Labour’s new school reforms have been slammed by the children’s commissioner, as she believes they pose the risk of undoing the progress made by “successive governments over the last three decades”.
Dame Rachel de Souza has condemned the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for backtracking on the work previously implemented. The commissioner says she is unable to support the measures unless significant changes are made.
In a letter to MPs, Dame Rachel wrote: “I am deeply concerned that we are legislating against the things we know work in schools, and that we risk children spending longer in failing schools by slowing down the pace of school improvement.
“Without a clear and more ambitious vision for maintaining improvements and driving up standards for all children, I am not able to support the measures in the Bill.”
The letter was reportedly written prior to the Government’s announcement last week of tweaks to the Bill, ensuring there would be “a floor and no ceiling” on academy teachers’ pay.
The commissioner added she needs assurance that “we are not risking the progress made for children by successive governments over the last three decades”.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill represents one of Labour’s first major proposed pieces of legislation. Despite receiving cross-party support for its child safety improvements, concern remains over its proposed school reforms.
A fortnight after the Bill was debated in Parliament, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson was forced to make an amendment following criticism from industry leaders.
The amendment ensures there will be no pay cuts for academy teachers, yet they could still face other restrictions.
The reforms would mean academies will be required to follow the national curriculum for the first time and will lose their right to hire expert teachers that lack qualifications.
Sir Dan Moynihan, the chief executive of the Harris Foundation of top-performing academies, raised concerns on Tuesday over the uncertainty around why the Government was seeking to restrict academy freedoms.
Speaking to MPs during a committee debate, he said: “It is not clear what problem this is solving. I have seen no evidence to suggest that academy freedoms are creating an issue anywhere. Why are we doing this?”
Sir Dan also voiced doubt over the removal of academies’ flexibility to teach variations of the national curriculum. He said: “It is not clear to me why we would need to follow the full national curriculum. What advantage does that give?”
“When we have to provide all the nationally recognised qualifications – GCSEs, A-levels, SATs – and we are subject to external regulation by Ofsted, why take away the flexibility to do what is needed locally?”
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill delivers on this mission, by getting high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensuring there is a floor on pay and no ceiling so all state school teachers can rely on a core pay offer, and all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best teachers that they need for our children.
“These measures, alongside our new regional improvement teams and Ofsted reforms, will ensure we create a school system rooted in collaboration and partnership so we can spread best practice across our system – giving every child a core high-quality education, and enabling flexibility and innovation across schools.”