Privatisation experiment planned for Peers School
A bid was made earlier this month to transform Peers Technology College into an Academy school.
Under the government’s controversial Academy programme, control of a school is handed over to a private company, charity or other body in return for a relatively small investment of as little as £800,000. The state then provides the rest of the £25–30 million that may be needed to build or refurbish the school.
In the case of Peers, an application has been made by the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England, with the backing of Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, the Open University and Harrow, the elite public school.
The decision whether to grant the application will be made by Oxfordshire County Council after a local ‘consultation’ exercise. Those with experience of other local government consultations, such as the recent one over parking charges, will be aware of how meaningless they can be. In any case the government can overrule a local decision not to replace an existing school with an Academy.
If the application to make Peers an Academy is given the go-ahead then the new school will be able to set its own curriculum and accountability to parents will be extremely limited—it will only be required to have one elected parent governor.
The record of existing academies suggests that in order to improve performance, academically weaker pupils could be weeded out through increased school exclusions and unofficial selection techniques (even when there is no official selection). So even if Peers receives more investment, Blackbird Leys parents could find their children excluded from it by the various means available.
Despite the use of ‘backdoor’ selection and extra funding, Academies still haven’t made significant improvements, according to a report commissioned by the government. The study, which looked at 11 Academies, said they suffered from poor pupil discipline, bullying and badly designed buildings. While seven had improved their results at 14 and GCSE, standards at the other four had deteriorated.
The involvement of the Church of England also raises the spectre of Peers becoming a ‘faith school’, paving the way for demands to create more schools catering to different faiths in Oxford.
New Labour has actively promoted faith schools, with local MP Andrew Smith being an ardent supporter. The IWCA is opposed to faith-based schools, which segregate pupils according to religious background, creating and exacerbating divisions in society.
Silence over failure
Unfortunately, those with a responsibility for ensuring that kids in the local area get a decent education have been silent for too long.
A common sense approach would entail identifying the problems with the school and fixing them.
One obvious deficiency that needs to be put right is the lack of dedicated special needs teaching staff, despite the high proportion of special educational needs pupils at Peers. This should be addressed immediately.
However, it seems that such an approach is too straightforward for an education system that has been constantly tinkered with, first by the Tories and then by New Labour.
Despite the increased cost to the taxpayer, it is unlikely that effectively privatising Peers and obtaining a ‘sponsor’ will do anything to improve educational standards for Blackbird Leys children.
Concerned parent?
IWCA councillor Jane Lacey, a governor of Peers School, is happy to discuss any issues relating to the school. Contact Jane on 07733 274 324 or visit the IWCA surgery: Wednesdays, 6.30–8.30pm, at the Clockhouse.
Leys Independent, issue 34, October 2006
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