| School reforms bill faces opposition from Labour's ranks |
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LONDON: Britain's education secretary Ruth Kelly said the government is determined to go ahead with the school reforms in spite of reservations from its own party ranks. Former labour leader Lord Kinnock had said the proposal contained in the government's white paper on school reforms would lead to "dreadful shattering of the school system".
Kinnock said it would be unacceptable for a labour government to side a bill that offers powers to a school to decide which pupils it should admit.
While there are reports that more than 90 MPs from the party may object to permission being granted to schools to evolve their own admission policies, Kelly maintained there is unity of purpose within the party. She said schools would not be allowed to select pupils by academic ability, reiterating that under the proposed reforms, selection would be "absolutely, full stop against the law".
Meanwhile, the Commons select committee is preparing a report on the white paper, which will be released next week. According to parts of the report leaked to the press, the committee is suggesting that fair access should take priority over "choice", and that it should be under the control of a "scrupulously fair process policed by the local authority".
The committee suggests that local authorities would tell schools how many children from poor households should be admitted, and would vigorously police a new national admissions code that would outlaw selection and interviews of pupils or parents.
It also wants the local authorities to provide benchmarks for every secondary school in their areas for the number of pupils they should be admitting in Year 7 eligible for free school meals or the working families tax credit.
Labour leaders who oppose the reforms say that reducing the control of the local education authority over the schools would lead to selection by the back door and this will help the educated middle-class to have their children admitted to the most prestigious schools.
Education minister Lord Adonis said this is not the scenario envisaged under the reforms as they ensure that local authorities will have the right to object to individual schools' admissions policies and refer them to an adjudicator.
Surprisingly, the conservatives are supporting the government. Shadow education secretary David Willetts said his party will support Tony Blair if he decides not to compromise as urged by Kinnock and his supporters.
Kinnock told a meeting Thursday night that the government's proposals give schools more freedom over admissions and encourage greater involvement of business and faith groups. This threatened the educational chances of generations of children, he said.
Kelly, however, played down Kinnock's contentions. She said the tone and language used by Kinnock are not the kind of issues being raised by her other colleagues in the party. She later told a programme on BBC Radio that the differences with the "rebels" have been reduced to a "couple of issues".
She said there was misunderstanding about the code, but it was on a statutory basis and enforced by law. Those who have spoken against the bill have opposition against a couple of particular issues such as selection and the role of local authorities, but as a whole, they support most of the white paper, she said.
Posted
on : Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:30 GMT | General News
By : Paula Jenkins
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