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More wheezes from the nation's headteacher

Michael Brown
Wednesday 03 July 2002 00:00 BST
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Estelle Morris is not content with being Secretary of State for Education. In addition she wants to be the headteacher of all 25,000 state schools. This week has seen yet more central direction from Whitehall in the losing battle to micro-manage virtually every detail of school management.

Lest anyone think that this Government is different from its Labour predecessors, education should be the clearest example that state direction and control has lost none of its appeal. While Old Labour concentrated on running the economy directly from the centre, New Labour continues to exhibit the worst of these excesses through top-down management of the public services.

This week's plethora of education wheezes include a London "Commissioner", a London Schools minister, plus a new series of window dressing announcements to persuade schools and parents that indiscipline will no longer be tolerated. But the Government has only itself to blame for the situation.

Ms Morris's predecessor, David Blunkett, set targets for cutting exclusions by one third. As the number of exclusions fell, it was hardly surprising that indiscipline and violence by unruly pupils and their parents would rocket. But unless there is serious legal financial support, schools are invariably advised by their lawyers to re-admit excluded pupils. The fix at Downing Street, yesterday, was a direct consequence of Mr Blunkett's failed "target".

Meanwhile, the over-complication of excessive testing, to which children are now subjected, is yet another of the growing symptoms of over-centralisation. It is bad enough when teachers are demoralised but the situation is fast deteriorating to the point that pupils themselves are now suffering a serious case of exam fatigue and demoralisation.

For the first time in many a year the opposition education spokesman, Damian Green, seems to have gone to the heart of the examination problem with his thoughtful appraisal of the new AS-levels, which he believes should be scrapped in their current form. In the first of a series of speeches, Mr Green gave the Conservative pressure group, Connect, a hint of some of the outlines showing where opposition policy is leading. He believes, rightly, that there should be a radical review of the AS-levels which he describes as a failing attempt to widen the curriculum and which is doing more harm than good.

He said: "The AS-levels were meant to widen the experience of young people; instead they have encouraged them to give up sport, music, drama and other enjoyable activities to make sure they succeed on the exam treadmill."

Mr Green is supported by the headteachers' union, the NAHT, which is concerned that many leading universities are, in any event, taking little notice of AS-levels when awarding places – still making offers on the basis of three full A-levels. Meanwhile, John Dunford of the Secondary Heads Association, has said that if the Government is to introduce new reforms in secondary school qualifications it must address the problem of over-assessment and reduce the number of external exams.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Mr Green is on to something. Last month the press reported that an AS-level pupil fled an exam hall in tears as she sat her fifth exam paper in one day. She had already sat four papers with only a 10-minute interval between each. Mr Green elicited, in a written parliamentary answer, that the average pupil will now take more than 45 official tests during his or her school career. Indeed, research by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has shown that a "typical" student of higher ability could face as many as 95 exams throughout a school career.

The oddity about such excessive testing is that there is no evidence that it is necessarily leading to higher standards. It is leading to battered teacher morale and the prospect of strikes for the first time in 20 years. And the consequences of this on teacher training are frightening. Mr Green reckons that of those entrants commencing teacher training this September, 40 per cent will never appear in front of a class – such is the expected drop-out rate. A further 18 per cent will leave after three years.

Ms Morris will be lucky if her latest proposals on parental violence and pupil indiscipline are even read by headteachers. They come hard on the heels of 4,500 pages of detailed policy guidance, which were issued to every school by the Secretary of State in the year to March 2002. On a school visit recently, Mr Green spied a huge pile of papers on the headteacher's desk and asked if it was from the Department. "Yes. Every Friday I move it around the office to make me feel better." The school's results are one of the best in the country – but no thanks to Ms Morris.

Her micro-management of schools shows its worst effects through its method of funding. Schools have to bid for up to a fifth of their budget from the Standards Fund. The Government sets priorities according to the latest Whitehall fashion – it may be IT today, languages tomorrow. Little freedom exists for heads to decide priorities. The time has surely come for a local approach to both school governance and to budgeting. Here is the space to watch in Mr Green's new Tory approach.

mrbrown@pimlico.freeserve.co.uk

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