06 April 2007
School leaders have rejected new powers for councils to intervene in problem schools, calling them 'damaging' and 'unhelpful'.
The powers, which came into force on April 1, give local authorities the power to issue 'warning notices' to schools deemed as 'coasting'. Schools will have three weeks to produce plans for tackling under-performance or risk losing their autonomy over their budgets.
But Martin Ward, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told Public Finance that the range of criteria under which a council could deem a school as failing or coasting was 'alarmingly broad'.
'It includes exam performance under the national average, for example,' he said. 'But that includes up to half of all secondaries. There won't be many schools which are doing OK on all of the criteria the government has laid out.'
He added that the three-week timetable for response was 'unrealistic' and that, in effect, schools were being set up for failure.
An April 2 letter from schools minister Jim Knight to all councils states that he expects them to compare attainment levels of different groups of pupils with national averages to ensure they are progressing as well as can be expected.
'When a school is not performing as well as it should, local authorities should consider how to secure immediate and sustainable improvements, and act quickly,' said Knight.
'This will require you to ensure you have the right systems in place for the early identification of schools causing concern.'
However, Ward said he had doubts over the ability of councils to judge schools effectively and to offer meaningful support.
'By and large local authorities don't have a great deal of expertise regarding school standards,' he said. 'They've had to shed staff who would have been able to do that… so saying they will give extra support is not always helpful and can sometimes be damaging because they can interfere, but without any expertise.'
Ward said that to be 'genuinely helpful' the Department for Education and Schools should address the funding allocation system. Although the school funding system is under review, the DfES has not proposed any changes to help struggling schools pay for the extra temporary staff or training they might need to address their problems, he said.
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