Parents vs. Academies

Parents vs. Academies

An Important first victory was won last week by CAAM (campaign against academies in Merton) lead by parent and Socialist Party member Rob MacDonald in the High court. This was the first of three test cases to be heard over the academy schools.

Rob won the right to a judicial review which will be held at the end of July. The case was over whether the council and government had to have a Funding agreement for the setting up of academy schools when they have the consultation process.

The funding agreement is not just about money. It is like the contract that sets out all details of how the school will be run like admission, discipline, and provisions for special educational needs. For example at Tamworth Manor the admission policy was put out well after the consultation process had finished and is controversial. The judge himself liken this to giving a blank cheque to the sponsors.

The arrogance of the government and Merton council has had a blow from this ruling. The council legal case was very weak and basically blamed the government. They also couldn’t use much of there case as it was a political attack on rob for being a member of the socialist party and an ideologue. In there first legal papers Articles from the socialist party website were used as evidence that he was a leading member of the group in SW London. And the fact we had a good website was mentioned as if that meant we weren’t parents. This use of red scare tactic has been lead by the ex- council leader and the local labour MP. Who repeat this argument over and over and add that rob doesn’t live right next to the school. It all shows the desperateness of these people.

Robs response is to answer first “how this not makes me a parent”. Then he points out there are two ideologues here. One for privatisation and loss of democratic control and one for quality comprehensive education for all.

The press coverage has been huge. Rob did 24 interviews to the nation’s media over 3days and was on every major TV, radio channels and most of the serious press. Locally it has had press coverage almost every week and has been front page over 10 times in the last year. It is likely the full judicial review will be a lot harder to win as the government are likely to join the battle. The courts are far from the best area to fight these battles but any upset for the academy programme would be positive.

The court case has raised the whole question of democracy in England. An unelected minister Lord Adonis gives democratic control of a school to an unelected Lord Harris of Carpet right. The decision is pushed through by cabinet in the council rather than a full meeting. The School organisation Committee don’t vote unanimously to close the schools so a Un elected adjudicator decides to do it. If all this doesn’t work an unelected judge decides. That’s capitalist democracy.

Rob has got some legal aid but the community also has to pay towards cost so far the campaign has raised £4000 mainly from trade unions and individuals.

The negative side of the issues is the limbo this has left the two schools in Merton. Some parents are very concerned and rightly just want some conclusion. Students and teachers will break up for the holidays not knowing the future. This is completely the fault of the council who have tried to railroad the plans through for September 2006. Despite many warnings from the campaign.

This case might have implications for other areas. It also could start to galvanise the opposition. If you would like rob or a speaker from the campaign to address your union or campaign group please contact us.

For Up to date information or to use the message board go to www.campaignagainstacademiesinmerton.t83.net

Parents win first stage in court battle against academies

BBC news covering the court challenge of Rob MacDonald from Merton in the High Court today

** Legal case over academy approved **
A parent has won the right to challenge a plan to transform his son's school into an academy.
The BBC link is here

He will also be on Channel 4 news and the politics show tonight

Teacher Power! - a report on the National Education Conference

Education Conference
(by Derek McMillan)

I attended this conference as one of the West Sussex delegates.

The first session was a fascinating speech from Mick Waters of the QCA. Most teachers think of the QCA as a very top-downwards, authoritarian body producing highly prescriptive “advice.” Mick Waters brought an entirely different perspective. While recognising the tension between national testing and local autonomy he was perfectly clear that “people in schools need to set their understandings of their children alongside the learning they should meet to create learning which is irresistible.” However it will take pressure from below, from teachers, to make such a perspective into a reality. Unlike the run-of-the-mill bureaucrats he prefers to spend his time in the classroom working with teachers.


This set the tone of a conference which was about (apologies for jargon) empowering teachers. Teacher power! It has a certain ring to it!

This was continued with a discussion of “personalised learning” and the somewhat ambiguous definitions available from the government. It was felt that “personalised learning” could be used to promote teacher autonomy (teacher power again) and the concept that learning should be related to the needs, aptitude and ability of the pupils. There was also a warning that “personalised learning” could be misinterpreted as a system which involved pupils interacting with computers without any teacher intervention and the delivery of education could be in the hands of unqualified staff.

Elizabeth Wood of the University of Exeter talked about research on the issue of the underachievement of boys. Although restating much of the existing knowledge on this subject it is clearly important to go on stating it in a climate where the underachievement of boys is misunderstood. In many ways it is an oversimplification to talk about boys’ underachievement and her research was firmly based on the observation of children and her insights into the role of play. “When girls performed less well than boys it was not called underachievement. It was because they were all dumb blondes.” She has some very interesting and provocative research.

Maurice Galton’s research on “The Cost of Inclusion” tackled one of the conflicts in education at the moment. How can inclusion be helping pupils when the resources are not being provided to support the pupils being included? It is unusual for speeches to be interrupted by applause at the NEC. His remark that “these pupils have a right to be taught by qualified teachers” did receive a spontaneous ovation.

The final session of conference was a speech by Peter Mortimore who is not only an accomplished orator but also a powerful voice in educational circles. He had done a comparison between the NUT’s “Bringing down the Barriers” and the government’s Education Bill. The results are available online.
http://wsta.org.uk/mortimore.pdf

Bill Greenshields concluded, “We are involved in a battle for ideas, every school is a fortress,”

The uselessness of the Labour MPs in opposing the agenda of privatisation of education is likely to be a major talking point in staffrooms. At the end of the day, the “battle for ideas” is a battle against Labour and Tory Parties intent on attacking comprehensive education. Without a new workers’ party, there is no alternative to their sterile agendas.