Last night saw another marathon session of Walsall’s Full Council as it met for the last time ahead of the all important Local Elections on May 5th. Liberal Democrat Councillor Ian Shires railed into the Conservatives during what was probably the most important debate of the night on a “Notice of Motion” condemning Government proposals to force all schools to become Academies by 2022 (see http://bit.ly/1qMHywR).

The Notice of Motion to Council – Academies 
The Conservative Government’s announcement that every school will be an Academy by 2020 heralds the final episode in the destruction of democratically accountable state education.   This flies in the face of any evidence about the validity of the Academy model as a vehicle for school improvement. This starts with the Education Select Committee who said that ‘There is at present no convincing evidence of the impact of Academy status on attainment in primary schools’. 
Even OFSTED boss Sir Michael Wilshaw now implicitly questions academisation. His recent report condemned several Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) for paying fat cat salaries, feckless support and failing the most disadvantaged children. Wilshaw compared them to the worst Local Authorities of yesteryear, but that’s unfair. At least an LA could be held accountable at the ballot box. 
At the recent Overview and Scrutiny, the Panel was informed that children’s progress and attainment in Council controlled schools is better and improving more quickly than in Academies.  
Therefore;  
This Council condemns the government policy of forced academisation, and calls on the Leader of the council to write to the Chancellor stating that taking power away from local Government regarding schools, undermines the whole Devolution project of Combined Authorities and the Governments Locality policy.   

This had been moved by the Leader of the Labour Group. An amendment moved by one of the Independents failed to get any support. However the Tories moved a further amendment which surprisingly Labour supported even though it watered down the thrust of their own motion as it stripped out all references to devolution and the Combined Authority.

Speaking on the subject Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Ian Shires said that he was extremely disappointed that Labour had allowed the Tories off the hook by taking the action they had.

Cllr Shires said, “There are those on the Tory benches who seem to have forgotten that this time last year they were busy canvasing during the General Election Campaign for the return of a majority Tory Government. Having succeeded in getting what they wanted then they should not be allowed to forget that they can’t absolve themselves of responsibility when that which they had worked for subsequently develops policies which are unpopular with the electorate.”

Ian went on to say “A strong education system, freely available to all, is the key to building the society we all strive towards I would think. That’s probably where the similarities end.

“This year’s Budget saw the chancellor George Osborne, keen to show that he hadn’t been phased by the worsening economic climate, announce the plan to make it compulsory for all schools to become academies by 2022.

“This really should have come as no surprise as David Cameron had made a pledge at the Tories Autumn Conference about his “vision for our schooling system” being put in the hands of headteachers and teachers rather than bureaucrats. Maybe when he was talking about” our schooling system” he’d been thinking of Eaton or Harrow who knows?

“Either way the government announced an extensive programme of reform to the British school system, including the much publicised forced conversion of all schools to academy status, the resulting abolition of the Local Education Authorities, the removal of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and the end of parent governors and the extension of the school day.

“Currently any opposition to the education reforms are being attacked by Nicky Morgan’s Department for Education as “playing politics with our children’s future”. This comes despite these sweeping reforms having been brought forward with almost no consultation with teachers or with parents.

“As Liberal Democrats we are committed to strengthening the democratic process and ensuring that there is a just and representative system of government. The Cameron Government appears to be showing a total disregard for our democratic processes. Much the same as their counterparts on this council who have vowed that they will run rough shod over the alternative budget agreed by this council in February should they win in May.

“These facts alone should give us as a Party ample reason to oppose these reforms until they have been subject to proper consultation and discussion. However, reviewing the basis and impact of the proposals raises a number of further significant concerns.

“One of the major impacts of forced academisation is that Councils would no longer have any involvement in running schools.

“Local Education Authorities will be abolished and all monitoring and funding will be managed centrally by the Department for Education. At the same time, they are also seeking to abolish parent governors.

“As a Liberal Democrat I believe that people should be involved in running their communities. We are committed to empowering local government.

“By centralising control of our schools, the Cameron government will be significantly undermining accountability; Walsall’s MPs are going to have a lot less influence on the Department of Education than us as Councilors have with the local authority.

“Without proper scrutiny, bad things tend to happen and we are already beginning to see this within existing academies as illustrated by the financial indiscretions of the Perry Beeches academies trust which came to light recently.

“The Conservatives argue that these changes will raise standards and ensure “excellence everywhere”. They have very little data to support these claims and certainly there is little evidence of that being the case here in Walsall.

“Undoubtedly there are some great academies, led by some superb teachers providing excellent education. However, current academic research is far from conclusive on the benefits of academy status and many studies contradict the government assertions. Recently the National Audit Office found that informal interventions such as local support were more effective than academy conversion.

“As a party, we believe that policy decisions should be built on a foundation of firm evidence. The Government cannot provide data to support their disruptive reforms. They also ignore the expertise and knowledge of concerned teachers and governors, which in itself is strong evidence that further review is needed.

“School leaders have had the opportunity (and added incentives) to convert for some time and yet many, particularly in primary schools, have taken informed decisions to resist academisation.

“It does seem staggering how quickly the Tories in Government appear to ignore ‘free market’ principles when they undermine their own half-baked ideas. The move towards universal academisation is just one way in which the Tories are removing choice, and therefore diversity, from our education system. They have also announced a complete overhaul of teacher training, with the closure of PGCE routes and the end of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

“As a Party, we aim to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. Diversity provides more solutions to more problems and should be embraced. We are therefore intrinsically opposed to any policy which removes options unless absolutely necessary. The PGCE route into teaching has been highly successful, providing many trainee teachers with experience from a broader range of schools and a wider professional network when they begin their careers. School based teacher training routes should not be discouraged, but should not become the only choice. Meanwhile Qualified Teacher Status does provide assurance as to the ability of teachers and it is actually academies, who do not have to employ Qualified Teacher Status teachers, which opens the door to the erosion of teacher standards.

“It is also worth noting that although Nicky Morgan has publicly commented that Qualified Teacher Status can be awarded after only 120 days of classroom experience, non-academy schools can only employ teachers that also pass their subsequent induction year with an additional 189 days of experience. Only academies could employ people who failed this induction. When discussing Qualified Teacher Status, this is either a significant oversight by the Minister of Education or a deliberate effort to mislead the British public.

“Overall, there are many reasons to be deeply concerned by the proposed Tory education reforms and there are many unanswered questions as to the long-term impact of a system where schools can set their own entrance criteria, are competing for graduates and have little accountability to their local communities.

“There does appear to be a significant risk that this will lead to a more divided society which fails to bring opportunity to its most deprived communities. As Democrats we should not allow that to happen.”

At the end of the debate council agreed with the condemnation of the Government proposals.