Clause 44 - Categories of schools causing concern
Education Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Mr John Pugh (Education Spokesperson, Education & Skills; Southport, Liberal Democrat)
May I speak against the amendments? I am not a great fan of the blame culture, but neither am I prepared to come over as particularly liberal and lax at this point. The hon. Lady makes the valid point that, in a sense, the system up to now has been a cliff-edge system. Schools have gone along as they will, and suddenly they can be declared to be in special measures, and all kinds of help are then available. That is not the kind of model that we want; it is the model that we are sometimes reduced to working with, because local authorities are so disempowered, but we want a model in which, as she said, schools that are declining and not performing as well as hitherto will be supported so that they can improve without getting into special measures.
Nevertheless, the concept of a failing school can fairly readily be benchmarked. Certain criteria that schools ought to be expected to meet can be defined, comparisons can be made with similar cohorts and decisions can be made about whether a school has failed or not. The phrase “likely to fail” is a much more subjective judgment. We all know when a Government or future Government have failed to do something, but it is not always easy to tell in advance when they are likely to fail to do something. That is usually a point of debate, as all the facts or issues may not be before us. Adding the phrase “likely to fail” adds an element of subjectivity to the appraisal process, which is probably undesirable.