The fuss kicked up by the Conservatives about the education bill over the past month has been about trying to land political blows – not making the lives of children in England safer or better. MPs’ horror at sexual exploitation gangs is sincere, but attempting to bolt a public inquiry on to Bridget Phillipson’s bill was an ill-judged attempt to sour the mood around an important piece of progressive legislation. That amendment was defeated. But ministers were rattled when Kemi Badenoch echoed complaints by academy leaders that the bill will cramp their style. Wording was altered so that they will not, after all, be obliged to pay teachers in accordance with nationally agreed pay scales.
Ministers should now draw a line and stand their ground. The shortage of teachers in key subjects is a problem that got worse under the Conservatives. It is questionable whether tighter pay rules would have caused the harm claimed, and Sir Keir Starmer was right to stress that there is nothing remarkable about requiring teachers in all schools to be qualified. Mrs Badenoch’s jibe – are Olympians not qualified to teach PE? – was a rhetorical flourish, not a serious point.
Measures promoting cooperation and reducing fragmentation across the system are welcome and consistent with Labour values. It is right to give local authorities more say over admissions in their area, particularly given the immense challenge of special needs provision, and to oblige academies to follow the same curriculum as other schools. While it suits Mrs Badenoch’s Conservatives to pose as the champions of academy freedoms, evidence for academisation as a route to higher standards is non-existent, as they well know. Some studies have found that local authority schools outperform them. This is why plans to turn all schools into academies have several times been floated and abandoned.
The new “fit and proper” test for people wishing to run private schools ought to have been in place years ago. The public may be startled to learn that it wasn’t. More clarity is needed regarding Ofsted’s future, and how this relates to the role of new regional improvement teams. But replacing one-word judgments with more nuanced report cards is the right move, and should go some way towards restoring the sector’s morale.
Parts of the bill addressed to children’s lives outside school are even more urgently needed. New tools to help agencies keep track of vulnerable pupils are a positive step. This column has argued before in favour of a compulsory register for home-schooled children – who now number 153,000. It is scandalous that parents have, until now, been able to choose to home educate children about whom there are documented child protection concerns.
New regulations for private children’s homes do not go far enough. Capping provider profits should not be a “last resort”. This is a failing market that ministers should be aiming to wind up. The children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, has argued that the bill could also be an opportunity to remove reasonable chastisement as a defence to the charge of assaulting a child – a change that Sir Keir has previously backed.
But there is a good deal to look forward to when this bill becomes law. At a time when concerns around children’s wellbeing and development are rising, school breakfast clubs will improve lives. This, in particular, is a policy to be proud of.
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