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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/17/parent-governor-role-scrapped-schools-teacher-qualifications
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| Parent governor role to be scrapped in schools shakeup | Parent governor role to be scrapped in schools shakeup |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| Parent governors are to be scrapped from school governing bodies in favour of professionals with the “right skills”, the government has announced. | Parent governors are to be scrapped from school governing bodies in favour of professionals with the “right skills”, the government has announced. |
| Until now there have been places reserved for elected parents on school governing bodies, but under plans outlined in the education white paper published on Thursday those roles will now disappear. | Until now there have been places reserved for elected parents on school governing bodies, but under plans outlined in the education white paper published on Thursday those roles will now disappear. |
| The new emphasis will be on the skills an individual brings to a school governing body, rather than stakeholder representation. The government says it wants to change the way parents have a voice in the school system. | |
| The white paper states: “We will expect all governing boards to focus on seeking people with the right skills for governance, and so we will no longer require academy trusts to reserve places for elected parents on governing boards. | The white paper states: “We will expect all governing boards to focus on seeking people with the right skills for governance, and so we will no longer require academy trusts to reserve places for elected parents on governing boards. |
| “We will offer this freedom to all open academies, and as we move towards a system where every school is an academy, fully skills-based governance will become the normal across the education system.” | “We will offer this freedom to all open academies, and as we move towards a system where every school is an academy, fully skills-based governance will become the normal across the education system.” |
| Parents with the right skills will be encouraged to serve on governing boards, but the move marks an end to a mandatory role for parents in the governance of schools. | Parents with the right skills will be encouraged to serve on governing boards, but the move marks an end to a mandatory role for parents in the governance of schools. |
| Instead of “symbolic representation on a governing board”, the government is promising a new online “parent portal” to help parents navigate the school system, with information on the key things a parent needs to know about their child’s education. | |
| The government has also announced a radical shakeup of teacher qualifications, scrapping qualified teachers status (QTS) and introducing a more open-ended system of accreditation. | The government has also announced a radical shakeup of teacher qualifications, scrapping qualified teachers status (QTS) and introducing a more open-ended system of accreditation. |
| Currently, new teachers in England complete their training and then spend around a year in the classroom before being awarded QTS. Ministers want a more challenging accreditation brought in, which will be based on a teacher’s performance in the classroom and judged by their headteacher and another senior school leader. | Currently, new teachers in England complete their training and then spend around a year in the classroom before being awarded QTS. Ministers want a more challenging accreditation brought in, which will be based on a teacher’s performance in the classroom and judged by their headteacher and another senior school leader. |
| Some teachers will qualify quickly, but others could take years to be approved, rather like learner drivers attempting to pass a driving test. | Some teachers will qualify quickly, but others could take years to be approved, rather like learner drivers attempting to pass a driving test. |
| “This new accreditation will raise the quality and status of the teaching profession,” the white paper states. “The new process will put the best headteachers in charge of accrediting new entrants to the profession, and give schools more scope to bring in experts from other fields – for example, a talented musician or coder – and put them on a pathway to full accreditation where their skills can be recognised.” | “This new accreditation will raise the quality and status of the teaching profession,” the white paper states. “The new process will put the best headteachers in charge of accrediting new entrants to the profession, and give schools more scope to bring in experts from other fields – for example, a talented musician or coder – and put them on a pathway to full accreditation where their skills can be recognised.” |
| The announcements on parent governors and teacher accreditation are key elements of a white paper described as a blueprint for “a fundamentally different education system”. At its core are controversial plans to turn all schools into academies. | |
| In a speech on Thursday launching the white paper, the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, said: “All of us in education, from politicians and civil servants in Westminster to our phenomenal teaching workforce in classrooms across the country, do what we do because we believe in the potential of the next generation. | |
| “This white paper is about ensuring that all of us can play the role that we do best. It’s a blueprint for how we can work together, not just to improve standards, important though that is, but to create a fundamentally different education system – an education system fit for the 21st century, an education system which is truly focused on the future.” | |
| The government is keen to stress that though mandatory roles for elected parent governors are to be scrapped, their vision is to empower parents to hold schools and the system to account with the help of the new parent portal. | |
| The education secretary said: “This portal will provide parents with everything they need to understand their children’s education. It will cut through the jargon we’re all guilty of using and explain what they should be able to expect and when. It will show them how to raise complaints and what the options are available to them.” | |
| The National Governors’ Association (NGA), which represents school governors, said parents of children studying at a school brought an important perspective that others were unlikely to bring. | |
| Gillian Allcroft, the NGA’s deputy chief executive, said the organisation agreed that skills were “a vitally important part of the genetic makeup of any board”, adding: “Recruiting a small number of board members from certain stakeholder groups and having a skilled board are not mutually exclusive. | |
| “We think it is important that parents continue to have a seat at the board table. This is particularly the case in single academies or in a multi-academy trust if there is no parental involvement at local academy level.” | |
| The changes to teacher qualifications, which are intended to give teaching the same professional status as doctors and lawyers, were welcomed by some within the profession. Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “We believe this will help to ensure the highest standards and that it will be good for both new teachers and for schools.” | |
| The National Union of Teachers was however highly critical. “Getting rid of QTS is a clear indication of how little this government respects teachers or parents, who believe their children should be taught by a qualified teacher. | |
| “Leaving schools and heads to decide whether a teacher has reached suitable standards lacks coherence. The shift towards school-based teacher education has contributed to current shortages, yet it is a policy that the white paper wants to take even further.” | |
| There was enthusiasm from other teachers’ leaders about government plans – aimed at protecting school leaders who take on challenging schools – for the introduction of 30-month “improvement periods” during which they will not be inspected by Ofsted. | |
| Ministers are also considering scrapping separate judgments on the quality of teaching to make clear that schools are being held to account for the outcomes their pupils achieve, not the teaching styles they use. | |
| The white paper makes clear the government wants all schools to become part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) “apart from in exceptional circumstances”. The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, recently told the education secretary that a number of England’s largest academy chains had “serious weaknesses”, as bad as the local authorities they were intended to replace. | |
| Ministers are considering how parents might be able to petition regional schools commissioners for their child’s school to move to a different MAT where there is underperformance or in other exceptional circumstances. | |
| Russell Hobby, general secretary of the school leaders’ union NAHT, welcomed some elements of the white paper, but complained they were overshadowed by the drive to make all schools academies. | |
| “There are positive elements to this white paper, things that NAHT has been pushing for for several years, sadly overshadowed by the distraction of universal academisation. | |
| “Giving school leaders a period of time to set in motion their plans for school improvement before Ofsted comes to call is a sensible step. School improvement is not instant and it happens more sustainably in an environment that is calm and focused.” | |
| Hobby also welcomed government plans for a national register of school governors. “As more and more schools convert to academy status, the role of governors will become increasingly important. It will be vital that the quality of school governance is kept as high as possible. We are disappointed not to see mandatory training in the paper though.” | |
| The shadow education secretary, Lucy Powell, said the white paper did little to address the real issues facing education today – teacher shortages particularly in maths, English and science, a crisis in school places, a widening attainment gap between the disadvantaged and the rest, and exam chaos with the new SATs and GCSEs not yet finalised. | |
| “In this challenging context, to ask school leaders to take time away from educating our children to spend time and money, mainly on lawyers, to convert to an academy is irresponsible. As with the costly and disrupting re-organisation of the NHS, the government will live to regret this approach, but unfortunately it will be our children who pay the price.” |