GTC responds to Education and Inspections Bill

The General Teaching Council believes that the first priority of the Education and Inspections Bill should be to address underachievement and educational disadvantage. It does not believe that the bill in its current form will achieve this aim (13 Jul 2006).

Trust schools

Council believes that the case for Trust schools is unproven and that new competitive school structures are likely to work against the interests of disadvantaged families. It fears that schools may be discouraged from working together and is not convinced that market mechanisms will lead to better standards in all schools. The GTC recommends that the Government create duties and incentives for schools to collaborate and share good practice.

Fair admissions

Admissions policies, backed by statute, that provide equitable access to high quality provision are essential. Organisations proposing new schools must show how they will benefit all children in a local area and have a positive impact on disadvantaged children. The Council is disturbed by the scant attention given to special educational needs and argues that expertise needs to be developed right across the education service, for all staff. Similarly, schools’ statutory duties to promote and implement race and sex equality and to combat disability discrimination need to be placed at the centre of the Government’s agenda.

Underachievement and disaffection

The Council supports the provision of additional targeted funding and effective action to tackle underachievement and disaffection. Higher staffing ratios and incentives for teachers to join and remain working in challenging schools are needed. Personalised learning and reform of high stakes testing also have a major contribution to make, but the bill has a very narrow vision of personalised learning, confined to “catch up classes” and programmes for the gifted and talented. Greater flexibility to tailor the curriculum to the needs of individual pupils and greater use of assessment for  learning are required.

Sustained investment

The quality of teaching and leadership is the key determinant of how well schools will support children to succeed and achieve. Sustained investment in continuing professional development for the teaching workforce must take centre stage. This should be matched by concerted measures to help families who are not fluent in English or have low literacy and numeracy skills to engage with their own children’s learning and the wider life of the school.