How do we empower local communities and ensure that the National Education Service (NES) reflects the needs of the many, not the few?
Policy Commission: Early Years, Education and Skills
Policy Areas: The Early Years, Education and Skills Policy Commission looks at issues relating to children’s well-being, development and care, as well as education training and skills from childhood through adulthood.
Basingstoke Issues:
School closures, tuition fees, class sizes
Email your suggestions for other local issues in this policy area.
Local accountability in the National Education Service
Background:
Since 2010 the education of our citizens has been treated as a commodity, something which can be bought and sold.
From the tripling of tuition fees in higher education to the acceleration of the academies programme, the Tories have adopted a market-based approach to education and consequently the system has become increasingly fragmented, opaque, and individualistic.
Over the past eight years there has been an increase in the number of education institutions that are no longer rooted in their local communities, with the needs of the private sector prioritised instead. As a result local, democratic accountability has been eroded, and across the country parents, learners, and local communities are shut out of decisions that affect them, while private companies are bolstered to drive educational change.
Key Questions:
- How can we create a culture in which education is accepted and valued as a social good from which we all benefit and to which we all contribute?
- What evidence should institutions provide to demonstrate expectations are being met?
- What structures, channels, and mechanisms would need to be put in place at a local, regional and national level to support a high quality, accountable NES?
- Should there be a single democratically accountable structure for the NES that deals with each part of the system and its institutions at local and national level?
Full details: Local accountability within the NES
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Consultation End Date: 30th June 2019