Join us
And find out why ATL is the fastest growing union in the education sector
Education White Paper is a mixed bag - ATL
30 June 2009
The new education White Paper is a mixed bag giving teachers and schools more autonomy with one hand and taking it away with the other, according to Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).
Dr Bousted said: "We share the government's ambitions to put children at the heart of our education system, but unfortunately the White Paper gets tied up in the detail of structures and systems and loses sight of what's best for children's learning.
"The demise of the national strategies for literacy and numeracy is long over due. But it is a shame their demise does not mean the end of the 'that's the way to do it' approach by government.
"We are unhappy about the continuing failure to recognise schools have a great deal of professional expertise, so deplore the expectation that schools should buy in external help as a first resort if they need to improve teaching and learning.
"We support schools working together. But it is totally unrealistic to hold school heads accountable for the effectiveness of school services to the wider community, and for the education standards of all the students in their local authority over which they have no influence.
"Mergers and federations should be driven by schools and not imposed centrally by the government. It would be deeply unhelpful to make school governors look into joining their school into a federation every time they appoint a new head.
"We don't believe that criminalising parents would help schools to develop effective partnerships between parents and schools.
"We believe the licence to teach proposals would be a bureaucratic nightmare and result in a horrendous paperwork trail following teachers as they move from school to school through their careers.
"We remain deeply sceptical about school report cards, which would still be based on flawed data so continue to give a partial view of how well schools are meeting pupils' needs."
Notes to editors
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.
ATL exists to help members, as their careers develop, through first rate research, advice, information and legal advice.
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.