Building Schools for the Future

Sep 9 2010

Government Policy on School Closure

It seems to me that the present government is in a bit of a bind on school closures. On the one hand, it now has to plan for an increasing number of primary school children for the next decade at least (15 -18 % increase up to 2018) and yet it is in the middle of the worst recession since the second world war and feels it has to make serious cuts in public spending. It has already indicated that the Building Schools for the Future programme has been scrapped in its present form. So how is it going to cope with added pressure on current school accommodation?

Many local authorities are way behind the times with their school provision strategies. They are still stating in their consultation literature that they expect rolls to fall so there is, in their eyes, an argument for closing schools. Clearly, this is not the case with government statistics verifying the forecast increase. But they seem to be wary of reviewing their current strategies as they still have surplus places that need to be dealt with now. But surely the surplus places issue will begin to diminish as pupil numbers rise over the next few years. Closing schools just reduces capacity at a time when that capacity may be needed. Schools are becoming assets now and not the liabilities they have been treated as in the last decade.

Everyone would like to have brand new, purpose-built schools for their children but this may have to be sacrificed to deal with the recession. New building may make way for refurbishment where possible as a lower cost option to help reduce public spending. Maybe all will become clear in the Spending Cuts this autumn. But any local authority closing schools now may hamstring themselves if there is no more money for new build into the future. Maybe they should look after what they already have and avoid the embarrassing situation that some London and Midland authorities found themselves in last year and this year where they do not have enough places for their primary school population because of a previous over-zealous school closure programme.

Local authorities should take stock now and not make any decisions on school closure that will disadvantage their electorate over the next decade. Now is the time for contemplation and not action until the Government’s policy on school provision becomes clear.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Jul 11 2010

School Closures – Political Yoyos

Have you seen the debate going on about the cancelling of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme? To my mind it typifies the ineptitude of both the outgoing and incoming governments.

I understand the coalition government has a big task on its hands in finding cuts in public sector spending and the big juicy BSF programme was ripe for cancellation. However, they have raced into a hurricane of criticism because of the mistakes and errors that have been made by in compiling their list of schools affected. Now Michael Gove is having to backtrack a little (and so he should in certain cases) but he is now being hounded by Ed Balls, the previous Education Minister.

The other big idea from the coalition government is to axe the Census with no clear idea of what will replace it. All public services need base data on population trends from a national to a local level so that they can plan public services. The danger here is that a decision will be taken before the options are assessed and a viable alternative is agreed to satisfy a short term financial pressure.

Ed Balls on the other hand is ramping up the pressure on the government with much public support for this popular programme which the country cannot afford in its present state. However, he is also the Minister who presided over the closure of many perfectly good primary schools by local authorities that are now having to having to replace them because of the pressure now being put on the areas by rising pupil populations! They encouraged local authorities to close primary schools because of falling rolls yet failed to see the big wave of school pupils coming over the hill! What brilliant forward planning!

I suppose my point is that, whatever government is in power, parents should not expect any help in their fights to save their primary schools. Both government and opposition have different agendas to each other and parents and parents must fight their own corner with the help of the law and its guidance and seek to get an objective view on their case. What seems blindingly obvious to parents isn’t even given a backward glance by the political parties.

Education policy is now in a big mess. Parents need to be vigilant because anything can happen in these dangerous and volatile times for education. Parents have few rights and governments pay lip service to parent participation in education so parents really need to form a national body so that their views on education policy have to be heard. We can fight the good fight when our backs are against the wall ie when our school is threatened with closure but we need to strike earlier and more strategically. Insert some common sense into governmental thinking.

By David • Blog • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , ,