Nicky Morgan's thread continued (MNers calling for Lucy Powell to do webchat)

[Mner]

Following on from Nicky Morgan MP's one sided "webchat" see here...

Active petitions against academisation are here:
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124702
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747

Guardian article is here

You can write to your MP: www.writetothem.com/

Good luck to everyone at the demonstrations today. I can't attend

There isn’t another government just around the corner to be frank. I’m yet to hear concrete policy proposals on raising standards from our critics.

So teaching unions have a choice – spend the next 4 years doing battle with us and doing down the profession they represent in the process, or stepping up, seizing the opportunities and promise offered by the white paper and helping us to shape the future of the education system.

She's just taken the gloves off here, hasn't she? So much for the being willing to listen from earlier in the speech.

and helping us to shape the future of the education system.

I am sure that teachers would be delighted to do this, but it wouldn't mean endless curriculum changes, SATS tests which have demoralised children, arts and music squeezed out of the curriculum.

She missed a bit out what she meant to say was and helping us to shape the future of the education system as long as you do it our way.

Well, let me be absolutely clear I will engage with any audience, with anyone who wants to participate in the conversation on how we make England’s education system the best system it possibly can be.

This was a particularly good bit.

That's bollocks. If she is willing to engage, why hasn't she turned up for discussion on her post?

MNHQ seem to be on holidays 😒

Another academy mess that the government is trying to keep quiet - politicalscrapbook.net/2016/03/why-the-government-quietly-buried-news-of-a-big-academy-schools-scandal-yesterday/

How is she allowed to get away with pedalling such shite?!

How is she allowed to get away with pedalling such shite?!

Either she has the unequivocal support of No10 as the Government intend to force this through irrespective of the objections - or, she's being set up to be the fall guy when No10 decide they don't have the appetite for a drawn out fight with the unions.
My money is on the former.

Not denying it's shite then Pretty?

Interesting commentary on her speech from Janet Downs of the Local Schools Network here:

www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2016/03/morgan-gets-relatively-polite-nasuwt-reception-but-also-mirth-and-a-few-jeers

NUT announces ballot for strike action. I wonder if NASUWT will follow suit. I've been in secondary schools with divided union presence where half the staff went on strike so the school stayed open as usual and the impact was lost.

And an interesting article from "The Conversation" which quotes from Mumsnet....

Sorry forgot link...

theconversation.com/why-it-is-a-huge-mistake-to-get-rid-of-parent-governors-on-school-boards-56700?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Easter%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%204562&utm_content=Easter%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%204562+CID_f2b61b02051266c17adccfd88b203985&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=The%20government%20has%20gravely%20misunderstood%20what%20parents%20contribute%20to%20school%20governance

I still cannot imagine that there is no way they can be dragged to court on this?

This is how British democracy has always worked. It may seem unreasonable when a majority government chooses to put ideology ahead of evidence - but no system is perfect. If legal action against a serving government was an option, it would have been taken against the government which introduced the National Curriculum, such was the strength of feeling at the time from Unions and the public. Now, the NC is being defended and proposals to permit schools to opt out are being criticised.

If enough Tory MPs are willing to vote against the Government, then the proposals will fail. If not, they will be passed. And, given the current climate within the opposition parties and the history of the academy agenda, some opposition MPs may choose to vote in favour.

The House of Lords might be able to upset the applecart a bit - but I suspect that many of them, of all political pursuasions, would be set to professionally benefit from a more open education market.

some opposition MPs may choose to vote in favour.

I cannot believe this. Our local paper has already had a letter expressing dismay over this forced academisation agenda signed by the LibDem, Greens and Labour councillors. On education Labour has never advocated mass forced academisation, and the important thing to remember is that there is not a word on this in Tory party manifesto, so they have no democratic mandate.

SNP are very unlikely to vote on this, so it should be straightforward for the government to get it through the Parliament.

If they can vote on shop opening hours in England, surely they can vote on the biggest change in education for over 100 years? The bishops should get stuck in too, because the dual system of church and local authority schools would be no more, and let's hope the humanists throw in lots of extra clauses about religious criteria and demand reports on the effects of increased segregation, since different church schools will need to be covered by different trusts rather than as part of the same LA sharing resources.

SNP voted on Sunday trading because there was concern that the Scottish shop workers who get premium pay for working Sundays would be affected. Unfortunately I can't see an obvious direct link with academies and Scottish Education (other than a rush of teachers looking to cross the border!).
We need to hope parents, local councillors, the church and cross party MPs get behind this.

the important thing to remember is that there is not a word on this in Tory party manifesto, so they have no democratic mandate.

