Press Release

ATL Comment On Nick Clegg’s Speech: Personalisation And The Reform Agenda For Education

16 June 2008

Much of what Nick Clegg says will be music to teachers' ears. However, while there is much in his speech to be commended, there are also some glaring omissions, says the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said:

“Much of what Nick Clegg says will be music to teachers' ears. Teachers will be pleased he advocates a less prescriptive national curriculum and less external testing as this would allow them to exercise their professional judgement. They will also be heartened to hear he recognises that politics should be kept out of the day to day running of schools, and that the education system should be driven by the needs of children and local communities.

“However, while there is much in his speech to be commended, there are also some glaring omissions. He doesn’t say anything about scrapping Key Stage 2 tests; although they narrow the curriculum, are of little use in helping pupils’ transition to secondary school or showing their actual skills levels and de-motivate pupils and staff.

“And there is nothing about school league tables, which we would like scrapped because while they exist in their current form schools will continue to be pressurised into allowing teaching to the test and spending too much time on preparing pupils for tests.

“Although we have concerns about the existing inspections regime, we would need more detail about how an Educational Standards Agency would work before knowing whether it would be an improvement.”