Another chat with a minister
Minister, have you got time to answer a few questions?
Yes, of course.
I wanted to have a quick chat about schools
Great, we are rightly proud of our school reforms.
Well that is exactly what I wanted to talk about. Now please correct me if I go wrong at any stage. A few years ago we had state schools that were accountable to appointed governors and the local authority and inspected by Ofsted. A few schools judged to be struggling were converted, then schools judged to be the best were then allowed to become independent of local authorities and these were called academies.
Quite right too
OK, then post 2010 a new system was put in place, under a new government, where schools deemed to be failing were taken away from local authorities and given to sponsors. These sponsors were people the DFE judged to be of the right character to take over the running of a school. If new schools were to be built they would be called Free Schools and would be run free of any control of local authorities. Any school that wanted to become and academy could do so and were given financial incentives to change status.
More or less, a bit oversimplified but do go on.
However pretty soon it became apparent that not everyone who was taking over these schools was actually improving them. And quite a few seemed to be doing a pretty poor job, and the number of financial scandals grew....
Well hold on a minute, and scheme as innovative as this will have teething problems and a few bad apples shouldn't....
So you introduced a new system whereby chains could develop and take over other academies and local authority schools.
Ha yes, whether they liked it or not!
Indeed, but who got to decide whether a school was failing or not? Local authorities had no capacity.
Yes we cut them to the bone!
So you set up a system of Regional School Commissioners to oversee the process. These people would decide which schools got to take over which, and also started to offer services that you'd cut from local government but decided you needed after all.
A scheme as innovative as this will have teething problems....
As you've mentioned minister. Still at least you now had a robust system of oversight in place to ensure the public got good value for money, free of conflicts of interest.
Indeed
Only, well the regional school commissioners soon started getting jobs with the academy chains they were supposed to oversee. Sometimes doubling or tripling their earnings by joining the very chains they were holding to account.
It is a free country, people can move jobs.
Indeed they can, and after all schools still have governors.
They do.
Do you know who the governors of some of these schools are?
Parents, locals, people with nothing better to do?
Often the governors of a school run by a multi-academy trust (MAT) are staff from the MAT. Recently a former regional schools commissioner has become the chair of governors at a school he made the decision to hand to a MAT. So the school is now effectively completely cut off from all accountability. They public have no say. It is privatised in all senses except the one where the funding comes from.
It isn't privatised at all, it is run by a charity.
The charity is 100% funded by the tax payer. All the decisions as to how that money is spent is taken by the charity. All oversight of that spending is overseen by the governors, who are employees of that charity.
Well I'm sure they wouldn't....
They might not, but many have. But it isn't even about money. It is about democracy. We now have a situation where literally billions of £ of money, the way our children will spend their school days, even the content of their lessons, are at the whim of a very select group of people with almost no oversight and accountability.
Well I'm not sure that is fair, I'm sure the DFE make sound choices.
Again they may, they may not. But take Cambridge, a new school is planned for the east side of the city. Before planning permission is given for any development at all the DFE has already decided that the school - which will be located in the city with the highest percentage of graduates in the country, in an area where 2 bed terrace homes sell for £500k and therefore be guaranteed an outstanding Ofsted- will be run by Toby Young's academy trust.
Ah Tobes. Hang on his school is outstanding, why wouldn't they want one?
The point is that before a brick has been laid it has been decided that a prime asset worth tens of millions of £, paid for by the taxpayer, will be handed over to a very well connected group of individuals. Whatever local consultation there was appears to have entirely bypassed very politically aware people in the area the school is to be built. It just doesn't seem right that the people in Cambridge, which has a well regarded comprehensive system catering for all, will now have a school imposed on it which goes against their collaborative approach to education. This is then repeated across the country. I have no doubt there are people working for MATs who specialise in data analytics and target potential takeovers. We can already see the schools nobody wants languishing. This isn't the football transfer market. These are real schools where real children go everyday.
Now, wait a minute I've heard there are parents who are very excited about this new system, Parents and Teachers for Excellence that is it!
Ah, I wondered if they would be mentioned. Who runs that group?
