COASTING SCHOOLS-SO WHAT HAS THE SSAT BEEN UP TO?

COASTING SCHOOLS

Coasting schools in leafy suburbs new target

But SSAT was supposed to be targeting  Coasting school for the  last three years

Comment

The Government self-evidently wants to see standards rise throughout the education system so that our schools and system compare with the best in the world. The Accountability regime  has ensured that there has been a concentration on  targeting failing schools, but  the Government also now wants  to ‘ concentrate on the schools in the leafy suburbs that are not challenging their pupils as well as they should. All schools will now be subject to our scrutiny to make sure that they raise standards. The new performance tables will identify how schools perform in relation to children of high academic ability, as well as how they perform in relation to children of a lower academic ability.’ (Nick Gibb, Commons 14 Nov). Currently outstanding schools are exempt from inspection but the opposition worry that this might encourage such schools to start coasting . For example , when an  outstanding leader leaves an  outstanding school, that can often lead to a big change in the performance of that school. The Governments view  revolves around the principle of having proportionate inspection and targeting the limited resources on schools that have the most pressing need. However it is perhaps significant that the new head of Ofsted has said one of his priorities is ‘Coasting ‘schools.It is also true ,of course, that even when schools are exempted from inspection, inspectors will still see some outstanding schools  during the process of  themed inspections, which might look for example  at how religious education or maths is taught.  David Cameron in a Daily Telegraph article last  week says that while it is “relatively easy” to identify problem schools, it is just as important to tackle those that are resigned to mediocrity. “It is just as important to tackle those all over the country content to muddle through — places where respectable results and a decent local reputation mask a failure to meet potential,” he writes.  “Children who did well in primary school but who lose momentum. Early promise fades. This is the hidden crisis in our schools — in prosperous shires and market towns just as much as in the inner cities.”   In January, new league tables will be published that will show how low-, middle- and high-achieving children are performing in their schools.  Coasting schools though is hardly a new problem. Back in 2009 Official data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed  that a total of 470 secondary schools, many located in middle-class suburbs and shire counties, were  “resting on their laurels” instead of pushing pupils to get the best grades. In 2008/9 the SSAT won a contract to  target and support coasting  schools as part  of the   Gaining Ground programme, using its Schools Network. The aim of the programme was ‘to raise students’ rates of progression through collaborative intervention.’ The SSATs Schools Network involvement in the programme ended on 31st March 2011.  Can we now assume that   this initiative failed given that the issue is now being revisited by this Government? What exactly did the SSAT achieve with taxpayers money? I think we should be told. No doubt the SSAT will bid for the next contract to support coasting schools. Other bidders for the Gaining Ground programme pointed out at the time that many of the so-called ‘coasting ‘schools were  then  operating under the umbrella of the SSAT. So it looked at the time that  awarding this quango the contract   was effectively   incentivising failure. And thats what  it still looks like!

 

Note

Nick Gibb, the schools Minister,  reacting to this weeks Ofsted Annual  report said

“ There are still far too many underperforming schools making painfully slow improvements. It is worrying that Ofsted finds that 800 schools are stuck steadfastly at a satisfactory rating in inspection after inspection. It’s a real concern that some schools with very able intakes are merely coasting instead of making sure students achieve their full potential. And outstanding or good schools cannot afford to take their foot off the pedal simply because they have had a strong inspection result.”

EDUCATION UK WEB SITE-BIT OF A SHAMBLES REALLY

BRITISH COUNCIL RUN  WEB SITE

Sowing confusion?

COMMENT

Visit the Education UK website, run by the British Council designed to help students abroad to choose university courses here.  It’s a mess. Look at the search facility on the right hand side of the home page. Choose, for example, Degree Courses as the course category and Applied and Pure Sciences as the subject area. The system will find 179 results and list the first ten by default.  What are these top ten institutions and how are they ordered ? See for yourself, and put yourself in the shoes of one of these inquisitive students.   The site, when I sought information, as above, listed the University of Southampton twice and the University of Nottingham three times in the top ten. With the Metropolitan University, Manchester topping the list. There was no logic whatever to the order of institutions or explanation as to why institutions appeared more than once.  Nor were they in Alphabetical order. The FCO is boasting that there were 46 million visits to BC sites over a year,   so those accessing the sites  could get some idea of ‘British Values.’ Oh Dear!

http://www.educationuk.org/

THE DAMAGE QUANGOS INFLICT ON THE EDUCATION MARKET BOTH HERE AND ABROAD

THE DAMAGE QUANGOS INFLICT ON THE EDUCATION MARKET BOTH HERE AND ABROAD

Comment

We should all be grateful to Education Investor (June) for exposing the grave problems in the education market.

