Morning:
13°c
We'll take over failing academies, vows Balls
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent15.01.09
CHILDREN'S Secretary Ed Balls threatened to take over failing city academies today as he lashed out at the "excuses culture" blighting weak schools.
Mr Balls warned privately sponsored academies that he expected them to show better results than other schools after ministers spent billions of pounds on the initiative.
He condemned governors and headteachers in some of England's worst-performing comprehensives for offering "totally unacceptable" explanations for their continuing failure.
Click here for London GCSE and A-level league tables (PDF)
Mr Balls was speaking as the Evening Standard's league tables revealed nearly 43,000 children are receiving a second-rate education in London's failing schools.
Gordon Brown has said no state school should have fewer than 30 per cent of pupils who achieve at least five C grades in subjects including maths and English. Ministers have promised to eradicate such failure by 2011, through intervening in struggling schools, turning them into privately run academies or even closing them down.
But today's tables showed some 43 London schools missed the key target, including 10 privately run, state-funded academies. Mr Balls said: "The one thing we won't tolerate is excuses.
"That attitude is failing pupils and letting communities down. If there is no local change, we will require local change. We will not tolerate that kind of excuses culture, which is still there in some schools."
Three of the failing schools in London were academies which had been open for at least five years when pupils sat their GCSEs last summer.
Academies were set up under Tony Blair to transform weak comprehensives by handing control to wealthy business figures and church groups.
But Mr Balls today gave notice that the former Prime Minister's favourite schools would receive no special treatment from him.
"We will not be softer on academies than other schools," he said. "Our expectations are not lower for academies, they are higher. We put a lot of investment in to make sure they deliver." He stressed that academies would take time to bring about improvements and that ministers were committed to opening 400 across England.
But Mr Balls continued: "In the case of academies we have the powers we need and we will use them if necessary."
He said these powers included taking over the running of an academy, sacking its headteacher and governors, who are appointed by the sponsor, and sending in an "interim executive board" of managers.
The Conservatives expressed alarm that Mr Balls appeared to be back-tracking on plans for more private sector involvement in academies.
Shadow school minister Nick Gibb said: "We know from previous interviews that Ed Balls is ideologically opposed to academies, and since becoming Children's Secretary he has sought to water down the programme. In many areas they have made a real difference to the life chances of some of the most deprived children so it is a great shame if he is back-tracking further on the Government's commitment to proper education reform."
Click here for London GCSE and A-level league tables (PDF)
Reader views (25)
Is this not balls ? They've already taken them over that's why they are academies. Useless teachers, unmotivated pupils and uninterested parents are what he is talking about. It's called natural selection, learn and get on or fall by the way side. The only incentive to get out of poverty is poverty itself.
- Peter Haldane, London
What about a radical overhaul of education.
Select pupils by ability, not the amount of money parents can pay. PUt the most able in schools which will nurture them and let them concentrate on the more cerebral work. Those that can't reach that standard can go to schools where they can concentrate on the more practical skills which we are now suffering from a lack of.
Oh sorry, didn't we have this in the 60's???
Now Labour don't want people to be selected by ability, only by their ability to pay.
- John Whitby, Peterborough, Cambs
i really feel sorry what is happening with the teaching.where are the good schools,what future do we have when 43 schools are failing in london.where are the good teachers.well this is when the advantage takes over.specially from the teens.what a sick future we are waiting for.if this keeps on and on and on with the schools there is no future.something has to be done.
- Arlinda Munishi, london
How can Balls do anything about schools. The goivernment have deleted the word "Education" from the name of the Ministry-presumably because there is no education any more.
Change the Government and everything will improve.
- Adrian, Paris, France
So we are back to State Schools, as we should be in the first place. The key to good schools is rigorous discipline; its the School that rules not the Paeents or Kids; the latter is a recipe for disaster as we have now.
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex
The 'excuses' he refers to are those that accuse HIM of screwing things up for everyone in an effort to bring everything DOWN to the same level in the name of socialism.
Who is making excuses ultimately?
