Moseley School Parents & Community Association

From established facts to the tip of the iceberg

On 15 April 2014, the then Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove appointed Laughing Policeman Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM as an Education Commissioner to investigate and examine serious allegations in Birmingham schools in a professional and dispassionate manner, based on established facts.

While Peter Clarke may have lots of fancy initials after his name, he has no background, experience or understanding of England's highly politicised state education system. To coin a phrase, this was a desperately unfortunate appointment and Peter Clarke certainly lived up to that reputation. This is what he wrote early on in his report on page 9:

On 19 July 2013 an internal e-mail from a senior officer to councillors and other senior officers said that there were: ‘growing concerns amongst head teachers that some governing bodies of schools with large numbers of pupils from an Islamic background, or at least groups of influential governors within governing bodies, were putting unreasonable pressure on head teachers to raise standards and/or address other issues of concern.

Two months earlier in May 2013, before this internal e-mail was sent by a senior officer to councillors, the Department for Education (DfE) published the Governors' Handbook - for governors in maintained schools, academies and free schools, with a Forward by Lord Nash. This is what Lord Nash said in his Forward:

Governing bodies have a vital role to play in driving up school and pupil performance and ensuring every child receives the best possible education.

I welcome Ofsted’s new explicit approach to governance.

I believe that a clear and robust system of accountability is as vital to driving up the quality of governing bodies as it is to driving improvement in the quality of the schools they govern. I want to see even greater focus on the effectiveness and impact of governing bodies in raising standards of education.

I want all governing bodies to feel empowered to provide strong strategic leadership and to hold their school leaders to account.

Empowered governing bodies need transparent data on the performance and finances of the schools they govern.

On page 5, in section 1.2 the May 2013 Governors' Handbook says:

In all types of schools, governing bodies should have a strong focus on three core strategic functions:

a. Ensuring clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction;

b. Holding the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils; and

c. Overseeing the financial performance of the school and making sure its money is well spent.

We expect every governing body to focus on its core function and to retain oversight of them.

Lord Nash also said:

I have no doubt that governing bodies are the key strategic decision makers in every school. They are also a key part of the overall system for school accountability. Governing bodies have a vital role to play in driving up school and pupil performance and ensuring every child receives the best possible education.

The traditional role of school governor was that of a 'critical friend'. The new handbook did not mention it.

In December 2012 (five months before a senior officer in Birmingham City Circus wrote to councillors and other senior officers that there were growing concerns amongst head teachers that some governing bodies of schools with large numbers of pupils from an Islamic background, were putting unreasonable pressure on head teachers to raise standards), the National Governors' Association (NGA) published a document 'Governors and staff performance'. This document said:

Ofsted inspectors will expect to see evidence of governors performance managing the headteacher rigorously; there should be a very close relationship between school performance trends, staff performance objectives and appraisal outcomes, and teacher and headteacher pay increases; progression depends on sustained high quality performance - it is not automatic right.

A few years earlier in 2007, 40% of Birmingham secondary schools were classed as National Challenge i.e. 30 secondary schools were failing to achieve the unambitious and arbitrary 30% of pupils passing five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths. This was underachievement on an industrial scale and one of the worst for size of Local Authority.

When David Cameron visited Balsall Heath in May 2007, concerned parents of pupils at Moseley School discussed poor educational standards in the local community and specifically mentioned Moseley School's disastrous 2006 results in which a mere 15% of pupils passed five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths.

In August 2007 a public meeting was organised by Birmingham Community Empowerment Network in Digbeth, Birmingham. This event was attended by approximately 70 concerned parents from all over the city to voice their frustration at low academic standards in Birmingham. The then Chair of Children and Education Committee, Cllr Jon Hunt also attended this public meeting.

On 28th January 2008 a meeting took place between four community leaders including a parent governor from Moseley School and Tony Howell, Jackie Hughes - the then Head of School Effectiveness as well as Nargis Rashid. A few months later three retiring and highly experienced head teachers of an outstanding school claimed Birmingham City Council had all but ignored what they had to offer.

