Posts Tagged ‘Free Schools’
Why should the state bail out failing private schools?
More than a hundred private schools are predicted to make the move in the state sector in the next decade according to former schools minister Lord Adonis. Should we be delighted, or dismayed? Most people would probably think any reduction in the number of “fee charging” schools in our highly stratified education system is a […]
Tristram Hunt’s challenge
I have a general rule of thumb when watching education ministers and their shadows perform in public. Remember the audiences, because there are two. The first, is comprised of parents, pupils, heads and teachers. In spite of the best efforts of politicians to divide them, this group generally has a common interest in ensuring their […]
Planning of school places should rest with local, not central, government
Children packed like sardines, foreigners flooding in, temporary classrooms crowding out play space. The language used to illustrate the current chronic shortage of primary school places in England is emotive. And understandably so. The fear of not getting a school place for your child strikes at the heart at every parent. The fact that we […]
Gove and Glasman at the LSE. Is the stakeholder model of governance coming back?
Last night I went to an interesting debate at the London School of Economics. The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove and Labour peer Lord Glasman , author of Blue Labour and involved in the party’s policy review, were discussing who “owns” the concept of One Nation, originated by Benjamin Disraeli and appropriated by Labour leader Ed Miliband […]
Sneaky changes to the Admissions Code herald a return to the bad old days
First published in the Guardian Some months ago the Government began a consultation on the new School Admissions Code. It came after months of nods and winks about the need to streamline the overly bureaucratic regulatory framework of the Labour years. Since its introduction in the late 1990s, the Admissions Code has undergone several incarnations. […]
How Labour could respond to the Coalition’s education reforms
Some months ago I was asked to deliver a lecture to Labour Party members, and others, in David Cameron’s constituency of West Oxfordshire about how Labour should respond to the Coalition’s education reforms. The lecture was part of a series and in memory of local activist, campaigner and educationalist Brian Hodgson. It was chaired by […]
James Review on School Buildings makes some good points but leaves unanswered questions
The James Review in to capital spending on schools was slipped out to very little fanfare yesterday, on the last day of term. I wonder why? It could be that the whole matter of school buildings is of little real interest to the media, but given the furore over the cancellation of BSF, you would […]
