‘Bristol’s tipping point of forced academisation’

Earlier this month councillors passed a Labour motion opposing the forced academisation of our schools in Bristol. This was a bold move. While there has been a lot of media hype about the Government’s “U turn” on forcing schools to become academies, the reality is that they still intend that all schools become academies by 2022.

In Bristol we are almost at the tipping point where all local authority-run schools have to become academies – even if Ofsted has judged them to be “good” or “outstanding”.

This is because under the Government’s proposals if “critical mass” of our schools convert to academy status, the Government will have the power to deem the local authority as an “unviable” education provider, forcing academisation on the rest.

For me this issue is far more important than party politics. What is at stake here, is not just schools’ ability to determine their own future, but their accountability to the community and parents.

For once I agreed with Nick Clegg, when he said Tory education policy is based on “evidence-free prejudice”, and, I suspect, also on ministers’ distant memories of their own school days.

Over the years I have witnessed first-hand, the relentless stream of imposed educational reforms. What I find astounding is that key changes are often brought in against the advice of educationalists.

As a result, pressure on schools increases daily, and most head teachers and staff work ridiculous hours to keep up. At the same time, morale has plummeted, with a recent survey highlighting that a quarter of all teachers are thinking of leaving the profession.

In Bristol we should be celebrating another year of improved results, and recognising the amazing progress we have made over the last decade – going from almost bottom of the national league tables, to a city where 96 per cent of our children go to “good” or “outstanding” schools .

This progress did not happen by luck, but through effective leadership and partnership, working with the local authority playing a key strategic role. This government is intent on removing council powers and developing an educational sector where unaccountable free schools (and even grammar schools) can spring up anywhere, are not properly regulated, do not necessarily meet local need, and exacerbate inequality.

If all schools become academies and are then their own admissions authorities, the local authority cannot effectively carry out its role of protecting vulnerable pupils or making sure it has enough school places in the right areas, so that children have fair access to schools of their choice. It also cannot protect the terms and conditions of teachers and support staff, and ensure they are suitably qualified.

The other scary part of the Government’s education white paper is that, having already said that academy governing bodies no longer needed to have staff reps, or local authority reps, the Government decided they don’t even need parent reps either!

We can only hope the new education secretary will back down, having realised the vital role parent’s play. Certainly, on the governing bodies I sit, they give key insights and a perspective without which, we could not make effective decisions.

I am proud that, as the local authority, we have acknowledged that we still have a crucial role to play in strategic planning and school improvement. I hope the stance we have taken sends a clear message to our schools that we want to continue to support them, and will work to find a structure in which they can continue to be part of our maintained sector.

We will do all we can to stop them being forced down the expensive, distracting road of academisation. We may have ridiculously reduced funding from central Government, but it costs us nothing to recognise the great commitment, expertise and contribution of everyone working in our education sector in Bristol.

Ruth Pickersgill is a Labour councillor for Easton.

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