Plus ça change

Nicky Morgan returns

Despite rumours of Michael Gove’s return, Nicky Morgan takes up her seat again at the Cabinet table as the Secretary of State for Education. She promises to listen, perhaps mindful that the confrontational approach of her predecessor appeared to alienate many in the profession. Here’s what she has to say …

"In the 10 months I was here before the election I visited many schools up and down the country, spoke to over 900 teachers, and I’m going to be doing much more of that now that I’m back in position.

"It’s about listening, it’s about hearing what they’ve got to say, tackling things like workload, Ofsted inspections, and building on all the lessons I’ve learned in the last 10 months."

Given the rapid pace of change of late a little continuity may be welcomed in some quarters.

Academies and free schools

The Conservative manifesto made it clear the expansion of academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges will continue.

Perhaps the most controversial proposal is for the opening of at least 500 new free schools during the life of the next parliament. Nicky Morgan is on record as saying free schools are "helping to raise standards across the board".

This claim has been met with scepticism in some quarters – many have been critical of the high costs associated with establishing free schools and the locations in which they have opened. However, they seem here to stay, like it or not.

The Conservatives have also pledged to "turn every failing and coasting secondary school into an academy". No surprises there – already over half our secondary schools have converted. The bigger challenge will lie in the primary sector and as a firm we believe the future for many will lie in the formation of multi-academy trusts.

Failing schools

The Conservatives have promised new powers to force coasting schools to accept new leadership. Unless they can come up with an acceptable plan for rapid improvement, those requiring improvement will be taken over by the best headteachers backed by expert sponsors or high performing schools.

There’s much to be said for the Jim Collin’s principle of ‘getting the right people on the bus’ – if you haven’t heard of them yet, his books on organisational effectiveness are a ‘must read’ – however, questions may be raised about where all the good new leadership is going to come from.

School funding

The Conservative manifesto pledged to protect the schools budget in cash terms, with budget increases linked to rises in pupil numbers. For this read, there’s no more money. Salary inflation (and in particular the rising costs of providing final salary pensions) will soon eat into the finances of the vast majority of schools and academies and tough choices lie ahead.

Apparently the Conservatives have also pledged not to allow state schools to make a profit. Many might observe that chance would be a fine thing.

In practice, this means schools will have little choice but to find new ways to cut costs at the same time as protecting educational standards. During our recent ‘Voice of the Midlands’ Dinner’ Frank Green, the National Schools Commissioner, observed that when times are tough innovation comes to the fore.

We agree. That’s why we have plans to launch an Innovation Forum shortly to help schools and academies share good ideas and practice and look at new ways to ‘re-imagine’ what school means.

Simon Ramshaw is a Partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, where he leads the education team. He can be contacted on 0121 214 3533.