Government Advisor's Report on Improving Alternative Education Provision

When I was previously Cabinet Member for Children at the County Council I was involved in the development of a different approach to managing alternative tuition in schools (which in very brief terms means dealing with children who for whatever reason are struggling to scope with mainstream schools). This approach involved devolving finances for the management of these children back to schools to encourage them to take better responsibility for their decisions.  Whilst I did occasionally have to stand up and be counted to defend our plans, there was overall a huge amount of support and some excellent listening, working and leadership from officers in Cambridgeshire and from secondary head teachers in our County.  Because of this it is now a system that works well, with many fewer students being excluded and sent to Pupil Referral Units and an overall reduction in costs.


I was delighted to be told today that our approach has been recognised as an example of good practice in a report by Charlie Walker, the Government's Expert Advisor on Behaviour. (The reference to Cambridgeshire can be found on Page 11 of the report)

I hope lots of officers and teachers around the County are patting themselves on the back today for the work they have done - it is an example of a direct link between innovation and the improvement of people's lives.   That's the sort of thing we as Councillors should be about.

ConHome's Analysis of Michael Gove's comments

Conservative Home have done an analysis of our exam systems and Michael Gove's recent comments.  I broadly agree with it.

There can be little doubt that the credibility of GCSEs and A Levels has diminished.  That is in no way a slight on students.  We have some remarkable students who will deal with whatever exam system is put in front of them, but the best of them are not stretched sufficiently.  I can use a personal example here.  My daughter achieved remarkable GCSE (11 A*, 2 A and 1B) and A level results (2 A* 1A).  Obviously I was and am delighted with those - and she is an amazing academic.  But with hindsight you have to reflect on whether she could have been stretched and tested a little more.  Not because of the school she went to (Sir Harry Smith Community College did a grand job) but because they were working to an exam system that doesn't stretch sufficiently.

I remember taking my daughter around Cambridge when she was applying and hearing someone talk about the weight they give to the International Baccalaureate  - because its standards have been maintained over the years.  Again, that is not the fault of Cambridge University - but it does perhaps highlight one of the reasons why state schools students do not get places in top Universities. (my daughter is now very, very happy at Edinburgh University - so I have no gripes here!!).

It is not because of our students that our system has to change, it is FOR our students.  They deserve to be tested in a system that has international and academic credibility and the best of our students deserve to be stretched and tested more than they are at present.

Safe Recruitment

It would be wrong of me not to mention the issue of safer recruitment given the coverage the issues in Cambridgeshire have received today.

The story is basically that an audit of safe recruitment practices in schools in Cambridgeshire found that practices in our schools have not improved over recent years and that as many as one in eight (based on a sample of sixteen schools) may not be doing even basic checks.  These include a check against List 99 - which takes about half an hour and confirms that a potential appointee has not been banned from working with children.

Today I did interviews with Anglia TV and Look East and the story has appeared in the local media and, over the last couple of days, in the National Press too, including some quotes from me.  Those quotes are taken from the interview I have done with the Cambs Times and I should thank them, their report of this issue, which is online here, gives exactly the message I wanted - a robust one that makes it clear that complacency in the area of safe recruitment is not an option.

Of course, as a County Council we are looking at what we can do to improve the situation - but actually it is up to schools to do these checks and we cannot hold their hands every time they recruit and appoint new staff.   I hope that the National coverage this report has received will help to hit the point home to schools that unsafe recruitment practices are not acceptable.

However, and this is not to divert attention away from Cambridgeshire, it must be said that the reason the issue has been identified here is because our Audit and Accounts Committee chose to do the work they have and, recognising a problem, chose to bring it to the attention of the Cabinet at the County Council.  I think I know our schools pretty well, and my instinct is that this situation is not unique to Cambridgeshire and is potentially worse elsewhere.  I have sent an email tonight to the Department for Education making exactly this point.

Time to examine your navel Mr Downes

On Monday, Peter Downes, the Liberal Democrat Lead on Children's Services at the County Council led a debate at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference which opposed the Coalition Government's Free Schools and Academies proposals.  The motion was opposed by the Lib Dem Schools Minister, Sarah Teather, but was unfortunately supported by the Liberal Democrat Conference.

Thankfully, on a practical approach, the motion doesn't affect Government policy, but it is still disappointing for at least two reasons.  Firstly, opposing a bill which allows greater freedom for schools totally ignores the huge lessons of the last 13 years (and indeed from before), that the ever centralising, controlling agenda doesn't work.  Whilst exam results have improved in Britain, our international standing in terms of literacy and numeracy has gone backwards and Head Teachers, Governors etc. have become increasingly frustrated by the mass of bureaucracy and paperwork from central Government.  The coalition has offered an alternative which rewards success and encourages fresh independent thinking through the creation of free schools, whilst offering commitment to the most vulnerable through the pupil premium and other emerging ideas.

I have to say - I do not expect a flood of Free Schools in Cambridgeshire, but, whilst we have to treat them on a case by case basis, we do have to be open minded and examine them on their merits rather than based on a rigid opposition to all things different.

However, it is the second reason for my disappointment that is the most important - and that is that by driving a wedge between himself and Lib Dem Ministers Peter Downes has harmed Cambridgeshire's ability to influence the National agenda and improve the lot for the children of our County.  When Nick Clegg accepted a role in Government, it gave Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats a unique opportunity to influence the National agenda according to their own vision.  What they have actually done is oppose, oppose, oppose.  Never more so than with this motion to the Lib Dem Party Conference which has created huge distance between Peter Downes and the very people he could and should have worked with in order to help improve the lot for the County.

