ATL

ATL comment on CBI Report into role of business in education

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:

"We commend the CBI for the aspects of its report which go beyond the usual industry hand-wringing that everything is rotten in state education. It says sensible things about skills and the link between education and employment. And it is heartening to read the CBI's critique of the current national curriculum and a desire for schools to focus on the application of knowledge rather than its acquisition.

"Their report is weakest on the ways in which education can be improved. It fails to sufficiently acknowledge how much education standards have risen across the board. This is because a success story does not provide a good basis for type of the education revolution that the CBI wants - an even more rapid expansion of academies and free schools run by profit-making sponsors.

"The grubby reality is that every pound put in shareholder's pockets is a pound denied to pupils' education. This is why state schools should not be run for profit."

Notes to editors

1. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is an independent, registered trade union and professional association, representing approximately 160,000 teachers, headteachers, lecturers and support staff in maintained and independent nurseries, schools, sixth form, tertiary and further education colleges in the United Kingdom.

2. ATL exists to help members, as their careers develop, through first rate research, advice, information and legal advice.

3. ATL is affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and Education International (EI). ATL is not affiliated to any political party and seeks to work constructively with all the main political parties.