An announcement by the Government intends to put more pressure on schools that are coasting has not met with universal support from the teaching profession. Teachers’ leaders argue that there is enough accountability within the system already without the new measure. From now on, councils are required to give warning notices to schools thought to be in danger of failure, and, possibly, to sack governing bodies and replace them with boards made up of more experienced educationalists. Alternatively, they could team the school up with a successful neighbouring school or business partner. In a letter to education authorities Schools Minister Andrew Adonis said:
“We
must work even harder to ensure that we stop children having to spend a long
time in an inadequate school. The new Education and Inspections Act 2006, which has come into force,
requires local authorities to act quickly on early intelligence of potential
major problems. It is no good waiting for the patient to end up on the critical list when
you can prescribe preventative medicine early on. While the best cure is prevention, local authorities have a responsibility
to act quickly to turn around failure to reduce to a minimum the time a child
has to suffer poor teaching which can severely hurt their progress. Local authorities should also take action against coasting schools – it is
not good enough for schools to let down pupils who should be doing much better
when you compare them to similar pupils in other schools.”
