Labour should speak out against Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove's invitation to all 20 000 state schools in England to consider converting into academies - independent of local education authorities but controlled by sponsors - says education campaigner Fiona Millar in an Independent on Sunday article.
"Probe the detail of the new Academies Bill and what do you find? The decision to opt out can be made by the head and governing body alone without any consultation with parents. Once the decision has been made, the Secretary of State can order the immediate closure of the existing school, enabling it to open overnight as an academy contracted to the Department for Education, thereby ensuring that this could be one of the biggest acts of centralisation, rather than devolution of power, in the history of English education. There will also be consequences for parents, pupils and social cohesion. If scores of local schools opt out, taking with them a slice of local authority funding, there will be less to provide central services, usually in areas such as early years and SEN, for the schools left behind.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fiona-millar-the-gove-plan-why-so-quiet-labour-1986799.html
"Creating thousands of academies which lie outside that framework will almost certainly lead to the emergence of a school system even more segregated, especially in urban areas, than the one we have now, with the poorest and most vulnerable children the losers." Or do they finally wake up to the fact that the "direction of travel" set in train by the hotly contested 2006 Education and Inspection Act, has been worse than even their fiercest critics predicted, and start to craft an alternative argument."
Millar notes that the silence from Labour opposition (including its would be leaders) "is deafening" and calls for an urgent response as the Academies Bill is about to be rushed through with a first tranche target of 2000 academies by Septembert. That the previous Labour Government created 200 academies in the face of union concerns makes Parliamentary Labour Party led resistance to these measures very doubtful.
http://www.thetruthaboutourschools.com/
