Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been accused of 'harming children' (Image: Getty)
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been accused of betraying children by caving into the demands of unions as the Government’s controversial Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill returns to Parliament. Amanda Spielman, the former head of school inspection service Ofsted, condemned Labour’s plans to impose new controls on academy schools, which supporters say are the most successful type of state school.
She said: “The new minister is clearly giving a great deal of time and attention to the desires and demands of unions. And alas, unions will always defend the interests of the adults in schools over those of children.” And she urged parents to oppose the changes for the sake of “future generations of children”.
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Ms Spielman said: “Much of this agenda has been influenced by education union leaders and activists, though these people are notoriously unrepresentative of the whole profession. So it is remarkable that as yet there has been so little parent concern.
READ MORE: MPs and charities call for ban on smacking to save young lives
“It will probably take a while for parents to see through the polished verbiage and jazz hands that accompany every announcement.
“But unless they do see through it, and exert enough pressure to counteract union dominance, it is current and future generations of children – the people who were most harmed by lockdowns – who will bear the brunt of these changes.”
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Academies are funded directly from the Department for Education and are free from local council control. They were created by a previous Labour government when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, which said it wanted to put an end to “bog standard comprehensives”.
The present government’s reforms will ensure academies teach the national curriculum and strip them of the power to recruit expert teachers that do not have official qualifications, such as retired academics.
Academies will also have to ensure their admissions policies are compatible with other local schools.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill – alongside our new regional improvement teams and Ofsted reforms – delivers on our mission for every child to have a good, local school, will get high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensure that all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best talent.”
A group of backbench MPs are attemptint to end the legislation to remove the defence of “reasonable punishment” if a parent uses physical force against a child, effectively banning smacking. Similar measures have already been introduced in Scotland and Wales.
Conservatives are also continuing their bid to amend the Bill when it is debated by MPs so that it includes a ban on mobile phones.
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The party has put down an amendment to Labour’s landmark legislation that would require schools to ban pupils using or carrying phones during the school day, arguing that such policies boost attainment.
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But the Government has so far resisted calls to ban phones in schools, with a source accusing the Tories of “bandwagon jumping” and “attention seeking”.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said: “We have overwhelming evidence of how damaging phones and social media are on our children’s education.
“With one in five children saying their lessons are disrupted every day by a smartphone, it’s evident that we must do more to keep classrooms a place of learning.”