cities@manchester event

We (James, Maija and Ruth) attended the cities@manchester event Using Market Forces to improve Education in Manchester: Possibilities and Challenges. This was a cross discipline meeting about the impact of market forces on our education system. The panel consisted of Julie Thorpe (Head of Schools and Youth Programmes, The Co-operative College), Aneez Esmail (Chair of Governors, Chorlton High School), Kieran McDermott (One Education, COE), Christopher Ray (High Master, Manchester Grammar School and New Islington Academy) and Professor Helen Gunter (University of Manchester) and was chaired by Gillian Evans (University of Manchester). Here we summarise the key positions of the speakers and provide a short response.

Four of the panel members presented arguments supporting the diversification within and across schooling provision.  Firstly Julie Thorpe from the Co-operative College argued that the reform agenda creates a space for the development of democratic schools along cooperative and mutual lines for the benefit of local communities. Aneez Esmail, the Chair of Governors explained his reasons why the school (a successful comprehensive) is in the process of converting to an academy. He argued that within the current context of educational reform the government’s drive for increasing school autonomy as a universal model for schooling provision meant that schools such as his felt that there were few options available and that part of the decision was formed by a feeling of needing to ‘jump before being pushed’. However he felt that the opportunities afforded by opting out of LA control, would allow the school more flexibility to respond to local needs and demands. Kieran McDermott (One Education) considered that traditional approaches to schooling provision were inefficient. He gave an example of how decentralising school budgets (in this case for the EP service) the head teacher was able to cut the waiting list that had existed under centralised budget holding. Thus he argued that the freedoms granted by the marketisation of education allowed individual schools to tackle underlying inefficiency and red tape that exists within the traditional LA relationships. Christopher Ray of Manchester Grammar School considered that by setting up a Free School MGS would offer bright working class children a great education that they were currently denied in the comprehensive system. Prof. Gunter argued that there was disputed evidence that diversification of schooling provision actually improved outcomes, and was concerned that comprehensive education is democratically accountable in a way that new models of schooling are not.

For us, the implications of using market forces within the education system by increasing diversification of schooling provision are that it fragments local relationships between schools, local authorities and their communities. The use of market forces in policy development across the public sector does not address some of the root causes behind educational failure and disadvantage in our society and we are concerned that exclusion against groups of children is occurring in an increasing rate as schools continue to diversify and compete in the market. However the spaces being created by diversification in the schooling system have been taken up by the Co-operative College who now have 200 academies run along mutual, democratic and cooperative lines. It is too soon to tell the potential benefits from remodelling schools in this way, but we see opportunities for productive community engagement in the development of schooling provision to reflect local need in the model developed by the Co-operative College.  

Interestingly Ron Glatter has written around the issues of markets in education in todays Guardian and the link is provided below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/28/full-profit-making-schools