Educators are split over the government’s proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with some saying the move will improve fairness and accountability and others warning it could limit innovation in academy schools.
Pushed by the Department for Education (DfE) as a means to reform the education system, the bill seeks to improve school standards, strengthen attendance policies, and ensure that children receive a well-rounded education that prioritises their wellbeing.
The legislation also includes measures to increase school accountability, particularly for academies, by giving more oversight to the DfE.
Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher of Michaela School in Wembley, north London, called it “absolutely appalling”.
“I’m just really concerned because, at the moment, school leaders have the freedom to do various things that are right for their intake,” she told Sky News.
“This bill will take those freedoms away.”
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Ms Birbalsingh, also known as ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’, added: “We got unlucky because we could have had Wes Streeting as education secretary, which would have been fine. Unfortunately, we got her [Bridget Phillipson].
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“She [Ms Phillipson] is so arrogant. She’s just marched in there and gone, ‘I know what I’m doing, I’ll just do what I want’.”
But some argue that academies are left to their own devices and have a lack of accountability when it comes to things like parental complaints.
The bill will require all schools to follow the national curriculum and employ teachers who have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or are working towards it.
The founder of Oasis Academies, Steve Chalke, told Sky News: “We’re excited about the changes because we feel that education has been in a very, very poor place for the last decade or more.
“Schools have been stripped of resources and there have been giant problems about the recruitment and retention of teachers.
“We feel that this important bill is beginning to address all of those issues.”
The bill plans to provide all primary school children with breakfast, alongside uniform limits.
This would prevent schools from having more than three items of branded uniform clothing, potentially addressing concerns parents have about the cost of uniforms.
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Mr Chalke said: “I am a fan of working hard collaboratively to create the best opportunities for any and every young person and their family.
“Because behind every struggling child is normally a parent who’s struggling with that.”
He added: “We at Oasis are excited about all of this, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have questions.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re being led blindly down the road, but our job is to be engaged in the discussion about how academies work more widely with their local authorities.”
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The bill will also give local authorities greater control over the pupil admission process.
Ms Birbalsingh said: “Any council could decide to reduce the number of children in one school and therefore reduce the money at that school and give more pupils to another school that’s struggling.”
Mr Chalke said: “Educational academy boards, academy groups, need to be accountable in strong partnership with others. And if this bill delivers everything it promises, wow. I think [it] will be an extraordinary outcome.”
The bill is set to be debated further in the coming weeks as it moves through parliament.
A DfE spokesperson said: “This government is determined to drive high and rising standards for every child through our Plan for Change, to ensure every family has a good local school for their child.
“Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill delivers on this mission, getting high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensuring there is a floor on pay and no ceiling.
“These measures will make sure we are giving every child an education as good as the best.”
