Head teachers swamped with one million words of guidance

The Department of Children, Schools and Families sends almost 4,000 pages of emailed guidance to schools each year, it has been revealed.

Between April 2008 and April 2009, the Department’s fortnightly guidance notes contained a total of 3,982 pages of documents, and over 1.2 million words – one and a half times as many as the King James Bible.

Examples of the information and guidance documents include:

• 'The School Food Trust High School Musical Campaign’
• ‘Simplification Plan: Summary for Head Teachers’ (which is 90 pages long)
• Guidance on ‘Reducing Data Burdens’ for Schools
• 23 consultation and survey documents

In addition to this, there are now 37 different statutory policies that schools in England and Wales have to follow. These include detailed policies on collective worship, community cohesion and ‘target setting.’

Michael Gove, the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, warned, “Instead of giving teachers the powers they need over discipline or fixing the devaluation of the exam system, Ed Balls is swamping schools with such a tide of paper that it is obvious heads cannot read more than a fraction.”

He promised, “We will have a completely different approach – we will give teachers much more freedom, but we will make them more accountable to parents instead of bureaucrats.”

Michael Gove on restoring trust in our exam system

Michael Gove, the Shadow Education Secretary, talks about our plans for an online database of past papers to help restore trust in our exam system.

A quarter of History teachers are not specialists

New figures have revealed there is a huge shortage in the number of specialist History teachers in state schools.

In total, there are less than 12,000 specialist Historians – which amounts to just 76% of the History workforce.

By contrast, there are over 18,000 specialist PE teachers, or 83% of the PE workforce.

This revelation follows on from the discovery that only one third of students sat History GCSE in 2008.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said, "It is vital we act to end the decline and fall of history in our schools. Giving every child the opportunity to learn our island story is crucial to improving education.”

He stressed, "Heads need to be given more power over their budgets to get the history specialists our children need. And we need to ensure the resources to attract the very best teachers are concentrated in the poorest areas."

Gove announces plans for online library of past exam papers

Michael Gove has announced that a Conservative Government will establish an online library of past exam papers so parents and the public can track changes in standards over time.

The new website is part of a plan to restore public confidence in the exam system, which has become increasingly devalued over the past few years.

The site will be accessible to members of the public free of charge, and anyone will be allowed to upload an old exam paper, script or examiners’ report to it.

Michael, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said, “The Government treats exam papers like state secrets and refuses to publish them. This is wrong and a Conservative Government will create a free online library of all exam papers and scripts so there is full transparency and academic scrutiny of our exam system.”

He added, “It is vital that we restore public confidence in our exam system. Universities, businesses and academics say the system has been devalued and private schools are opting out of GCSEs for international exams.”

Gove outlines plans for a new generation of Maths and Science teachers

Michael Gove has announced radical new proposals to reform teacher training and help create a new generation of Maths and Science teachers in primary and secondary schools.

Michael, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, stressed, “Good as our teachers are, they must be better.”

And he outlined a series of proposals to improve the training given to trainee teachers:

• An end to multiple re-sits - under the current system, trainee teachers can re-sit the literacy and numeracy tests an infinite number of times.
• Upgraded tests - the Initial Teacher Training tests will be made more stretching
• Raising the GCSE English and Maths requirements for trainee primary school teachers from C to B
• A 2.2 will be made the minimal acceptable degree for taxpayer-funded PGCE
• Specialist courses in phonics and in Maths for trainee primary teachers

Michael said: “We want a new generation of Maths and science teachers in primary and secondary school.”

Gove condemns Labour's "sham" education plans

Michael Gove has attacked the education plans outlined by Labour yesterday, pointing out that they are a combination of unfunded commitments, re-announcements, and policies that aren’t even supported by their own Ministers.

Legally enforceable home-school contracts were called ‘totally wrong’ by the Schools Minister, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, just three months ago.

Parenting orders have existed since 1998, but not a single one has been applied for in the last five years - and pilots of the one-to-one tuition policy have proved disastrous.