The latest edition highlights the escalating tensions between private sector suppliers and education quangos (British Council, SSAT, TDA (on the way out), NCSL).

Quangos are competing here and abroad, head to head, with private and not for profit suppliers, using their public funds, inside knowledge and political top cover to steal an advantage over other non-subsidised suppliers.  The charge is that these organisations use taxpayer funding to subsidise their activities, and can exploit “captive audiences” contacts and databases (which can’t be accessed by competitors) built up over time, while fulfilling their regulatory roles and use them  to market their self- serving commercial activities. In contract bids this information is exploited by them but   is not accessible to others, because it is deemed ‘commercial in confidence’.  If anything, in the wake of funding cuts, the activity of quangos in  the market is greater now than it has ever been.Neil McIntosh ,Chief Executive of not for profit CfBT Education Trust,  told Education Investor “Grant aided organisations are most dangerous to independent ones at the moment  when they are told that their grants are being cut’.

Not all though can dip into the Aid Budget, as  the British Council has done, to make up its shortfall (the BC is funded by the FCO-but the FCO has seen it budget cut, unlike the DFID).  The National College for School Leadership, as Education Investor has pointed out, irritates many providers as its role in delivering the professional qualification for head teachers affords it ‘an iron grip on the UK market for school leadership training’.  It is now busy marketing itself abroad where it now competes with both for profit and not for profit providers.

The SSAT is signing up schools abroad too to its Inet school improvement service. It remains something of a mystery, though, to other suppliers, that an organisation responsible for supporting state schools improvement here, with 90% of maintained schools signed up, is qualified to support state schools abroad.  Our position in international league tables might  suggest that  we are hardly regarded as stellar  international  performers, as Ministers are at pains to  keep reminding  us (PISA etc-OK I know Pisa has its limitations but the Government regards it as a benchmark) Nick Gibb, the schools Minister put it as follows in a recent speech “We’re failing to keep pace with countries with the best education systems – falling back in the PISA international rankings, from fourth to sixteenth in science; seventh to 25th in literacy; and eighth to 28th in maths – meaning our 15-year-olds are two years behind their Chinese peers in maths; and a year behind teenagers in Korea or Finland in reading.  We’re still not meeting the expectations of employers – with the CBI’s annual education and skills survey just last month finding that almost half of top employers had to invest in remedial training for school and college leavers.”  The SSAT manages to rise above such awkwardness. Nobody has ever claimed that we have one of the best state systems in the world, although that is the aim of this government which wants our performance to compare with the very best in the world, a laudable aspiration. But we certainly haven’t got there yet. So it’s a  little perplexing   that a quango  which is at the heart of our underperforming system, in support of schools, finds  itself in the position that  it does-  telling  others  how to improve.  Pots and black kettles spring to mind.

The SSAT also won a contract,  a couple of years back ,financed by us taxpayers, to help ‘coasting’ schools ie those schools that should, based on their intake, be performing better. Yet these same schools had been, for some time, paid up subscribers to the SSAT. Its called incentivising failure.  Of course some of these quangos work closely and in partnership with private sector providers and will tell you that their relationship is sound. But they are always the dominant partners.  And talk to these providers and you will find that they believe that the benefits of such relationships do not remotely off -set the damage done to the market, more generally, by quangos presence and anti-competitive activities-in terms of lost contracts and the high costs of participating in a market that  is demonstrably neither fair nor transparent . These activities clearly raise the risks and costs of participation in the market for other suppliers.  And one wonders whether we as taxpayers benefit from these quangos activities. They are not transparent in the way they operate, and measure inputs rather than ouputs.

Of all the quangos cited, the British Council is by far the most unpopular and most damaging to UK commercial interests. Often co-located with British Embassies  abroad and the darling of diplomats and many an MP and Peer, who take advantage of all expenses paid trips abroad  to visit its projects, the BC has considerable political patronage and cover.  But as one supplier pointed out to Education Investor “You have got to go some to compete with an organisation called the British Council that’s operating out of the ambassadors office”.

David Blackie MD of International Education Connect will tell you of many contracts awarded to the British Council without any competition-which cannot possibly deliver value for money either for the client or the UK taxpayer. Kevin McNeaney, now managing Orbital, who is probably the most successful UK education entrepreneur of the last generation, nurses many bruises from encounters with the BC. He told Education Investor, obviously with some feeling, that “the British Council exists to continue the success of the British Council rather than as an enabler for the industry”. The BC continues, though, to pretend that it represents concurrently both cultural and educational interests abroad. Yet it competes with UK companies ie those it purports to represent for the same contracts.  Like other quangos it peddles the fiction that it doesn’t cross subsidise and that it maintains ‘Chinese Walls’ (-What? You ask- like those that operate so brilliantly in the city?)

