The National Union of Teachers has commented on the Government's 17 March White Paper proposals to make every school an "academy" (directly funded by central government, with no local authority control over its management) and to abolish Qualified Teacher Status.
Getting rid of Qualified Teacher Status is a clear indication of how little this Government respects teachers or parents, who believe their children should be taught by a qualified teacher. Leaving schools and heads to decide whether a teacher has reached suitable standards lacks coherence...
Many schools, including the overwhelming majority of primaries, have made a positive choice to remain maintained by their local authority. This White Paper’s proposals to turn all schools into academies will abolish that choice and instead impose an authoritarian central Government diktat on schools.
So much for ‘localism’, so much for ‘choice’, so much for ‘autonomy’, so much for ‘democracy’. Small schools in particular will lose their identity, and rural schools face an uncertain future as multi-academy trusts will pick and choose which schools they consider viable. It will cost the taxpayer a fortune to convert all schools into academies, and all based on no evidence that academies improve the education of children.
The Government says it wants fairer funding but is imposing real terms cuts on schools.