Well I think that is pretty obvious, parents and teachers who want excellent schools, the clue is in the name.
Well technically some are parents, some are teachers, but almost exclusively they are people who work for large multi-academy trusts. Or run them more accurately. It is a very cozy set up too with a lot of people within the group swapping jobs and gaining huge promotions at eachothers trusts. And as for where the money comes from well that is a mystery.
Small donations from local people?
They aren't a charity. They couldn't do political lobbying if they were. They are a think tank. Funded by very large donations by people ideologically opposed to state run services and with a very authoritarian world view.
Ah the illuminate. You are a conspiracy theorist, a tin foil hat wearer.
Well, let me make a prediction. If I'm wrong then I won't bother you again, if I'm right then perhaps you will take me seriously next time.
Go, on lets hear it. All run by lizard people?
There will be a co-ordinated push towards scripted instruction. It will be sold as a tool for reducing teacher workload. In fact the plan is that these lessons won't even be taught by teachers. Teachers will actually be people who design the curriculum. They will produce the scripts but the delivery will be by trained instructors. They will be coached in the school discipline system (a no excuses model) and instruction methods (SLANT). The system will be cheap, easy to roll out and copy writable.
So a few teachers lose out, if results stay the same or improve does it really matter? We go with what works not what is best for teachers. Evidence based.
The copywritten material will potentially be produced by a for profit arm of the MAT, and the MAT will purchase the scripts for use in their classrooms. Transferring public money to private individuals.
Well if it works why not? Everyone has to make a living.
We weren't asked if this was the system we wanted.
Look. Write a blog on it, at best the same 200 or so people will read about it and nothing will change. You lost the battle the second you accepted that all schooling was about were exam results. Once we persuaded you that "what works" was the only thing that mattered the game was up. We won, you lost. Even Labour and quite a few of their supporters now think the system is too messed up and expensive to repair and you have to work with what we've left you. Right I'm off, leaving drinkies for another one of our school commissioners, he's got a new job at a MAT he used to oversee. Looking at his new salary the drinks will be on him. Cheerio.
Yes, of course.
I wanted to have a quick chat about schools
Great, we are rightly proud of our school reforms.
Well that is exactly what I wanted to talk about. Now please correct me if I go wrong at any stage. A few years ago we had state schools that were accountable to appointed governors and the local authority and inspected by Ofsted. A few schools judged to be struggling were converted, then schools judged to be the best were then allowed to become independent of local authorities and these were called academies.
Quite right too
OK, then post 2010 a new system was put in place, under a new government, where schools deemed to be failing were taken away from local authorities and given to sponsors. These sponsors were people the DFE judged to be of the right character to take over the running of a school. If new schools were to be built they would be called Free Schools and would be run free of any control of local authorities. Any school that wanted to become and academy could do so and were given financial incentives to change status.
More or less, a bit oversimplified but do go on.
However pretty soon it became apparent that not everyone who was taking over these schools was actually improving them. And quite a few seemed to be doing a pretty poor job, and the number of financial scandals grew....
Well hold on a minute, and scheme as innovative as this will have teething problems and a few bad apples shouldn't....
So you introduced a new system whereby chains could develop and take over other academies and local authority schools.
Ha yes, whether they liked it or not!
Indeed, but who got to decide whether a school was failing or not? Local authorities had no capacity.
Yes we cut them to the bone!
So you set up a system of Regional School Commissioners to oversee the process. These people would decide which schools got to take over which, and also started to offer services that you'd cut from local government but decided you needed after all.
A scheme as innovative as this will have teething problems....
As you've mentioned minister. Still at least you now had a robust system of oversight in place to ensure the public got good value for money, free of conflicts of interest.
Indeed
Only, well the regional school commissioners soon started getting jobs with the academy chains they were supposed to oversee. Sometimes doubling or tripling their earnings by joining the very chains they were holding to account.
It is a free country, people can move jobs.
Indeed they can, and after all schools still have governors.
They do.
Do you know who the governors of some of these schools are?
Parents, locals, people with nothing better to do?
