So, it appears I may be one of those “flying pigs”. I happen to be a multi-academy trust (MAT) chief executive and a member of the Labour Party.
You might be thinking: how incongruent.
Perhaps worse still, I work for a MAT where the board is chaired by a Labour lord and former schools’ minister. If you were to believe the rhetoric of the moment, Lord Knight and I are the closest thing to scabs since the miners’ strike.
Labour education policy
What a nonsense it all is.
MATs are the majority of schools. We are hardworking public servants trying to make life better for children. We are charities that focus entirely on education and our schools, liberated from local council politics, bins and buses (although not entirely).
The myths about MATs selecting children, failing to include special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), missing out parts of the curriculum, etc, are simply not true. Teachers in MATs are paid on national scales, some MATs - yes - have found more, but are absolutely not paying less.
We also work very closely with trade unions; indeed, we meet national representatives of all unions every half term. Truth be told, far more than when I led a maintained school.
Trusts and politics
Some may say I am naive, but the politicising of school structures is strange to me. All schools are funded by the government, all accountable locally and regulated by the same authorities.
MATs have built a capacity that is improving the system. At E-ACT, we have 38 schools, all but one joined as “inadequate” and yet all are now “good” or better. The same turnaround repeated hundreds of times within the system as MATs grow and strengthen.
So, where do I stand on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill? I welcome it. It is, however, unfortunate how some elements are being portrayed.
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I do want to see some of the MAT sector gains protected. For instance, on flexible working, we’re seeing some real innovations coming through - whether that’s Dixons Academies Trust’s nine-day fortnight or more favourable maternity conditions, such as those we are delivering at E-ACT.
It would be a very sad thing to see these innovations stopped in their tracks.
Similarly, in training and development, trusts have filled the gap in teacher training and created a workforce of SEND, behaviour and curriculum specialists. The Department for Education’s Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) strategy recognises this.
The last 15 years have further professionalised specialisms in schools, we have seen the age of research and evidence-informed practice and have an army of highly skilled, talented leaders.
If our system decides it doesn’t value this talent, we will lose it to international markets - and indeed we should already be concerned by the drift of great teachers and leaders to environments such as the Middle East, who highly value our educators.
Support staff pay
At the same time, there is much to welcome in the bill - alignment on support staff pay review, on local authority powers in admissions and promoting breakfast clubs more widely.
Lowering the cost of school uniforms is also long overdue, creating a sense of fairness across the system.
Critically, the bill seeks to strengthen 51, tackling the issues of children not in education and ensuring agencies work together more effectively to protect vulnerable children - please do not lose sight of these.
Despite the fevered commentary to the contrary, like most things in life, the bill is neither all bad nor all good. It’s a mix. What matters now is that we give calm and thoughtful responses in the face of that - providing the evidence to show what we have found works, and what does not.
Politicians will be politicians come what may and, as we know, education so readily lends itself to becoming a political football. But whatever our own personal politics, first and foremost we are educators, so let’s resist the urge to join the shouting on the sidelines.
Tom Campbell is CEO at E-Act
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