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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/27/government-drops-education-bill-after-series-of-reversals
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| Government drops education bill after series of reversals | Government drops education bill after series of reversals |
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| The government has said it is dropping the education bill unveiled in this year’s Queen’s speech, abandoning a raft of proposals that had already proved unpopular but vowing to press ahead with plans for more grammar schools. | The government has said it is dropping the education bill unveiled in this year’s Queen’s speech, abandoning a raft of proposals that had already proved unpopular but vowing to press ahead with plans for more grammar schools. |
| The bill was introduced by Nicky Morgan, then education secretary, in March but its most controversial clauses were quickly removed, including forcing all state schools in England to become academies by 2020, and ending statutory places for parents on boards of governors. | The bill was introduced by Nicky Morgan, then education secretary, in March but its most controversial clauses were quickly removed, including forcing all state schools in England to become academies by 2020, and ending statutory places for parents on boards of governors. |
| Justine Greening, Morgan’s successor as education secretary, signalled the ditching of the bill in a written statement to parliament on the unrelated technical and further education bill. | Justine Greening, Morgan’s successor as education secretary, signalled the ditching of the bill in a written statement to parliament on the unrelated technical and further education bill. |
| “We have rightly reflected on our strategic priorities and the proposals for education legislation put forward at the time of the Queen’s speech,” Greening said in the statement. | “We have rightly reflected on our strategic priorities and the proposals for education legislation put forward at the time of the Queen’s speech,” Greening said in the statement. |
| “My department has renewed its focus on ensuring everything we do drives towards improving social mobility with an emphasis on not just the most disadvantaged families but also on those that are just about managing. | |
| “Our ambition remains that all schools should benefit from the freedom and autonomy that academy status brings. | |
| “Our focus, however, is on building capacity in the system and encouraging schools to convert voluntarily. | |
| “No changes to legislation are required for these purposes and therefore we do not require wider education legislation in this session to make progress on our ambitious education agenda.” | |
| With two bills already in the legislative pipeline – the children and social work bill and the higher education and research bill – and a third announced on Thursday, the Department for Education (DfE) was unable to cope with the further workload entailed by the remnants of Morgan’s bill. | |
| The DfE is likely to include elements of the bill when Greening’s Schools that Work for Everyone consultation is published early next year, and it is likely to set out proposals on extending grammar schools. | |
| “The Schools that Work for Everyone consultation, which I announced in an oral statement to the house on 12 September, remains ongoing,” Greening said. | |
| “This consultation asks how we can create more great school places in more parts of the country – including selective places for local areas that want them – and asks our independent schools, universities and faith schools to play their part in improving the quality of our state-funded schools.” |