- Rogan, Irving
Can I get a tax allowance to pay off my private school fees? I do never want to use Nu Labor schools.
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London
I went to Edgware in the 1960's, then the best performing Comprhensive in the old Borough of Hendon (now Barnet) During the 80's & 90's it slipped to the bottom of the table.
Then, it was rebuilt as an Academy. It has not made one iota of a difference particularly in view of the now varied ethnic communities it must serve mix with low motivation of students & parents alike.
The solution is for a national curriculam as in France. Of course some kids will succeed and others less so but all must have the same opportunities without favour.
- Jon, London
Ed will take these over and as usual balls them up.
- Tom, St. Albans
'43 000 children receiving a second-rate education' could equally mean that there are a sufficient number of badly brought up youngsters in this grouping such as to make teaching impossible for the poor sods who have to suffer them...
- Raoul, UK
Its great if someone other than the Tax Payer gets to fund City Academies; however Academies are but a euphonism for 'School'. Where Schools fail ,so too will Academies fail, further more offering Teachers an additional inducement of £10,000 to suffer the former for three years will be yet a further misuse of Public Money.
Education is a partnership btween Pupil,School, and Parent. Unless all three are but of single mind, then the battle will be uphill all the way.One needs to bring back selection, not the eleven plus but an availability of choice between wanting to learn and wanting to muck about.
- John Pope, Salisbury
"Ed Balls ......lashed out at the "excuses culture" - bit rich from a government that consistently finds excuses for every one of it's failures.
- Malcolm, London
Judith, could you please define what a second-rate child is.
- Alex C, London
But was it not he who founded them??! Extraordinary these Nu Labor guys are.
- Steveo, London NW1
Every time I look at Ed Balls I see a village somewhere missing it's idiot.
- Bob, Cheam
Mr Balls has done a very good job of side stepping the Government's responsibility for the failure of these 43 Government sponsored City Accademys. Of course attack is the best form of defence', but for the benefit of the forthcoming election a note of contrition might not go amiss
- Jeremiah, London
What these cheap headlines do not tell is that Academies in London have taken on the worst most deprived schools. Their results are on an improving trajectory, quicker than the schools that preceded them. These children have been failed by schools since the age of 4. Only a fool would expect an Academy which has only been open a few years to overcome all of this and perform as well as the national average. We can expoect them to be improving quiickly and getting there and they are.
- Peter Holmes, London
edducaition edducation educatiion tanks tOnY blIAr
- Roger, Surrey
No you won't Balls, you'll be booted out within 18 months.
We've had more than a bellyful of McLabour and Brown's Banana Republicans for at least bone generation.
At least most of Thatcher's Children were taught to read and comprehend English.
- Dave, cumbria
Great reporting. It's fantastic when the Standard cover important education stories with such clarity
- J Godwin, London
My very bright niece and nephew (and their friends) went to a Catholic school that was robbed by the Head Teacher. As a result of that she went to prison and the school had no money to spend resulting in inexperience supply teachers teaching the children. Not all second-rate education is down to "second-rate" children.
- Louise, London
What, Gormless Clown throwing taxpayers money at failure? Surely not!
- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster
Mr. Bean Brown is still saying we are the best country for education!!
- Georgie, Islington, London
You can only give a second rate education if you have second-rate children being taught by second-rate teachers. Government policies in this country on everything are debased, distorted, twisted, perverted,skewed, upside-down so why expect what happens in schools to be any different?
- Judith C, London, England
Hmm. ever thought it might be the children who are failing not the schools? Or the parents not the teachers? Or society in general? There's a radical thought.
Anyway this news had me laughing my head off! What? Adonis's shiny Academies are not the magic solution he was after? But they told us everything would be different if only all schools were Academies! And we believed them! Well, you didn't if you knew the first thing about education, but who takes any notice of those boring old teachers? They're just grumpy lefty NUT members aren't they? What do they know?
Now, where's the exit? I don't think I can stand this flipping useless, hypocritical, greedy and stupid country much longer.
- Lewis, London