Michael stressed that Ed Balls, Labour’s Schools Secretary, has not given teachers the powers they need to deal with violence and disruption:

“He rejected our plan to give teachers the power to search for banned items. He rejected our plan to let schools make parent contracts compulsory. His new gimmicks will not solve the deep problems we have with bad behaviour in schools.”

Michael, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, also attacked Mr. Balls for rejecting Conservative proposals for radical school reform to create thousands more good school places and raise standards across the board.

“Instead, he has opted for a one-to-one tuition programme that was ineffective - and over budget - when piloted, and a 'September Guarantee' for which the funding doesn't stack up.”

Gove highlights the decline and fall of GCSE history

Michael Gove has accused Labour of “pushing pupils away from harder subjects” after it was revealed that less than one in three sixteen-year-olds now sits GCSE history.

Government figures show that 450,000 pupils of school leaving age did not take the GSCE history exam last year - and five million have missed out since Labour came to power.

Labour’s new primary curriculum announced last month suggested replacing traditional lessons in history and geography with the teaching of ‘topics’ as part of cross-curricular ‘themes’.

Michael, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, warned the new curriculum "will further water down history at primary schools, as well as removing science from the core curriculum. All these reforms take us completely in the wrong direction.”

He added, “The Government’s league tables encourage schools to push pupils away from harder subjects, even if they are of more long-term value.”

Gove condemns "shocking" decline in English Literature GCSE

Michael Gove has highlighted “shocking” new figures that show that one in four sixteen-year olds are not sitting the GCSE English Literature exam.

186,000 pupils left school last year without taking any exam demonstrating proper knowledge of great works of literature – an increase of 20% in just five years.

Michael, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, slammed Gordon Brown for talking about promoting Britishness to our children while “the reality of what’s happening under Labour is very different”:

“An understanding and knowledge of English Literature is something we would all consider an essential part of education to GCSE level for all pupils. It is therefore shocking that the subject is in decline to the extent that more than one in four pupils does not even sit it at GCSE.”

The decline in the English Literature GCSE is sharpest amongst deprived pupils with almost two in five missing out, adding to the widening gap between the poorest children and the rest.

Michael stressed, “It is particularly concerning that it is the poorest students who are suffering most from this decline in English Literature. It is further proof that raising stands in our schools will have the greatest benefit for the most disadvantaged.”

Read about our plans to improve school standards

A new generation of primary academies

Michael Gove has announced plans to drive up standards in the state school sector by creating a new generation of primary academies, free from political interference.

Under the plans, state primary schools which have demonstrated excellent performance and leadership will be given academy freedoms over their curriculum, budget, staff and school hours. They will be accountable to parents for behaviour and standards, and would be freed from local authority control.

Michael, the Shadow Children's Secretary, said, "Making schools genuinely accountable to parents by freeing them from political interference and giving them control over budgets, curriculum and staff, could make a real difference to the opportunities for some of the most deprived children.”

Under Labour, four million children have failed to get five good GCSEs including English and Maths. Many are failed in primary school, with four in ten children leaving primary school unable to read, write and add up.

Michael stressed, “Academy freedoms for secondary schools have already helped thousands of disadvantaged children by driving up standards in the state sector. We want to allow the same thing to happen in primary schools."

A new generation of primary academies

Michael Gove has announced plans to drive up standards in the state school sector by creating a new generation of primary academies, free from political interference.

Under the plans, state primary schools which have demonstrated excellent performance and leadership will be given academy freedoms over their curriculum, budget, staff and school hours. They will be accountable to parents for behaviour and standards, and would be freed from local authority control.

Michael, the Shadow Children's Secretary, said, "Making schools genuinely accountable to parents by freeing them from political interference and giving them control over budgets, curriculum and staff, could make a real difference to the opportunities for some of the most deprived children.”

Under Labour, four million children have failed to get five good GCSEs including English and Maths. Many are failed in primary school, with four in ten children leaving primary school unable to read, write and add up.

Michael stressed, “Academy freedoms for secondary schools have already helped thousands of disadvantaged children by driving up standards in the state sector. We want to allow the same thing to happen in primary schools."