Often the governors of a school run by a multi-academy trust (MAT) are staff from the MAT. Recently a former regional schools commissioner has become the chair of governors at a school he made the decision to hand to a MAT. So the school is now effectively completely cut off from all accountability. They public have no say. It is privatised in all senses except the one where the funding comes from.
It isn't privatised at all, it is run by a charity.
The charity is 100% funded by the tax payer. All the decisions as to how that money is spent is taken by the charity. All oversight of that spending is overseen by the governors, who are employees of that charity.
Well I'm sure they wouldn't....
They might not, but many have. But it isn't even about money. It is about democracy. We now have a situation where literally billions of £ of money, the way our children will spend their school days, even the content of their lessons, are at the whim of a very select group of people with almost no oversight and accountability.
Well I'm not sure that is fair, I'm sure the DFE make sound choices.
Again they may, they may not. But take Cambridge, a new school is planned for the east side of the city. Before planning permission is given for any development at all the DFE has already decided that the school - which will be located in the city with the highest percentage of graduates in the country, in an area where 2 bed terrace homes sell for £500k and therefore be guaranteed an outstanding Ofsted- will be run by Toby Young's academy trust.
Ah Tobes. Hang on his school is outstanding, why wouldn't they want one?
The point is that before a brick has been laid it has been decided that a prime asset worth tens of millions of £, paid for by the taxpayer, will be handed over to a very well connected group of individuals. Whatever local consultation there was appears to have entirely bypassed very politically aware people in the area the school is to be built. It just doesn't seem right that the people in Cambridge, which has a well regarded comprehensive system catering for all, will now have a school imposed on it which goes against their collaborative approach to education. This is then repeated across the country. I have no doubt there are people working for MATs who specialise in data analytics and target potential takeovers. We can already see the schools nobody wants languishing. This isn't the football transfer market. These are real schools where real children go everyday.
Now, wait a minute I've heard there are parents who are very excited about this new system, Parents and Teachers for Excellence that is it!
Ah, I wondered if they would be mentioned. Who runs that group?
Well I think that is pretty obvious, parents and teachers who want excellent schools, the clue is in the name.
Well technically some are parents, some are teachers, but almost exclusively they are people who work for large multi-academy trusts. Or run them more accurately. It is a very cozy set up too with a lot of people within the group swapping jobs and gaining huge promotions at eachothers trusts. And as for where the money comes from well that is a mystery.
Small donations from local people?
They aren't a charity. They couldn't do political lobbying if they were. They are a think tank. Funded by very large donations by people ideologically opposed to state run services and with a very authoritarian world view.
Ah the illuminate. You are a conspiracy theorist, a tin foil hat wearer.
Well, let me make a prediction. If I'm wrong then I won't bother you again, if I'm right then perhaps you will take me seriously next time.
Go, on lets hear it. All run by lizard people?
There will be a co-ordinated push towards scripted instruction. It will be sold as a tool for reducing teacher workload. In fact the plan is that these lessons won't even be taught by teachers. Teachers will actually be people who design the curriculum. They will produce the scripts but the delivery will be by trained instructors. They will be coached in the school discipline system (a no excuses model) and instruction methods (SLANT). The system will be cheap, easy to roll out and copy writable.
So a few teachers lose out, if results stay the same or improve does it really matter? We go with what works not what is best for teachers. Evidence based.
The copywritten material will potentially be produced by a for profit arm of the MAT, and the MAT will purchase the scripts for use in their classrooms. Transferring public money to private individuals.
Well if it works why not? Everyone has to make a living.
We weren't asked if this was the system we wanted.
Look. Write a blog on it, at best the same 200 or so people will read about it and nothing will change. You lost the battle the second you accepted that all schooling was about were exam results. Once we persuaded you that "what works" was the only thing that mattered the game was up. We won, you lost. Even Labour and quite a few of their supporters now think the system is too messed up and expensive to repair and you have to work with what we've left you. Right I'm off, leaving drinkies for another one of our school commissioners, he's got a new job at a MAT he used to oversee. Looking at his new salary the drinks will be on him. Cheerio.
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