Clause 78

Part of Education and Skills Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 1:30 pm on 28 February 2008.

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Photo of Nick Gibb Nick Gibb Shadow Minister (Education) (Schools) 1:30, 28 February 2008

The purpose of having an independent inspectorate is that it can apply its own standards. We therefore have Ofsted inspecting the inspectorate to ensure that inspections are carried out in accordance  with those standards. Provided we are happy with the standards of the independent inspectorates, it should be left alone.

The real concern is the phrasing in the regulatory impact assessment that schools should be “required” to appoint particular teachers. For example, a school may not employ many qualified teachers, but instead employ very well-educated people with first-class degrees from Britain’s top universities who are trained to teach in the way that the school prefers. They would not have a PGCE or qualified teacher status, but Ofsted may come along and say, “I’m sorry, you have to have that.” The whole ethos of the school, which is designed to attract academically gifted people to teach, could be destroyed by a specified requirement that they conform.