Michael Gove has announced that Free Schools will not need to employ qualified teachers, nor will they need to be led by a head teacher who holds the NPQH.
Bizarrely, this seems to fly in the face of the other announcements made by the coalition Government about raising the entry levels for teacher training courses, and developing different routes into qualified teacher status. The Academy Bill, which Gove steamrollered through only months ago stipulated that the new academies would be required to employ teachers with QTS. This is the current legislation that also governs Free Schools- so is he going to have to repeal elements of his own flagship bill to allow for this ?
The NUT believes, and always has, that there should be a good local school for every child, and a qualified teacher in front of every class.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
EEPD Committee: Academies and Freedom of Information Act
Academies have always been exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, which ensured that the public could find out detailed financial and operational information about the public bodies we pay for. All local councils, government departments and even the semi-independent Further Education colleges were bound by the Act, but Acacemies weren't: allowing funding arrangements to be kept "commercially confidential"
When the Academies Bill was steamrollered through Parliament in the summer, this was an area that was challenged. However, in the House of Lords, the Lib Dem Justice Minister Lord McNally announced that, unlike all other public bodies which must reply to requests for information within 20 working days, the Academies will be given a full 60 days. He went on, bizarrely, to refer to the need for replies to be "prompt"
Why Academies could not be expected to comply with the law in the same way as every other public body was not explained by the Minister.
When the Academies Bill was steamrollered through Parliament in the summer, this was an area that was challenged. However, in the House of Lords, the Lib Dem Justice Minister Lord McNally announced that, unlike all other public bodies which must reply to requests for information within 20 working days, the Academies will be given a full 60 days. He went on, bizarrely, to refer to the need for replies to be "prompt"
Why Academies could not be expected to comply with the law in the same way as every other public body was not explained by the Minister.
EEPD Committee: The end of the GTC- and a warning !
Max Hyde, an NUT nominee on the General Teaching Council for England, reported on the progress towards the end of the GTC which we are expecting to be formally abolished by 2012. While we generally welcome the demise of the GTC(E) there are a number of concerns about how certain functions, currently undertaken by GTC(E) will be delegated.
The registration of qualified teachers is currently a key function of GTC, and there is a legal requirement for all teachers in maintained schools to register. Will there still be a register of qualified teachers, and how will this sit with the Government's stated policy, that there will be no requirement for any formal teaching qualification for teachers in government funded Free Schools ?
More worrying is the disciplinary function that was undertaken by the GTC(E) Serious disciplinary cases were heard by a panel of GTC members which included elected serving teachers. The principle of professional self-regulation (such as in the medical profession) was one of the key reasons given for the setting up of GTC. The decision in serious cases is now being passed to DfE for decision in the name of the political Secretary of State. The range of sanctions that the GTC could impose is being replaced with one only: whether or not a teacher should be barred from the profession.
The registration of qualified teachers is currently a key function of GTC, and there is a legal requirement for all teachers in maintained schools to register. Will there still be a register of qualified teachers, and how will this sit with the Government's stated policy, that there will be no requirement for any formal teaching qualification for teachers in government funded Free Schools ?
More worrying is the disciplinary function that was undertaken by the GTC(E) Serious disciplinary cases were heard by a panel of GTC members which included elected serving teachers. The principle of professional self-regulation (such as in the medical profession) was one of the key reasons given for the setting up of GTC. The decision in serious cases is now being passed to DfE for decision in the name of the political Secretary of State. The range of sanctions that the GTC could impose is being replaced with one only: whether or not a teacher should be barred from the profession.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
