Forming a united front

Polarised debates about education are counter-productive. What we need, says Brian Lightman, is a supra-political approach in which all sides come together to analyse what works and resolve fundamental problems.

As a linguist I am always interested in words and phrases which take on new meanings as they slip into common parlance. Ones that have most definitely evolved since last May are 'freedom' (for example, to do whatever is in the academy funding agreement or performance tables rather than legislation), 'autonomy' (structural change), and 'evidence-based policy' (based on carefully selected evidence from a limited range of sources).

However, the two that strike me most at the moment are 'broken' and 'fixing'. Until quite recently I had thought that these words were used in two contexts, one related to a need for repair, disposal or recycling, and the other in connection with adhesion.

Yet if these are the correct meanings then our education service must be in a bad way. Take for example the article in the Daily Telegraph on 19 April, "CBI: fiing UK’s education system is key to future investment."

According to this article, foreign investment in the UK plummeted during the recession and the director-general of the CBI believes that the UK "no longer holds the same attraction" to potential investors.

In spite of the shocking headline, the article cites top universities, quality of life and our language as the UK’s strengths while employment legislation, the planning system, and uncertainty about the direction of government policy are listed as blockers to investment, as well as the skills shortage.

Yet it is the education service that needs to be fixed.

Nobody could disagree with the need for us to do everything we can to ensure that our economy is as competitive as possible. Nor is it possible to ignore the fact that some other countries have been catching up or overtaking us in their ability to address skill shortages.

Employability skills

I would not presume to offer economic solutions to the recession but I do know that we absolutely need a highly skilled workforce in order to address the challenges we face. That is why ASCL was so pleased when the CBI supported the call we made at Annual Conference 2011 for employability skills to feature strongly in the curriculum.

Its press release said: “The CBI fully welcomes the Association of School and College Leaders’ call for the government to support the development of employability skills in the curriculum...

"Businesses are committed to working with schools and colleges to ensure that all young people are able to develop essential employability skills for their careers by providing work experience placements, and by visiting schools and colleges to support teaching and learning."

We have been surprised at the coalition government’s hesitation in acknowledging the importance of these skills as if they somehow undermine other aspects of the curriculum, such as academic rigour, challenge and the acquisition of knowledge and understanding.

It is also, to say the least, surprising that education business partnerships have lost their funding and that Professor Alison Wolf, in her report on vocational education for the government, recommended removing the requirements for work-related education for pre-16 students, rather than ensuring that this features in the curriculum for all young people.

Schools and colleges know all about the importance of skills and the need to emphasise these and integrate them fully into the curriculum. Many employers are working constructively to support this, for example through the Education Employer Task Force which includes on its board highly committed industry leaders who are determined not to stand at the sidelines and who know the importance of working with educators.

Society’s values

My other experience of the word 'fixing' came from the lips of a local radio host who started his interview with me with a lengthy exposition of his personal and highly subjective views about the shortcomings of our schools.

"We all know," he said authoritatively, "that our schools are currently war zones. Discipline has broken down. The children have taken over." You can guess my response.

Behaviour in the majority of our schools is good and improving but no one would deny that the challenge of teaching young people in the 21st century is wholly different from what it was 30 or 40 years ago.

The values and norms of society have changed and children have far more access to poor role models than they did in the past. Watch this lovely behaviour management video made in 1947 http://bit.ly/ hcG6a1 if you want proof!

We continue to urge ministers not to fuel this with statements such as the Department for Education response to the admissions figures which it alleged "expose the fact that there are too few good schools".

I have written before in Leader about polarised debates but I actually think that this issue is potentially more damaging than any other. If we are to escape from this rut which undermines a system which has many strengths then how about the following way forward?

Non-political debate

We have had a run of disjointed reviews recently focusing on individual aspects of our service but nothing that looks at the whole picture. We need a new, supra-political Great Debate.

Representatives of all political parties, employers and the education service should sit down, together with an independent chair with strong academic credentials, analyse objectively and critically what is working and what is less effective, and bottom out the key aims.

There would need to be some ground rules to this discussion including:

• fierce independence
• strict Chatham House rules (that is, no speaker may be identified as a source outside the review)
• recognition that meaningful proposals will take longer than the life of one Parliament

Who would be better placed to lead this process than a chief education officer – a leading professional appointed to advise government without fear or favour on the basis of highly credible experience and knowledge and absolute independence?

ASCL has advocated the creation of this post for some time and was delighted to see such an appointment recommended recently by the Education Select Committee.

The desired outcome of these discussions would be a set of principles to which all parties would adhere and which employers and our elected representatives would vigorously support in order to bring about genuine, sustainable improvement – the true key to a great system which does not need 'fixing'.

ASCL would relish the opportunity to be key players in this process.

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