02 May 2003
Rail maintenance and building contractor Jarvis will have only support functions in its controversial new contract to advise education authorities on good practice.
Disclosure this week of the £21.5m contract's existence sparked anger from teaching trade unions, which argued that the construction firm had no obvious track record in education.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said that Jarvis would 'oversee and co-ordinate the setting up of a national local education authority network' and organise regional meetings and conferences.
'The contract will form part of a coherent attempt to improve the ways LEAs work with schools,' the spokeswoman added.
Jarvis said it formed Jarvis Educational Services last November and had former LEA directors on its staff. It saw education consultancy as a natural progression as it had built or refurbished around 100 schools and runs their facilities management.
'The guys who are working on this contract have education experience. Our role will be to oil the wheels of the network,' a spokesman said.
But teaching unions were unanimous in their condemnation. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers called on the Audit Commission to 'take an urgent look' at private sector involvement in state schools.
Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers, said private companies brought little new expertise to education and relied largely on staff poached from the education service.
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