Trust schools not enthusing heads

16 Mar 06
The vast majority of head teachers have little interest in creating trust schools, it emerged this week.

17 March 2006

The vast majority of head teachers have little interest in creating trust schools, it emerged this week.

As MPs debated the controversial Education and Inspection Bill on March 15, the Association of School and College Leaders released a survey showing that only 5% of head teachers say they will consider trust status.

Under government proposals, every school will have the right to become a self-governing trust, either individually or in collaboration with other schools.

Trust status would allow a school to own its own assets, employ its own staff and even secure freedoms to vary the national curriculum or teachers' pay.

But heads are sceptical that trust schools will deliver any real, or new, benefits. Of the 505 heads surveyed, 39% said they would definitely not consider trust status, while a further 34% said they were unlikely to do so.

Alan Sedgley, head of Liskeard School and College in Cornwall, said: 'We do not need trust status. We are able to work with other schools and with colleges and businesses without further legislation.'

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the poll confirmed that trust status would not offer any new real independence.

'However, we would welcome trust schools if their role was to promote partnerships,' he said. 'The proposal for individual schools to acquire trust status sends the message that we should work in isolation, at the expense of other local schools.'

Dunford has written to all MPs urging that the Bill be amended to place a duty on all trust schools to collaborate with others.

The survey also revealed the depth of concern about the Bill's proposal to give failing establishments just one year to transform their performance. Christine Wright, head of St Wilfrid's RC College in South Shields, said: 'Who will lead vulnerable schools if these attitudes persist and are enshrined in law? Real change takes time and lots of support.'

Dunford has warned that the threat of instant dismissal for a head in charge of a failing establishment is likely to exacerbate recruitment problems.

On March 13, the ASCL put forward its own proposals on how to boost recruitment and retention levels among head teachers.

A book written by former Number 10 adviser Robert Hill sets out 12 proposals ministers should consider if they want to guarantee the future of the profession over the next decade.

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