Do you think it would have made a difference to the election result if it had?
Given how clearly the manifesto set out the agenda to increase the number of academies, and to intervene in "coasting" schools (which may include many of the OFSTED rated good primary schools) ; are there really that many people who voted Tory who would have cast a different vote if the party had outlined how they intended to increase the number of academies?

It's not as if teachers didn't know this was coming. It's been common knowledge for years. Did none of them vote for conservatives?

I honestly don't think there's going to be a U turn on this one. I just hope that the distraction and disruption the opposition to this bill creates doesn't lead to a further dip in standards.

Junior Drs have steadily increased the intended impact of their action in a bid to force the Governement to listen.
What are teachers prepared to do? How far are they prepared to go? If boycotting SATS doesn't work, what next? Boycotting GCSEs?
How will the impact on the children and young people?

Now, the NC is being defended and proposals to permit schools to opt out are being criticised.

It's not really a proposal to allow schools to opt out, though, is it? Schools will still have to facilitate their pupils sitting the standard tests whether at KS1, 2 or 4. If they aren't teaching something pretty damn close to the NC, they won't be getting very good scores on these national tests and parents will vote, as far as able, with their feet. Right or wrong, schools' scores on SATs and GCSEs are a big thing for parents.

But it's not just about teachers - it's parents, including the middle class ones whose only experience of academies has been as converter academies with little apparent change so far, rather than mediocre or failing MATs like AET, E-Act, Oasis, etc. There are plenty of mumsnetters who dominate the secondary private school application threads who have children in LA primary schools. Some are even school governors. Only 18% of primaries are currently academies, and this will represent a massive change. If the Tory cabinet member for education in Cameron's own constituency called the policy 'bonkers'' for the Guardian, there must be many more echoing such fears in private. Elections are coming up in local councils and now us the time for constituents to get their leaders to express their opinions.

Remember how it went with the poll tax? No Conservatives ever expected it to get as far as it did, and few really supported it. Thatcher's defeat enabled Major to come in and reverse it.

If the teachers do go on strike I will support them. I guess its easier for me as I am a SAHM so don't have the childcare issue but if it goes ahead I'll no doubt be looking after a few others kids too, to help my working mum friends out, and I'll be glad to do it.

Maybe it is the people I hang around with, but if there is a teacher's strike, everyone I know would be supportive. It isn't just the Academies issue parents are concerned about; it's also the SATS, the curriculum, the side-lining of creative subjects, the academic pressures children are being placed under. Parents know this comes from the government and not from the teachers. At my kids' school, parents talk about their concerns, they are worried about the effect that all these changes and endless testing is having on their children. Doesn't the rise in numbers of parents home schooling tell them anything? We are not all as idiotic as Nicky Morgan makes out - we don't walk around with our eyes shut. Thanks to the internet and social media, news travels fast and in my experience parents are very active online.

However going from what has been happening with the NHS, I think even if there is a strike the Government will just try and force this through anyway. They will try and make out that it is the teachers being irresponsible. I really hope enough positive media can be generated in support of the teachers.

The bishops should get stuck in too, because the dual system of church and local authority schools would be no more

I expect they will be won over with promises of autonomy for church schools. The London Diocesan Board for Schools certainly doesn't sound worried. Their chief exec Inigo Wolf has sent the following message to all its schools who are cascading it out to parents ....

" The LDBS wants to reassure you that there is no need to panic. Decisions need to be carefully considered and probably should be taken in conjunction with the move to the fairer funding of schools. This change in funding will have a greater impact on schools than conversion to academy status. Clearly exciting times lie ahead. We will be providing support and a plan".

The success of the strike depends on a) exactly what they strike about and b) what the press say.

If they strike about forced academies, they will have more success. If it's a woolly 'pay and conditions' then nobody will care. I read comments on the Daily Fail yesterday (yes, I know) and there are still large numbers with the view that they are all 'lefty teachers who can't do their job properly and are just resistant to change' or 'can't they strike in the 13 weeks holiday they get or after school since they only work till 3' or that the government need to 'break the unions and stop the lazy teachers holding them hostage'.

Although there's quite a lot of support on here (a parenting forum) I'm not sure how much support a strike would get elsewhere?

Although the Daily Fail comments were fairly united that teachers are all lefty incompetents with no idea of the real world, most of the ones I read (could only manage a limited time !) were also anti mass academisation.
I completely agree that how the (hopefully inevitable) strikes are presented and covered is key. However I don't think the unions will be able to strike on academies without linking it to pay and conditions, a strike purely on government policy would be unlawful unless that policy adversely affects workers rights.