Stories + Views: local government

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Fiona Millar: In praise of Camden – proof that excellence isn’t the preserve of any one ‘type’ of school

I have written a piece today in the Guardian about my local schools in the London Borough of Camden, and about our local primary school in particular. Here is a slightly longer version of the article. It is coming up to Christmas so I am going to allow myself a touch of sentimentality. A few weeks ago I felt a stab ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Tubby Isaacs: "So those LEAs who were supposed to get out of the headteacher's way are now in trouble for not doing more? Utter farce...."

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Janet Downs: Behind the negative headlines, what did Ofsted 2012 actually say?

“More than two million taught in under-performing schools” said the Telegraph. A damning picture – but is this all Ofsted wrote? Ofsted’s annual report said that 2,293,026 children were in schools judged “not good enough” but this can only be upheld by applying the new definition of “satisfactory” (“requires improvement”) retrospectively. Schools judged “satisfactory” before the new meaning was introduced would ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Michael Dix: "The reported comments from the chief inspector tended to focus on the difference in the number of good or better schools in socially similar local authorities. What I find unacceptable is that if you use the interactive charts they have published ......"

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Stephen Smith: Review could remove councils from education services

This in Wales. Very interesting this - Review could remove councils from education services http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-20414626 it seems that as we're given supposed local democratic accountability over the police force via the new PCCs, we may be about to lose local democratic accountability over schools. Wonder where academies fit in ? Oh and free schools ? read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Tony Chuan: "Local government is expensive and inefficient for all sorts of reasons: 'we created a system of government long ago, with organisational approaches and technologies for processing information that were the best we could do at the time. ......there are at ......"

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Jess: The future of primary education

Those of you in the primary sector may well be aware that there is now a growing crisis in primary education. There is a need for 500,000 extra primary places to be created by 2015 (90,000 of which will be needed in London by 2014). Gove's solution is free schools and academies instead of democratically accountable Local Authorities that can ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Alan Bowles: "The Autumn statement has provided more money for education so it says. No!. It has provided more money for the building of Academies and Free schools. One version I read added 'and well run' schools which lets in local ......"

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Janet Downs: Harder tests for trainee teachers – should ministers and MPs pass a similar test?

The Government has just announced tougher tests for prospective teachers in order, it says, to raise the status of profession. So would the status of MPs be raised if they, too, were subjected to rigorous tests before taking their seats? This is how ministers, advisers and officials at the Department of Education (DfE) would have done in the following exam: Numeracy Question 1: ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Melissa - thank for alerting me to the TES article. I've given the link below and also the link to a thread on this site which published FullFact's revelations two weeks ago. The DfE hadn't commented when the TES article ......"

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Janet Downs: “Managing potential over-supply” will create more headaches for LAs than providing more school places, says DfE/LAG report

Local Authorities (LAs) have a statutory duty to manage a potential surplus of schools places but managing this possible over-supply is a source of great anxiety, says a report commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) and the Local Government Association (LGA). The ability of LAs to manage the number of school places locally is hampered by Government policy which encourages ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by agov: "But Sarah was making quite a specific point about the supply of school places and their cost. Is there any other area of government where you think it's a good idea to throw money like confetti and wait to see what ......"

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Janet Downs: LAs face challenges in ensuring a sufficient future supply of school places, says DfE/LGA report

Local authorities (LAs) have a statutory duty to ensure a sufficient number of school places. This is usually done by studying birth data and other information such as planning to decide on possible future demand. In the past, extra places could be provided either by persuading existing schools to expand their pupil admission number (PAN) or by building a new school. ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by agov: "Okay, thank you Sarah (- I just like to check the small print!)...."

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Janet Downs: “Huge profits being earned by major private companies at taxpayers’ expense,” says BBC

BBC Radio 4’s “File on Four” investigated outsourcing in the light of failures such as the collapse of West Coast mainline plans and the G4S Olympic fiasco. The rush to sign outsourcing contracts, the BBC concluded, could lead to undesirable consequences such as being tied into contracts which delivered inferior services and offered poor value. Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Last night's Channel 4 Dispatches, Getting Rich on the NHS, (shown again tonight at 8pm on 4seven) investigated Virgin Care. The programme featured one surgery where the number of full-time GPs had fallen and opening times were not extended ......"

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Janet Downs: Policy Exchange report (Part 3) – the conclusion

“Competition meets Collaboration”, the lengthy Policy Exchange report written by James O’Shaughnessy”, is built on two false premises: 1 Academy conversion is the best way to improve results. It isn’t – City Challenge was more successful than the academy programme. And Henry Stewart’s research has shown that in general academies don’t perform better than similar non-academies – the latter outperform the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Ricky - you are falsely linking the inability to gain 5+ GCSEs A*-C (including Maths and English) with unfitness to be employed. It's true that the 5+ GCSEs A*-C are needed to proceed to Sixth Form and A levels, ......"

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Allan Beavis: Coventry: What happens when a Local Authority is prevented from opening and running new schools

The madness of divorcing local authorities from local schools is once again thrown into sharp relief by this report in The Guardian, which describes how Coventry City Council, having secured funding and land for two new primary schools, is now scrapping the plans after apparently discovering that new schools have to be opened as Academies or Free Schools and ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Ricky - you are correct about John Major securing the greatest number of popular votes than any other premier before or since. Surprising, then, that he should have received so much poisonous vitriol from the right-wing (Murodch) press. This is ......"

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