the profession.”
The group said the bill “represents a challenge to school leaders who prefer to promote ‘my school and my way’ rather than being motivated to improve all schools for all children”.
The bill was “kind, inclusive and fair in its intentions to serve the public and, as such, should be welcomed and applauded”.
A Department for Education spokesperson said the schools bill will get “expert qualified teachers into every classroom” and provide a “core pay offer” while allowing all schools to innovate.
“These measures, alongside our new regional improvement teams and Ofsted reforms, will ensure we create a school system rooted in collaboration and partnership so we can spread best practice across our system – giving every child a core high quality education, and enabling flexibility and innovation across schools.”
But during the hearing, Damian Hinds, a former education secretary, said the bill was “really like two bills, with the children and social care section and the schools section”.
If it were two bills, the government could have “pressed on at all speed” with the social care elements. But it had presented a “white paper and pre-legislative scrutiny [of the schools section] … perhaps to address more of the questions up front.”
McKinnell said the government had “wanted to move as fast as we could to make the impact that children need to see, particularly in safeguarding”.
Starmer standards stick
The prime minister also took a hammering on Wednesday.
When Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition, called the bill an “act of vandalism” that was an “attack on excellence.
“It is an attack on higher standards. It is an attack on aspiration. This bill is the worst of socialism and isn’t it deprived children in England who will pay the price.”
“Who is benefiting? It’s the trade unions … Why is the education secretary allowing trade unions to run her department and ruin children’s education.”
But Starmer insisted that it was Labour that introduced academies to drive up standards. “Academies are here to stay, and will continue to drive up standards. That is what the bill is about.”
A government source added they are “getting on and raising standards for every child in every corner of our country by creating a core framework on pay and conditions, then enabling innovation across all schools so they can recruit and retain the teachers our children need.”
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