Tom Richmond: Our schools need reforms that work, not just more meddling from Mr Gove

Now Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is presiding over the “balkanisation” of local schooling in his pursuit of excellence. His pace is frenetic. New city academies, converted academies, free schools and the technical colleges now being rolled out – you need a degree just to keep up.

Struggling? It does not end here. The worst 200 primary schools in the county are to become academies while new GCSE exam targets are to be introduced.

Gove truly appears to be motivated by a desire to outflank Tony Blair on school reform. This is not surprising, given how Gove can evidently quote, verbatim, long passages of The Journey, the former PM’s autobiography. Yet the Minister’s haste does not recognise the lessons of history.

First, one reason why one in four children cannot read or write properly when they leave state primary school – and why two-fifths of teenagers fail to gain five competent GCSE passes – is because too many politicians treat schools as a laboratory for their muddled thinking.

Using pupils as social guinea pigs is proving counter-productive – the academies have a very mixed record – and the constant upheavals leave teachers with insufficient time, energy or inspiration to teach.

Second, state-of-the-art classroom facilities are only part of the solution. They are pretty pointless if the school cannot recruit teachers of a sufficient calibre to raise standards. The wasted millions on the soon-to-close Endeavour High in Hull, or the PFI-funded school on Merseyside being closed two years after it was opened, offer evidence of this.

Third, Gove’s changes have not been well-managed financially. Confusion and muddle over the scaling back of the Building Schools for the Future programme, and the construction of new colleges, was particularly embarrassing, with the House of Commons being fed inaccurate information. More recently, it emerged that some academies face the prospect of having funding clawed back because they were given too much money when they broke free from LEA control. Such setbacks do not inspire confidence.

And, fourthly, Gove – like many of his predecessors – appears to be tackling the issue of standards from the wrong starting point.

In order to appease universities, businesses and all those who claim that exams have become diluted, Gove wants 50 per cent of pupils to have gained at least five A*-C grade GCSEs for a secondary school to meet the Government’s new benchmark of excellence. The Minister is also paving the way for a new “supergrade” – an A-star with distinction – to be introduced to help universities and prospective employers identify the most academically gifted.

These notions are laudable. But what about all those young people, and schools, that will inevitably fail to meet the Minister’s new expectations – with Yorkshire LEAs regularly propping up national league tables?

One reason why so many youngsters fail at secondary level is that they leave primary school without an adequate command of the three Rs – still the building blocks that underpin a sound education. If a child cannot add up, or read, what chance do they have when it comes to algebra, or the language of Shakespeare?

And this is what Gove should address. He is making a virtue of 200 primary schools being given academy status, but at the same time there are 1,400 such schools where fewer than six in 10 children reach a basic level in English and maths by the age of 11. That’s a huge number of children starting their secondary education with one hand tied behind their back.

As such, tackling this failure should be Gove’s priority, rather than the constant tinkering with the type of schools available. It does not matter whether it is a state primary, academy or free school. Excellence from the outset, backed by parental involvement, has to be the priority.

Rather than breaking up LEAs, with the schools admission process becoming even more of a lottery, perhaps the Secretary of State should consider this. He should re-establish the link between secondary schools and feeder primaries – with the headteacher ultimately responsible for the attainment of all pupils within their catchment area.

As well as providing greater opportunities for commercial backing from local companies, it would also place a greater onus on such heads to ensure youngsters are given a sound grounding between the ages of five and 11.

Furthermore, with part of the salary package of a headteacher related to achieving certain attainment targets, there would be an incentive to identify youngsters who are falling behind – and then take remedial action so they can catch up with their peers. At the moment, primary schools are not accountable for a child’s long-term prospects. This would change if they came under the auspices of a neighbouring secondary school.

Such an approach would also offer the consistency and continuity that does not underpin Michael Gove’s expansionist vision at present.

And the Minister should remember this before he risks alienating the teaching profession still further: the best education reforms do not need to be radical. They just need to be effective, and so ensure that another generation of youngsters is not blighted by the constant meddling of politicians who do not always have the right answers.

[email protected]