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18/01/2012
NUT Slams Barclays Involved with Academies
A major teachers' union has attacked an announcement by the Government that Barclays Bank will be involved with schools.
Commenting on the revelation from Michael Gove that the bank and credit card lender will be working with Academies, Free Schools and others Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said opening schools up to the market place was "simply wrong".
"Children and young people should not be influenced at an impressionable age by whichever large company manages to gain a foothold in their school," she said. Ms Blower added: “This is, of course, Michael Gove’s vision for the future of education in this country. It is extraordinarily flawed and will most certainly result in a two tier system.
"Schools in deprived areas whose pupils do not fit the right socio-economic profile will not get the help, financial or otherwise, from business. Any successful business’s involvement in a school will surely be decided on what returns they can reap for themselves."
Under the plan, the bank would also be given influence in University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools.
The news comes just after Ofsted's Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, announced a Government plan to "scrap" the word 'satisfactory' from school inspection judgments.
Instead, under the new plan, the word will be replaced with 'requires improvement'.
Welcoming the change, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "This is not some small bureaucratic change. It marks a massive shift in attitude. I don't want the word 'satisfactory' to exist in our education system. 'Just good enough' is frankly not good enough."
(DW/GK)
Commenting on the revelation from Michael Gove that the bank and credit card lender will be working with Academies, Free Schools and others Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said opening schools up to the market place was "simply wrong".
"Children and young people should not be influenced at an impressionable age by whichever large company manages to gain a foothold in their school," she said. Ms Blower added: “This is, of course, Michael Gove’s vision for the future of education in this country. It is extraordinarily flawed and will most certainly result in a two tier system.
"Schools in deprived areas whose pupils do not fit the right socio-economic profile will not get the help, financial or otherwise, from business. Any successful business’s involvement in a school will surely be decided on what returns they can reap for themselves."
Under the plan, the bank would also be given influence in University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools.
The news comes just after Ofsted's Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, announced a Government plan to "scrap" the word 'satisfactory' from school inspection judgments.
Instead, under the new plan, the word will be replaced with 'requires improvement'.
Welcoming the change, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "This is not some small bureaucratic change. It marks a massive shift in attitude. I don't want the word 'satisfactory' to exist in our education system. 'Just good enough' is frankly not good enough."
(DW/GK)
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BHA Mount Legal Case Against Faith Schools
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Free Schools To 'Harness Teachers' Passion'
The process for setting up and running so-called 'free schools' to allow teachers, charities and parents to develop facilities in response to parental demand is to be revised.
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