I am afraid Peter Downes must recognise that his stance, however principled, has harmed his ability to serve the people who elected him.  It is time for him to realise that having someone else fulfil his opposition role will better enable the rebuilding of bridges between Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats and Education Ministers at a National level.

My teaching experience

Today, I had a new experience, which was teaching a lesson at St Albans Catholic Primary School in Cambridge.   It's the sort of thing I like to do - it helps to get a bottom up perspective and, as a result, improves decision-making.

In the end I really enjoyed it, albeit I was a bit nervous at the start.  I was helped by a great group of children, some of whom actually seemed to enjoy themselves.  For those that want to know, it was a lesson based on the poem "The Sound Collector" by Roger McGough where I got the children to write their own middle section. Some of the results were amazing.

What did I learn:

1. If every teacher spent as much time on a single lesson plan as I did, no teaching would get done.
2. Writing a lesson plan is one thing.  Converting it into a coherent lesson is a different and far more important talent.
3.   Don't cram too much into one lesson.

Later on this evening I then did an interview with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - basically talking about my experience and linking it to better decision-making over cuts - a very valid point - the better informed, the better the decisions.

They also asked about the cuts agenda and I was able to make the point that opposing is one thing, but coming up with sensible alternatives that cut Europe's biggest deficit in the sort of timescales we need to is entirely another.

Overall, one of the good days.

I would just like to thank everyone at St Albans school and, in particular, their very patient, attentive and clever Year 6 students for putting up with me.

Tuition Fees = Upsetting the Conservatives

I am a bit more of a fan of the coalition than my colleague Steve Tierney, overall I think the agreement is pretty decent, yes the Euroscpeticism is toned down, but it is still there and, especially, we sit in a position where, despite the most significant political change of our time, the Conservatives remain committed to not joining the Euro, the fact that we have taken the Lib Dems along with us for the life time of this Parliament has to be a good thing.   My main reason for caution remains a lack of trust of the Lib Dems.  I do think Nick Clegg is one of the good guys, but behind him there is almost certainly a whole mass of people who sit, knives at the ready, all set to do some evil deed as soon as they see an opportunity for political advantage. That’s what Lib Dems do; Menzies Campbell was one of the good guys and look what they did to him.

One of the things I hoped was that the few sensible aspects of the Lib Dems manifesto would be kept.  Of course, there is a whole mass of stuff that was there for opportunism and, of course that could never have been kept in the coalition Government.  The ludicrous amnesty for illegal immigrants was a great example.  The reason that policy was there was because both the Conservatives and Labour Party had adopted reasonably strong stances on immigration and so it would have been tough to squeeze any more votes out if they had taken a similarly strong position, so they target the voters that are disappointed with strong immigration policies.  It wasn’t about right or wrong (which is why the policy was eaten alive during the TV debates), it was about vote hunting.  So, of course, that policy had to go when it came to a coalition.

This bit is where I upset many in my own party.  One of the areas I agreed with the Lib Dems (it really hurts saying that!!) was on tuition fees.  One of the questions I often ask is “What is the purpose of education?”  For a young person it is surely about giving them the best possible start in life?  Can someone please tell me how saddling someone with a £20k plus debt contributes to that?  Sending a message to a 21 year old that significant debt is OK is not a positive way to move society forwards either.   We have too much debt, we need to be encouraging people to live within their means, but instead we have a policy that creates the inherent impression that debt is the way to go.

However, where we seem to be headed is to increase tuition fees.  To saddle students with even more debt, to strengthen the message that debt is OK.   I was one of only a few Conservative candidates at the General election to sign the NUS’ pledge to vote against any increase in tuition fees.  I meant it.

One of the reasons people say that tuition fees are OK is because Degrees increase their earning potential.  Except, that is not true for every Degree course, but also every party wants to increase the number of students going to University.    If that happens, the advantages gained from getting a Degree are lessened and therefore the additional benefits will be reduced.

But there is, to me, a far more fundamental reason why there needs to be a great deal more caution about tuition fees, and especially about increasing them. One of the things we quite rightly need to do is increase the number of children from poorer backgrounds that go to University.  One of the most telling facts about the failure of the Blair/Brown Labour Government was that in the last year for which figures were collected, only 45 children who received Free School Meals went to Oxbridge - these are amongst the Universities that are driving the campaign to increase tuition fees.   Now some of those children are likely to get support and won’t have to pay fees - but just above that level is another bunch, who also likely to have parents who never had the chance to go to University - but who also don’t have the money to help their kids.  They will also be families that are used to struggling and have never received state support.

Now try and put yourself in the mind of one of the children from those families.  Their perception of £20k is significantly different from a family where they are used to a higher income and a higher standard of living, their perception will be about how tough it will be to pay off a debt like that given that they have had parents who are struggling day in day out to keep their heads above water.  The more you increase tuition fees, the worse that gap in perception is likely to be, it will create a real mental barrier that will prevent children  from low to middle incomes taking up university places.

Here’s where my argument falls down.  How do we provide the necessary funding?   I haven’t got a clue.  But there are supposed to be people with bigger brains then mine (yes even mine J) looking at this stuff.  I am sure if someone gave out the instruction that increasing tuition fees isn’t the answer some imaginative ideas would emerge.