Interesting Times in Education

After the wettest summer on record pupils and teachers will be returning to school this week for a new academic year. An alleged Chinese curse wishes its hearers ‘may you live in interesting times’ – curse or not we are certainly living in ‘interesting’ times at this period in the history of education. Classroom level changes are clearly noticeable, with increasing emphasis on literacy and numeracy focussing the mind of staff, but at the level of policy the changes are seismic.

Last year the Welsh Government introduced its controversial banding system for schools.  Critics claimed that this was a return to League Tables, abolished over a decade ago in Wales, by the back door. The Minister countered:  his intentions were honourable, schools in need of further support would receive it and exemplars of good practice would be identified and encouraged to share. But while some extra money has been pumped into the system for schools in the lower two bands the local authority support, a key component of the banding package, has been slow to materialise. As we head for the second round of banding this coming term it will be ‘interesting’ to see what difference has actually been made on the ground as a result of the controversial policy.

It will also be ‘interesting’ to see how the Pupil Deprivation Grant money is spent and what impact it will make on those pupils most in need. Secured by the Lib Dems as part of the price for their support of the budget, this gives schools £450 pounds for each pupil on Free School Meals. While chronic underfunding has undoubtedly been part of the reason for Wales’ comparative underperformance it is not the only cause, much depends on how money is actually spent. The grant money is tied to the Minister’s priorities of literacy and numeracy and narrowing the gap. It will be ‘interesting’ to see if it does so, and also ‘interesting’ to see if the money is renewed next year.

Other areas will prove ‘interesting’ too. The School Standards and Organisation Bill continues its progress through the Senedd. Amongst other things it will legislate for greater powers of intervention by the Minister in schools and put the banding system on a statutory footing. The current White Paper on HE/FE heralds another Bill in the offing, one that will tackle governance in colleges and universities but also expand the role and remit of the General Teaching Council. All set to be ‘interesting’ areas for debate.

And over all this, looming like a threatening storm on the horizon, it will be ‘interesting’ to see how the PISA tests which will be taken by 15 year olds in November pan out.  PISA, you will recall, is the international banding system which compares performance across the globe. The poor results announced in 2010, on the back of mediocre results in 2007, has prompted so much of the legislative and interventionist flurry that Welsh schools have been experiencing in the last eighteen months or so. It is ‘interesting’ to speculate whether Leighton Andrews’ promise to raise the performance of Wales in these tests will be fulfilled when the results are announced in 2013.

But perhaps most ‘interesting’ of all is the seismic shift of the tectonic plates between education in Wales and England.  From this term the majority of secondary schools in England will be academies and so-called Free Schools will be popping up piecemeal.  As a result the role of local authorities will be greatly diminished –at least one has publically said that it wants out of education altogether. Within these new set ups unqualified teachers can be employed, and the terms and conditions of staff negotiated out of the current common framework. Mr Gove has indicated as desire to return to O levels and the fall out from this year’s GCSE deflation is rocking the brand. The GTC in England has gone and teaching training institutions seem to be next on the list, in their stead a variety of ‘learn on the job’ schemes are proposed. Here in Wales there will be no academies or Free Schools, local authorities are being given their last chance to prove their worth, unqualified teachers will not be employed and the terms and conditions will remain part of a national framework. Whatever happens as a result of the review of qualifications there will be no return to O levels. The GTC Wales is to be expanded and augmented, and while teaching training institutions can expect challenge they will still be the main way we form our teachers.

By the end of this academic year the educational topography of Wales and England is going to look strikingly different. It’s going to be an ‘interesting’ year to say the least.

Philip Dixon is Director of ATL Cymru