School governors will be called upon to play a more ambitious role as they help their schools engage with the wider community, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls told a packed meeting at the launch of the Progress Labour School Governors’ Network on Tuesday (19 February).
Balls said the Children’s Plan, published by the government at the end of last year, had a ‘more ambitious view of the role of the school and therefore a more ambitious view of the role of governors’.
Progress launched the network to provide a forum in which Labour member school governors could debate education policy, quiz ministers and feedback views about how policy is working at a local level.
‘While we have made progress raising school standards, it has become harder to make progress because barriers are not just inside school but about other things,’ said Balls. ‘That’s why we see school and its relationship to the wider community as critical to delivering the Children’s Plan.’
Balls said that schools were often best-placed to spot problems in a child’s life that were likely to damage its school performance and therefore its life chances. He gave the example of a boy whose school behaviour and performance deteriorated following a family breakdown that led to him moving to a smaller house. When his mother applied to the local authority for rehousing her case was not prioritised because the family were not homeless.
While the boy was not in danger, said the Children’s Secretary, there was a risk of serious damage to his life chances if his housing did not change. The school could not itself solve the problem but required the cooperation of wider services. ‘We need to find a way that barriers to opportunity can be dealt with quickly.’
Balls said government was asking governors to play a wider role in ensuring that links between the school and other services were improved. ‘You’ll agree that if we don’t link up families, schools and services more effectively we won’t find a solution to the problems holding children back,’ he added.
Balls went on to outline two of the ‘fundamental reforms’ in the pipeline that were aimed at delivering educational opportunity: raising the school leaving age to 18 and new diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds.
‘We say that unless every child has to be training then local authorities will find reasons why 10-20 per cent don’t get qualifications,’ said Balls. ‘If you believe in breaking the link between poverty and opportunity, this policy is really important.’
Diplomas logically followed on from this, said Balls, since ‘if you are going to keep them in school you need a curriculum that motivates them’. Diplomas presented a chance ‘to break the debilitating class divide’ that classed academic qualifications for the few above vocational qualifications for the many, said Balls.
Both these ‘historic policies’ had been opposed by the Conservatives, exposing the opposition party’s two-tier view of opportunity and qualification, said Balls.
‘If I had one ask of you, it would be to help us sell the message that education to 18 is about liberating the potential of all, not just some,’ urged the Children’s Secretary. ‘Diplomas are just that.’
Opening up to questions from the floor, one audience member urged that the link between a child’s performance at school and their life outside – in particular their housing situation – be made clearer.
‘We need to make sure we are inspecting the contribution which all service providers are making to the outcomes of children,’ replied Balls. ‘If housing authorities are failing to understand that their housing policy is contributing to a child’s learning problems, that needs to be sorted.’
‘One thing I’ve learnt in this job is that as secretary of state the only thing you get shown is best practice,’ he added, to murmurs of agreement. ‘We have to worry about the kids who are not in best practice schools. Are we putting the floorboard under best performance? We aren’t at the moment but that is the challenge.’
Another governor complained that while governors were supposed to play a strategic role in the school, they were often forced to a lot of micromanagement, with head teachers asking them to make relatively low-level decisions. Balls admitted that the current situation forced governors to do too much low-level governance, adding that the Children’s Plan was ‘looking at whether role of governor is right at the moment’.
One audience member whose school was about to be closed asked about the role of school adjudicators in assessing closure decisions. Balls said there was still a clear role for independent adjudicators, especially when it came to decisions about rural schools.
Asked about the role academies play in delivering educational opportunity, Balls insisted they passed the progressive test. ‘They are disproportionately setting up in low income areas and delivering much faster and better results than average school. If you are delivering opportunity for previously the poorest schools, that sounds like a progressive education policy.’
The launch of the Progress Labour School Governors’ network has been greeted enthusiastically many Labour members who are governors. ‘School governors at all levels are an unrecognised resource within the party but collectively we carry a great deal of responsibility and influence,’ commented one party member who is governor of an inner city primary school. ‘It is about time we blew our trumpet and the launch of this new and exciting network is a good first fanfare.’
If you are interested in joining the Progress School Governor’s Network, contact Jessica Asato on 020 3008 8180 or [email protected]