Posts Tagged ‘Free Schools’

Academies and Free Schools – A failed experiment in education

by Naomi Fearon.

As of June 2015 there are over four thousand academies in England. Originally introduced by New Labour back in 2000 in order to support failing schools in socially deprived areas, academies have long since remained a controversial topic. Touted by governments as the miraculous magic answer to improving standards and loathed quite rightly by teaching […]

Why doesn’t Labour just say no to free schools?

by Michael Meacher.

Cameron announces that, in addition to the 240 so-called free schools already operating in 2014-15, a re-elected Tory government will open a further 153. Why is the Labour party so timid in responding to this? The official riposte was: Instead of focusing on the need for more primary school places, David Cameron’s government has spent […]

Really, Tristram? The “totally convincing” case for performance related pay exposed

by David Pavett.

Having giving his support to academies and “parent-led academies” (aka free schools), Labour’s new shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has now committed the party to another key right-wing goal for education: “performance-related pay” (PRP). He told the BBC Question Time audience: “I’m in favour of performance-related pay. We had a great report come out today […]

Tristram Hunt promises more of the same

by David Pavett.

Given the importance of education in any effort to create a more equal society, it may seem strange that the Labour Party has always found education a difficult issue to handle. The Party has within its ranks many well-informed campaigners for a truly comprehensive and high-quality school system for all (which includes parents, teachers, researchers […]

Milibandism: Politics and Expediency

by Phil Burton-Cartledge.

It’s a truism of politics that a cabinet or shadow cabinet reshuffle does not necessarily mean a change in political direction. And that much is true of the first statements of intent from new appointees Rachel Reeves and Tristram Hunt. You don’t need me to tell you that Rachel’s intent to “be tough” on joblessness, and Tristram’s pledge to […]

Preparing for Labour’s conference: schools policy

by David Pavett.

Labour’s national policy forum (NPF) report 2013 for this year’s party conference is now available for all to read. Education is dealt with in the section devoted to the annual report of the Education and Child Care Commission on pages 70 to 76 and in a policy paper on childcare on pages 78 to 80. The […]

Free schools are Marxist? Then I’m a banana

by Lucy Reese.

Michael’s Gove’s latest pronouncement is that free schools are a Marxist ideal, a comment so outlandish and preposterous that it might at first seem that the hot weather has gone to the Education Secretary’s head. If free schools are a Marxist idea, then I’m a banana. What’s Marxist – or even democratic – about schools […]

Who’s in charge in Twigg’s vision for free schools?

by David Pavett.

Interviewed by Jeremy Vine last Sunday, Stephen Twigg repeated the proposal made in his recent RSA speech that Labour will support “parent-led academies”. He said that these will not be free schools because: (1) they will not be allowed to use unqualified staff; (2) not all free schools are parent-led; (3) they will be overseen […]

Gove’s ideological war must be challenged wholesale

by Conrad Landin.

It wasn’t long after Michael Gove took office as Education Secretary before he was called a “miserable pipsqueak” by Labour MP Tom Watson and got savaged by an angry parent on a radio call-in. But last week, when the abolition of the AS-level – an exam taken by lower sixth-form pupils – faced the staunch […]

Lucy Reese on Newsnight: “big companies gagging to get their hands on education budgets”

by Newsdesk.

Regular Left Futures contributor Lucy Reese defended local authority-run education on Newsnight last night – and warned that Michael Gove’s free schools policy was paving the way for large corporations to “get their hands on education budgets”. She appeared on the programme after a film was aired assessing the progress of free schools at the […]

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