Free school opponents ‘defending failure’, says David Cameron

In speech hailing new generation of free schools, prime minister pledges to raise standards and raises prospect of eliminating illiteracy Opponents of free schools are defending an educational establishment that has let down pupils and accepts failure as a fact of life, David Cameron has said. In a speech hailing the new generation of free schools opened this week, the prime minister pledged to raise standards and raised the prospect of eliminating illiteracy. “When China is going through an educational renaissance, when India is churning out science graduates, any complacency now would be fatal for our prosperity,” he said at the Free School Norwich. “And we’ve got to be ambitious, too, if we want to mend our broken society, because education doesn’t just give people the tools to make a good living – it gives them the character to live a good life, to be good citizens.” The prime minister reiterated his warning, delivered last weekend, that benefits could be cut from the parents of children who played truant. “We need parents to have a real stake in the discipline of their children, to face real consequences if their children continually misbehave,” he said. “That’s why I have asked our social policy review to look into whether we should cut the benefits of those parents whose children constantly play truant. Yes, this would be a tough measure – but we urgently need to restore order and respect in the classroom, and I don’t want ideas like this to be off the table.” Cameron was speaking at the end of a week in which 24 free schools, created under legislation enacted in the coalition’s first few months, opened. The schools, free from local authority control, have greater freedoms than the academies established by Tony Blair. The prime minister was scathing about critics of free schools who say they will divert resources from existing schools. “Those opposing free schools are simply defending the establishment – an establishment that has failed pupils and infuriated parents for too long,” he said. “Those who support free schools are on the side of parents, charities and committed teachers who are trying to make things better on the side of the choice, freedom and competition that will really drive up standards.” Cameron was highly critical of an education establishment that he said had tolerated failure. “For a long time in this country, there has been a scandalous acceptance of under-performing schools,” he added. “It’s the attitude that says some schools – especially in the poorest areas – will always be bad. “That meekly accepts educational failure as a fact of life. Well, I’m sorry – that’s patronising nonsense.” The prime minister said the government would drive up standards by: • Ending “wrong-headed methods” that have failed pupils and making sure every teacher has the resources to deliver synthetic phonics teaching. “That’s the method that’s proven to work – and that’s how we can eliminate illiteracy in our country,” he said. • Raising the bar on GCSE results. By the end of the current parliament, a school where less than 50% of pupils are achieving five good GCSEs will be deemed to be underperforming. The last government set this at 30%. • A greater focus on rigorous subjects tested in a rigorous way. “Our curriculum review will mean we are really demanding in what we expect our children to learn,” he said. • A focus on tackling “coasting schools”. The prime minister said two schools in deprived parts of London – Burlington Danes Academy in Hammersmith, and Walworth Academy in Southwark – had achieved impressive results at GCSE. But in Oxfordshire and Surrey, relatively affluent counties represented by the prime minister and the education secretary, Michael Gove, only 16 state secondary schools did better than the two London schools. “”Why is there this difference?” Cameron said. “Why are these schools coasting along?” The prime minister said that, by the end of next year, the government would have transformed about 150 failing secondary schools and 200 failing primaries into academies. “Britain is a modern, developed country. If they’re seeing excellence as standard in cities like Shanghai, why can’t we see that in cities like London? “We’ve got the resources, we’ve got the fantastic teachers, we know what works. Now we just have to have the will – the energy – to make this happen and, believe me, we have it.” Christine Blower, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said: “The prime minister’s vision of an education system which delivers the best for everyone is one with which we agree. “The union simply does not accept that the fragmentation of our education system is the right answer. The free schools and academy programme are a divisive and unnecessary experiment with this. “To ensure that every young person has the very best chance to both reach their full academic potential and to be a ‘good citizen’, we need well-ordered schools within a coherent education service supported by youth provision, and a range of local support services. This government’s programme of cuts is hitting all this provision.” Free schools Schools David Cameron Education policy Liberal-Conservative coalition Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 9, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.