By 2009, approximately 150 head teachers and deputies in secondary schools had lost their jobs as a result of National Challenge - the silver bullet to rapid school improvement. Most signed compromise agreements, which gave them a pay-off with ASCL securing £4.3m for its members in 2008 in settlements ranging from as little as £5,000 (peanuts from a stingy Local Authority or Governing Body). The then General Secretary of the ASCL (formerly the Secondary Heads Association), Dr. John Dunford claimed that some headteachers were being fired at the weekend and blamed Local Authorities for not providing timely support and for sacking head teachers to demonstrate to government that they were effective. The then Schools Minister, Jim Knight said that there was no evidence that high quality headteachers were being lost and that no school should accept low attainment as the status quo.

Three years later in 2011, Lord Adonis made a speech to the Lunar Society in which he was highly critical of the leadership and performance of Birmingham City Council. Lord Adonis cited unemployment, poor workforce skills, under-performing schools, unacceptably high infant mortality and social deprivation as examples and advocated the creation of Academies. The then Deputy Council leader, Paul Tilsley sent an e-mail to the acting chair of the Lunar society saying 'If you play with fire, expect to be burnt'. The then Cabinet Member for Education, Les Lawrence described Lord Adonis’s comments as an 'absolute disgrace.' But he would say that, wouldn't he? So what was it that annoyed Birmingham City Council about Lord Adonis's speech to the Lunar Society?

Lord Adonis said that Birmingham parents should not be satisfied with a schools system which fails far too many of their children, and Birmingham employers should be campaigning from the rooftops for radical – not incremental – change to improve skills and qualifications among the city’s school leavers. Adonis said: "promoting reform to secondary education in the city has been like pulling teeth. He had experienced much agitation and many difficult meetings to persuade the City Council – particularly the inward-looking children’s services department, repeatedly censured by Ofsted in recent years – to engage half seriously in the Academies programme, which by harnessing the dynamic energy of outstanding education, voluntary and business sector sponsors is transforming school standards in so many disadvantaged communities nationwide. This was despite the fact that huge investment was on offer."

In the same year (2011), the then Secretary of Sate for Education, Michael Gove lashed out at Birmingham over its poor performing schools and handling of education.

A few months later, a top Birmingham head teacher resigned form Birmingham City Council's School Improvement Board - that had been tasked with driving up standards and supporting city schools. He claimed  there was a current state of failure and utter mayhem in some city schools and that he had no faith in the education directorate to lead and support head teachers, schools and communities. In addition he said  there was no honesty, transparency or fair play in direct dealings with the strategic director. That sounds very much like Birmingham City Circus.

A year later in 2012, Michael Gove blamed high youth unemployment in Birmingham on the city's schools. Gove said that a third of young people aged between 18-24 are unemployed partly because they do not have good enough qualifications and one of the reasons for that is that schools haven't been good enough in Birmingham for years now. Birmingham needed more outstanding schools and determined action to drive up the quality of education.

A year later in 2013, the Chief Inspector of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw branded Birmingham a “national disgrace” and one of the worst places to grow up in the developed world.

But a decade earlier in January 2003 the then Schools Minister David Milliband proposed at a conference on performance management that there needed to be a better and more sensitive way for removing unsuccessful heads and that they should be able to leave with dignity.

A few months later in April 2003 the then Education Secretary Charles Clarke told governors to take out incompetent heads as soon as possible and for governors and Local Authorities to be completely ruthless.

In his presentation about the city of Birmingham, Sir Bob Kerslake has confirmed in Slide No. 43 that pupils of Pakistani heritage are one of the worst performing groups in Birmingham.

This begs the question whether the Education Commissioner really carried out his investigation in a professional and dispassionate manner, based on established facts? Peter Clarke did not state any of the aforementioned context in his final report. In fact his report does not even mention National Challenge! Something that was / is perfectly legitimate and government policy was / is seen, portrayed and reported as illegal and sinister. Established facts that did not fit the Trojan Hoax letter / narrative were systematically ignored or downplayed. Deeply flawed investigations like this lead to miscarriages of justice. Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPM is certainly no Hercule Poirot or Inspector Morse. Anyway there is plenty of opportunity to be re-appointed as an Education Commissioner to investigate the hundreds of headteachers who lost their jobs since National Challenge. Afterall, what happened in Birmingham is just the tip of the iceberg.

Next: address other issues of concern. Now what might those be?