Grant-Maintained Schools: Management (Hansard, 31 March 1994)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, in determining a school's application for grant-maintained status, my right honourable friend takes account of advice from Her Majesty's inspectors, including an assessment of the quality of management provided by the head teacher and governors. Once grant maintained, the management 1200 of the school continues to be regularly scrutinised as part of the Office for Standards in Education's inspection system.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, perhaps I may take one example. Does the Minister agree that proper management of property assets is a vital responsibility for governors and head teachers? Has she seen the analysis by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors which demonstrates that 86 per cent. of grant-maintained schools plan significant building work within the next two years and that more than 50 per cent. of the schools require serious repair work? Is the noble Baroness aware that the institution has stated that governors and head teachers, rarely have the … skills or training to enable them to carry out this task efficiently and effectively". What will the Government do about that serious situation?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, all the evidence is that grant-maintained schools are managing that aspect of their affairs rather better than many of the local authorities, and indeed the local authority maintained schools. They obtain more value for money; and they order their priorities in a more efficient and effective way. There is no evidence whatever—unless the noble Lord is prepared to produce the evidence—of a single school mismanaging its affairs.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that she is not concerned that people will eventually be unwilling to accept the responsibilities, both legal and moral, that are now associated with being a governor of a school? I must declare a degree of interest, having just given up being a school governor. I found the additional responsibilities very great. Does the noble Baroness have any doubt about whether there will be enough people to satisfy those requirements in future?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, my noble friend makes an important point. The role of a governor now is an important one. Governors have responsibilities which are rather greater than the rubber-stamping responsibilities of the past. However, it is a matter that we keep under constant surveillance. The issue is not a problem to the extent that we need to take special measures. We know that when a grant-maintained school is looking for a new governor it is anxious to ensure that the expertise that it requires is covered by the range of people whom it recruits to the governing body.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, I am sure the Minister is aware that in running a school the role of head teacher is absolutely crucial. Teacher education does not include management training. Indeed, it does not include training on how to be a head teacher. Can we have the assurance that the Department for Education understands the great responsibility to ensure that courses in management training are run directly by the department, by universities or by some other professional institution?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the role of the head teacher is absolutely crucial in any school whether it is 1201 grant maintained or local authority maintained. Management training goes on. It is provided for through the grant for education support and training funds. At this moment we are speaking with the teacher unions about what more can be done to address the important issue of management training for teachers, in particular for head teachers.

§ Lord Mackie of Benshie
My Lords, will this concentration on management not dilute the attention of the headmaster from his main job which is to look after the pupils and their education?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, there needs to be a proper understanding of what management means. The head of an establishment who manages should make sure that the teaching at the establishment is undertaken by teachers who are fit for the purpose and that the learning is as effective as it can be. The head must also look after personnel and campus issues. It is not just about money; it is about making sure that the school is managed from the classroom right through to looking after pay and rations.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, will the Minister explain how the inspectors evaluate the management skills and experience of governing bodies?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, when an application for grant-maintained status comes before us, the Ofsted inspectors will look at the school. They will bring forward a report and if they believe that the school is not fit to manage its own affairs that will form part of their advice to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State. The noble Baroness may wish to write to Professor Sutherland asking exactly how that is carried out, but the inspection is very thorough. Once a school is grant maintained, it is subject to all the other rigours of the system: visiting and re-visiting by the inspectorate every four years, auditing of the accounts, and public accountability to the governors and parents and to the wider community. The inspectorate is responsible at the end of the day to the funding agency for schools and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, if the governors are found wanting, can they be sacked?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, it depends on why they are found wanting. The range can be from a breach of the law right through merely to being an indifferent governor. I have sat on a number of governing bodies where the governors have been jolly indifferent and other governing bodies where governors have been highly political. That is not a good way of being governor of a school. The role of the governor is to be as supportive as possible, to make it a good school.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, the Minister asked for the evidence. Has she read the report of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors? It wrote to 677 schools. Will the Minister realise that there is widespread anxiety about the degree to which schools are being distracted—as the noble Lord, Lord Mackie, 1202 said—from the task of teaching children by trying to run the schools as mini-businesses, very often with a total absence of the proper skills required?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, when the noble Lord brings forward detailed evidence for what he says, I shall come to the Dispatch Box and respond to it. Over 70 per cent. of the schools employ more teachers, and over half the grant-maintained schools have improved their pupil-teacher ratios, as have 84 per cent. of primary schools. Seventy per cent. of secondary schools offer more subjects in the curriculum; and 92 per cent. of secondary and 94 per cent. of primary schools report more in-service training. Many schools have been able dramatically to increase their expenditure on books and equipment and all are increasing their amount of community involvement. That is a very good record for our grant-maintained schools.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, has the Minister read the, report or not?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the schools could not have gained that list of achievements that I have just read out.

§ Lord Judd
Has the Minister read it?

§ Baroness Blatch
Yes, I have. I am simply saying that the noble Lord will have to do more than read words on a page. He must come forward with detailed evidence to support the schools which are failing in their duties to provide education. What I have just given is real evidence of real schools providing better and more education for the children in their charge.