By all accounts, this week has seen positive steps as far as Labour's position on education goes.
Firstly, on employees' welfare, Rachel Reeves’ budget speech included an affirmation that it was “the government’s plans to boost workers’ rights” and that, “our plan will protect working people from unfair dismissal, safeguard them from bullying in the workplace, and improve their access to paternity and maternity leave.”
Bullying, discrimination, harassment, and victimisation are all too common in the workplace. Unfortunately, protection from these for staff in education has been limited. We will have to see how committed the government will be in combatting these hefty issues which have affected so many of our lives, and continue to do so. But it is a powerful statement and we should make sure the government keeps its promises.
Secondly, after (in recent years) taking a fairly non-committal position on academies, it would appear that the new Labour government is making some moves in the right direction.
On 1st November, an interesting piece by Freddie Whittaker was published in SchoolsWeek. In it, he explains the DfE is scrapping its grant scheme for academy conversion and that it will no longer continue to incentivise academisation through further trust capacity, establishment and growth funds. Another positive that Freddie Whittaker writes about is that academies are “to follow the national curriculum and cooperate with councils on admissions and pupil place planning”.
This is just what those of us who have campaigned against the worrying trend of academisation in this country have called for. I guess better late than never - though a lot of damage does need to be undone.
The article also includes concerns expressed by those working in trusts in management positions, who are concerned that the above changes will mean that weaker schools will suffer. What is not discussed is how academies have frequently weakened these schools in the first place, how workers' rights have worsened, how accountability of leadership has decreased, how staff turnover has increased, and how and concerns about staff - and children's - wellbeing have soared.
While this move has come relatively soon in terms of the new government, it is already too late for many of us who have seen our community schools made into academies. It does also add weight to our suspicions that some of these academisations were rushed into in order to take advantage of grants while these were still available, rather than because academisation was actually the right move.
Whether the new Labour government does genuinely to want to dismantle the divided school system in England remains to be seen. Once a school has become academized, at the moment there is no turning back to LA control. Is this something that Labour would be willing to overturn?
Here’s hoping.
