Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, it seems that I belong to the half of your Lordships’ House that does think that there is a lot to welcome in the Bill—and, not least, the hope that this will be the last piece in the educational jigsaw puzzle that the Prime Minister believes will fulfil his number one 1997 election pledge; his legacy of ““education, education, education””. Certainly one cannot but admire the holistic manner of his Government’s approach to their education objective, not just through the sheer number of Bills—far too many, some of us think—but through wider social policies to do with childcare and the work/life balance, for example. The downside, alas, is that the relentless series of changes enacted, with their bewildering culture of targets and form filling, have sometimes had exactly the opposite result to that which was intended. But there has certainly been continuing support for the notion of an education system which will be successful throughout the country. So, it should, indeed, be no surprise that many of the aspirations of this Bill, reflect exactly the same hopes that were expressed for Butler’s Education Act of 1944. Today, of course, there are many highly successful schools within the state system, as the Minister pointed out. But as your Lordships know, too many schools—the majority of which, sadly, are within the most deprived areas, catering for the most disadvantaged children—are still failing. So, the main objective of this Bill to ensure that,"““every child, regardless of background . . . gets the education they need to enable them to fulfil their potential””—[Official Report, Commons, 17/5/06; col. 973W.]" is, once again, more than welcome—and we hope that it succeeds. It is, indeed, essential that it does that for our country’s future. I hope that the availability of specialist, vocational diplomas for 14 to 19 year-olds will help. I very much agree with what the noble Baroness, Lady Perry of Southwark, said about dropping the word ““vocational””. There are some specific issues to which I wish to refer, although we all acknowledge that there will be plenty of work ahead. The Government would like most schools to continue what is clearly their evolutionary process by becoming trusts; and there are clearly attractions for schools in trust status—some of which existed in specialist schools. It will give them greater independence and provide opportunities for partnership with a wide range of different community and voluntary enterprises, as well as with companies and other schools within the state and independent sector. Even so, there are real concerns, especially from those working within education—teachers, school governors and some parents—about schools becoming trusts. Many of those anxieties came my way because of my interest, which I declare, as the president of the National Governors Association. The Bill emphasises, quite rightly—all noble Lords support this—that there should be far greater parental involvement in the whole educational process and it stresses especially the need for parents to have full knowledge of and influence over the range of education choice available in their area. In the vast majority of state schools, parents are already entitled to one-third representation on the governing body. The local authority, staff and local community also have statutory representation. In other words, it is really the ““stakeholder”” model. The NGA and others clearly have serious doubts about allowing a trust to appoint the majority of the governing body because that would reduce local representation on the governing body, particularly by reducing the number of elected, as opposed to appointed, parents from three to one. Although the Bill—no doubt to compensate for that—makes parents’ councils compulsory for trusts, their establishment for other schools is voluntary. However, as noble Lords have heard, these parents’ councils will not have decision-making powers. It is difficult to see how this change will increase parents’ influence on school policy. I turn to training. It is clear that all governors, and especially those on trust governing bodies with the greater responsibilities involved, will need to be able to draw on a wide range of skills. As I think the Minister knows, it is the NGA’s view that all school governors should be required to undergo mandatory induction training and to continue to update their knowledge regularly. Perhaps the Minister could tell the House whether the Government still believe that, because school governors are volunteers, that should not be made compulsory. After all, mandatory training for lay magistrates, who are also volunteers, has been required for some time, so why not for those who will have an increasingly important and responsible role as a school governor? I turn to the proposed new admissions procedures. Clearly, the Government have been convinced that a mandatory code rather than the existing ““permissive”” school admission code may help to secure fairer selections, particularly since monitoring will be in place. But how the process of choosing between pupils will actually work when competition for places exists is somewhat opaque. And with no interviewing of potential pupils allowed, as we have already heard, what kind of contact, for example, will be permissible with feeder primary schools? I would have thought that that was a vital interaction. Can the Minister really be confident that the legislation will achieve the appropriate spread of children and abilities across the full range of local schools that the Government wish to see? I turn to the even more complex requirements of special educational needs children and the wider range of children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. We are glad that looked-after children have been put very high on the priority list. However, last week the Minister implied in an answer that he gave to a question from the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater of Butterstone, that the Government believe that all but the most severely affected of these children should, if parents so wish, be educated within mainstream schools. So can he assure the House, not least in view of the current concern of head teachers about their almost total lack of specialist resources or trained staff, that under the Bill these children will, in future, have the necessary expert support and, above all, the finances needed for them, too, to achieve their full potential? Frankly, that is irrespective of whether they are being educated in specialist or mainstream schools. I have two points about the rights of children. First, I believe that the Minister gave an undertaking that the human rights relating to children will be strengthened in the Childcare Bill. Are those rights going to be at least as strong in this Bill? As the Minister knows, the English Commissioner for Children is concerned that the Bill has missed opportunities in this area in the failure to consult children while it was being drawn up and in its referral only minimally to their rights to participate in developing school policies. My second point concerns discipline in schools—a matter touched on by many noble Lords. This clearly is a broad topic of widespread concern, for the results of lack of discipline can be disastrous for all pupils, as well as for teachers. The pressures that teachers are subjected to in some schools are quite intolerable. Indeed, the figures show that these pressures are a major reason for teachers leaving the profession. The 2005 Steer report on behaviour and discipline points to a balanced way forward, and there is certainly scope for more of the report’s suggestions to be adopted, such as the introduction of pupil and parent support workers. Clearly all those responsible—governors and head teachers, of course, but pupils and parents too—must share responsibility for achieving within each school the ethos of a culture of mutual respect that is so vital. Against that background, I really do hope that the Government will look again at the widespread concern expressed at the Bill’s proposed word-change, when a situation has sadly got out of hand, moving from the use by teachers of reasonable ““restraint”” to ““force””. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner puts the whole case very fairly, and its concern is backed by the huge range of children’s organisations. There is surely too much emphasis in that whole section on punitive measures. I shall end on that point, although I share many of your Lordships’ concerns about the exclusion process and the effect that it might have on the most deprived and inadequate families. It is clear that there is plenty of work ahead for your Lordships.