Conservative Conference 2010: Schools minister condemns volume of Labour guidance
Ravi Chandiramani
Monday, October 4, 2010
Schools minister Lord Hill has criticised the Labour government for saddling head teachers with too much guidance, saying more freedoms will boost school achievement.
"We shouldn’t prescribe a culture from the centre and issue vast amounts of guidance," he said at a Conservative conference fringe event hosted by Demos and Teach First on leadership in challenging schools.
He added that head teachers of schools that have become academies have identified the prime benefit to be the autonomy to run the school as they see fit.
Hill explained: "The dangers of a centrist approach, however well-intentioned, are summed up in guidance to heads which says: ‘in deciding which room to hold the meeting you will want to take account of how many people there are in the meeting’."
He also said there needs to be more focus in schools that are not the worst in the country but that are coasting. "A lot of attention by the last government was on failing schools. There is a huge chunk of schools that are coasting schools. Getting improvement in those is key."
When challenged on how to bring about those improvements, he pointed only to the "role of information in shining a light on coasting schools to help parents and local communities to see where there is a need for schools to raise their game".
Professor Alma Harris, director at the Institute of Education, said: "The demands on our school leaders mean there is a tendency to get bogged down in management and administration." She said the best head teachers influence the school culture in such a way that makes teachers the best that they can be, which depended on inspiration, not administration: "Martin Luther King didn’t say: ‘I have a strategic plan’."
She added: "In our coasting schools we have cultures that are self-protecting, and operate by a cosy consensus. These cultures need to be dismantled."
Hill declined to respond to a question over whether the creation of free schools would in fact trigger a rise in paperwork and administration for head teachers.
He added that head teachers of schools that have become academies have identified the prime benefit to be the autonomy to run the school as they see fit.
Hill explained: "The dangers of a centrist approach, however well-intentioned, are summed up in guidance to heads which says: ‘in deciding which room to hold the meeting you will want to take account of how many people there are in the meeting’."
He also said there needs to be more focus in schools that are not the worst in the country but that are coasting. "A lot of attention by the last government was on failing schools. There is a huge chunk of schools that are coasting schools. Getting improvement in those is key."
When challenged on how to bring about those improvements, he pointed only to the "role of information in shining a light on coasting schools to help parents and local communities to see where there is a need for schools to raise their game".
Professor Alma Harris, director at the Institute of Education, said: "The demands on our school leaders mean there is a tendency to get bogged down in management and administration." She said the best head teachers influence the school culture in such a way that makes teachers the best that they can be, which depended on inspiration, not administration: "Martin Luther King didn’t say: ‘I have a strategic plan’."
She added: "In our coasting schools we have cultures that are self-protecting, and operate by a cosy consensus. These cultures need to be dismantled."
Hill declined to respond to a question over whether the creation of free schools would in fact trigger a rise in paperwork and administration for head teachers.
