Member News
Gordon Brown has today announced plans to inject more "parent-power" in to the education system.
Parents could be given the authority to force councils to improve the quality of local schools under "new rights and responsibilities", the prime minister said.
He unveiled plans for good schools to be expanded or federated with underperforming schools. Entirely new schools could also be opened under the proposals.
In a speech in south London, he called for the best headteachers to become "executive heads", overseeing groups of schools rather than a single institution.
Brown argued that investment in education, accompanied by further reform are a necessary component of the "politics of opportunity and growth". He also rejected the "politics of austerity and defeatism" offered by the Conservatives.
The proposals will be included in the schools white paper to be published in June.
If agreed, parents of primary age pupils will be given the right to complain about a secondary school that their children might attend in the future.
The prime minister stated: "Neither a free market, voucher style reform of education, where some are helped while others are left to fall behind, nor top-down centralised government control can provide the innovation and leadership needed to take the next steps on the road to world class schools for our children."
He argued that while parents could have a role in running schools if they want to, the vast majority do not want such a burden. "They want world-class teachers and schools providers to do if for them," he said.
Responding to the proposals, Lib Dem education spokesman David Laws said: "It is pretty rich for Gordon Brown to say he is rejecting the politics of austerity when the Chancellor has just presented spending plans which will involve a real cut in public spending from 2011 onwards."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said:
"Schools already work with parents and governors to ensure that information is fully available to the local community, and there are already existing transparent complaints procedures in place in every school which allow for full investigation.
"Parents can look at, and analyse, Ofsted reports and they can of course visit schools. Secondary schools are already subject to enough myth about how good or bad they are. The National Challenge and often local press already paint an inaccurate picture about how a school is faring.
"This initiative for parents is simply another piece of populist spin".
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.