NASUWT: Freedom but at what price

Tuesday, 7 September 2010 12:00 AM

Commenting on Michael Gove's speech today at the Westminster Academy, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union, said:

"The announcement by Michael Gove today on establishing a 'formidable reform programme' for schools owes more to ideology than it does to a genuine attempt to further improve schools.

"It is clear that despite the Coalition Government's attempts to promote the free schools agenda, there is no great clamour for these schools.

"The fact that only 16 have been announced in the first instance, only confirms a recent Ipsos MORI poll which showed that 96% of parents and the public oppose the Coalition Government's free school policy.

"The public has demonstrated once more that it want good local schools run by democratically accountable local councils.

"The Secretary of State suggests that he wants free schools to be engines of social mobility but in many cases the free schools announced so far will only fragment communities and lead to greater social segregation and separation.

"Unfortunately, it seems that Michael Gove is not content with pushing forward a socially divisive agenda deliberately designed for the chattering classes but also wishes to play politics with the entire qualifications system by establishing the English Baccalaureate.

"Far from creating a broad and engaging curriculum, this will in fact narrow all pupils' options at 14 and will mean that every student will be forced to follow the same curriculum regardless of their needs or abilities.

"This proposal will lower the status of vocational qualifications at a time when employers are demanding that schools leavers have skills relevant for entering the workplace.

"It is hard to see how the effective demolition of vocational qualifications at 16 will help the UK compete in the global marketplace.

"Ideology is again at the heart of the proposals to reassess health and safety rules which are supposedly hampering children's opportunities to play competitive sport. There is no evidence that this is the case.

"The truth is that all parents want their children to be safe at school. Parents should be deeply worried about politics being played with children's safety.

"Michael Gove has suggested that he wishes teachers to be 'free from stifling bureaucracy' and yet at the same time plans to put in place a curriculum that will force all schools to teach the same subjects regardless of the needs individual learners, employers and their local communities.

"It is clear that the mantra of 'freedom for schools' is in actually freedom as espoused by Henry Ford when he told his customers 'You can choose any colour car you like, as long as it is black'."

ENDS

Tags: