Agenda item

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Children and Young People Board, introduced the report which followed the Secretary of State for Education’s launch of the Schools that Work for Everyone green paper in September 2016.

Proposals in the green paper included: the expectation that independent schools would support existing state schools, open new schools, or offer funded places to children whose families could not afford to pay fees; asking universities to commit to sponsoring or setting up new schools in exchange for the ability to charge higher fees; allowing selective schools to expand, or new ones to open, while making sure that they support non-selective schools; and allowing new faith free schools to select up to 100% of pupils based on their faith, and introducing new requirements to make sure that faith schools include pupils from different backgrounds. One of the most contentious proposals was a potential move back to academic selection of pupils at 11 years old.

The Children and Young People Board had discussed the green paper at a previous meeting. Although the decision by the Government to issue a green paper for discussion was welcomed, the Board had discussed that the primary concern of councils was that change should improve educational achievement, attainment and life chances for all children and young people, and that councils should have a central role in ensuring that decisions about greater selection should be subject to democratic decision-making. It was acknowledged that the LGA may not come to a collective decision on the merits of selection, but it may be possible to form a consensus around the role of local authorities in decision making.

In the discussion which followed Members raised the following points:

·         Local authorities should have the ability to tailor the curriculum of schools in their areas towards skills and vocational qualifications which would be useful for the local jobs market. There was also support for a programme which tailored education to the individual and focused on outcomes.

·         Democratically elected councillors should have the ability to help schools to improve and help where problems were identified.

·         There was a difference of opinion on the impact of grammar schools on state schools in close proximity, and on the impact of pupil selection at age 11 or 14. Members raised a number of examples in support of and in opposition to these proposals from their own authorities.

·         Regarding the proposal to ask universities to set up new schools in return for higher fees, it was suggested that universities would prefer to work with a large number of schools to satisfy the criteria set out in the green paper. It was good for universities to have a requirement to help to enhance school education, but they would want to work with a wide range of schools to encourage access.

·         A number of Members raised concern on the proposal for new faith free schools with the ability to select up to 100% of pupils based on faith. Members suggested that this would negatively impact upon community cohesion and social mobility.

·         It was highlighted that  a major factor in the success of a school was the quality of the teaching staff and school leadership, and the ability of authorities to provide affordable housing to retain high calibre teaching staff.  

Decision

The LGA Executive commented on the Schools that Work for Everyone green paper in order to inform an LGA response.

Action

Response to the green paper to be formulated in line with Members’ comments.