Time for a history lesson

“Now, with the best teaching force and the best school leadership ever, we are poised to become world class if we have the courage and vision to reform and invest further and put the parent and pupil at the centre of the system. Our reforms must build on the freedoms that schools have increasingly received, but extend them radically. We must put parents in the driving seat for change in all-ability schools that retain the comprehensive principle of non-selection, but operate very differently from the traditional comprehensive. And to underpin this change, the local authority must move from being a provider of education to being its local commissioner and the champion of parent choice.”

This admirable and aspirational Prime Ministerial foreword to the schools white paper succinctly sets out exactly what needs to happen to effect real, substantial and permanent change in the education system: power given to parents; autonomy for schools to innovate; and local authorities’ role in running schools removed.