| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Elephant in the Room - Toby Young's School idea | |
| Posted by: | Andy Jones | |
| Date/Time: | 03/09/09 10:03:00 |
| 'If children had to go to their local school there would more focus on raising the standards.' I think this is a rather dangerous delusion. If there was no parental choice and the local school was deemed to be poor then those with the means would move away leading to areas of concentrated poverty. You are never going to solve the problem of some schools being perceived as better than others and parents tending to avoid certain schools. Even if standards rose massively parents would still want the better school for their child. The problem with the present system is that it condemns schools with a perception problem to a cycle of decline. If local parents are avoiding it it becomes undersubscribed. An undersubscribed school will tend to have more demanding admissions who present a much greater challenge to the teaching staff. They will also have a much higher pupil turnover. This tends to be reflected in league tables no matter how high the standard of teaching and therefore the number of application is hit further. The only way to break this cycle of decline in my view is to give the school total autonomy on admissions and put a head in place like Sir William Atkinson with a mandate to win back the confidence of the local community. |