06 May 2005
Head teachers must end their war with the government over the 'workload agreement', the outgoing head of the National Association of Head Teachers warned this week.
In his swansong speech to conference after 27 years as general secretary, David Hart said it was time for members to move on with the agreement, which aims to guarantee all teachers one half-day a week out of the classroom for marking and preparation.
However, NAHT members are divided over the agreement and claim the lack of extra funding makes the deal impossible to implement.
Speaking on May 2, Hart said he would like to see a key feature of the education funding system reappraised. 'I see absolutely no reason why all the money in the schools budget, including that centrally retained, should not go to schools.'
He added that they, via the Schools Forum, should decide collectively whether to buy the services from the local authority or elsewhere. 'Then,' he added, 'we would have a value-for-money system controlled by head teachers and their governors. That would be true independence and autonomy.'
He warned: 'Too many opportunities remain for cash to "stick to the sides" before it reaches schools. Too much grant is kept back by government to spend on its favourite strategies.'
At the union's annual conference in Telford, Shropshire, Hart warned the government against giving too much power to parents.
He said that school governing bodies were now too large, too overloaded with parents and lumbered with too many categories of governor.
He said: 'I think we need to slim down governing bodies to some 11 persons. Parent governors often do not speak for all parents.
'Most parents are understandably more interested in the needs of their own children. An advisory council, elected by the parents, might well produce a more effective parental body.'
Incoming president John White attacked Education Secretary Ruth Kelly, claiming she had a chance to 'reform our flawed A-level system and she blew it'.
White, who is head of New Bradwell school in Milton Keynes, said integrity in the government had disappeared when Estelle Morris resigned as education secretary in 2002. He went on to claim that the previous education secretary Charles Clarke, as well as Kelly, have been 'sadly lacking'.
His comments follow a similar attack on Kelly's record only last month from National Union of Teachers' president Hilary Bills.
PFmay2005
