Children, Schools and Families Bill

Written by Colin Breed and published in Lowdown Article on Tue 26th Jan 2010

Earlier this month Parliament discussed the Second Reading of the Children, Schools and Families Bill, another hotch-potch of clauses and legislation that serves little purpose other than to add more weight to the statute book.

It is worth noting that this is the 12th education Bill since 1997, and this particular one was published only a week after the last one received Royal Assent. Joined up thinking, this is not; which is a shame because the Bill comes with commitments to £1.1 billion worth of additional spending. Given the title, one would presume this figure would be destined for children, schools and families, but none of this money will go to the front line. Instead, it will be spent on bureaucracy creating agreements between schools and children, so that everyone understands what they can expect from each other.

For example, agreement number 5 (in a list of 38) guarantees "every 11-14 year old enjoys relevant and challenging learning in all subjects, and develops their personal, learning and thinking skills so that they have strong foundations to make their 14-19 choices." In other words, this Bill creates a guarantee that pupils can expect an education from their educators. It tells teachers to do their jobs, although the Government admits "this will be phased in by September 2010", so presumably before then they do not have to offer "relevant or challenging learning", or provide "strong foundations."

On a similar note, I remember a recent radio advertisement for the police service advertising the new "policing pledge", which guarantees that "every police force promises to listen to you and your neighbours, and to act on any problems you raise with them". I am waiting for similar pledges from the fire and ambulance services guaranteeing that they will respectively put out fires and heal people.

The point is that we do not need this level of bureaucracy. I know the police will act on any problems I raise because that is their job, and they are good at it. Similarly, the £1.1 billion outlined in the Children, Schools and Families Bill should be used to fund education, not to fund bureaucracy. If teachers are given more money simply to teach then the 38 guarantees included in this Bill would be fulfilled almost as a by-product.

The Liberal Democrats voted against the Second Reading of this Bill because it is another example of ill-thought out plans which give the impression that something is being done, whilst spending money in the wrong areas. That hefty sum could be better spent elsewhere, perhaps directly on children, schools and families.