But clock this. In a recent British Council publication it gave the game away. Expressing the hope that the BC would rapidly expand its commercial operations it said ‘The aims are for the British Council to be seen as an important player in our priority markets and sectors… and to present our contracts business as a fully integral part of our cultural relations programme.’  A prize- for anyone who can spot the wall, chinese or otherwise!  If the British Council, the DFE and the BIS are not supporting  UK education companies abroad (which they are not) then who is? It’s a very good question-if you know, could you let me in on the secret, so I can pass the message on to providers)?

Five senior executives of leading UK education companies wrote to the Government in December of   last year complaining about the conduct of the British Council and other quangos in the market outlining the issues affecting the education market here and abroad , providing  some recommendations to ensure that there is a level playing field in the market and that  the referee isn’t wearing one sides colours. It took the Government five months to reply, presumably because Ministers needed to think long and hard about it, more of which later.

For more on Quangos and the Market look at this months  Education Investor Vol 3 No 5  ’Hitting the Wall’ -Firms brand quangos barrier to new business

For more on the British Council look at http://www.dblackie.blogs.com/

IS THIS GOVERNMENT HOSTILE TO THE PROFIT MOTIVE?

IS THIS GOVERNMENT HOSTILE TO THE PROFIT MOTIVE?

Private sector confidence threatened, while not for profit sector suffers too

Mixed signals from Ministers perplexes  many managers

Comment

Is the Coalition Government against profitmaking?

It seems a ludicrous question on the face of it. But some in the private sector are now beginning to ask it.  The Coalition Government is dominated by the Tories. Central to Tory thinking is the paramountcy of  regulated free markets ,enterprise  and wealth creation ,with a  small state and low taxes ,all tempered by a belief in strong local communities. In practice it doesn’t always work out that way, particularly with respect to a small state and low taxes.   Liberal Democrats too want wealth creators to thrive, (although  are keen to limit profitmaking to prescribed areas)  with a focus on a fairer tax system and more equal distribution of wealth, throughout  society .But talk to businessmen and entrepreneurs, the wealth creators, and you might get a surprise. Many actually believe that this Government is hostile to the private sector and the profit motive. Does this perception stack up?  You have got to look at the Governments main big idea to begin to understand why some hold this perception.  So keen is this Government in promoting the Big Society that its rhetoric is almost entirely focused on championing the third sector, social enterprises, co-ops and mutuals.  Phillip Blonds ideas about mutualisation and localism  have not only caught their eye but are integral to many of their policies.

Indeed even when it talks about business models its not Marks and Spencer or Virgin, for that matter, but the John Lewis Partnership it references. Successful though this Partnership clearly is, it has an almost unique ownership structure and is hardly mainstream. More co-op, than bog standard corporate.

Its worth asking what profit is, as its become  something of a  dirty word for some  politicians (look at the polarised  debate over the NHS).  A profit  is financial benefit that is realized when the amount of revenue gained from a business activity or enterprise  exceeds the expenses, costs and taxes needed to sustain the activity. Any profit  that is gained goes to the business’s owners, who may or may not decide to spend it on the business.  So a profit is actually a surplus. Any sustainable business, or indeed any enterprise including a charity, has to aim to generate a surplus or ‘margin’. Not to do so over time is unsustainable. One American charity head involved in Healthcare summed it up succinctly as ‘No margin, no mission’.  What happens to that surplus and how it is managed and distributed is what differentiates the private sector from the charity sector (although not obviously the only difference).  However, regardless of the type of service provided or goods sold or traded, all companies, enterprises and charities, whether pursuing public benefit or not,   have as their goal making a surplus (profit).Indeed if you look at the way charities are structured and operate  they,  to a considerable extent, imitate the way a profit making company operates, although there are clear differences in governance. They have to project manage, control costs, plan ahead, invest in research, train and assess  staff, recruit experienced managers, bid for contracts, market their services and  above all compete.

All the public services we cherish depend on profitable enterprises. If they don’t make a profit there is nothing, or rather not much to tax to fund services. Indeed it is strange for this Government, which is relying on profit making companies and an export led recovery,  to get us out of the economic mess we are in,  remains so ambiguous  in its attitude to the private sector, when market confidence is so important and by the same token  so low.  It suggest a lack of strategic nous. A weak private sector, self- evidently, also means a weak charity sector. It is perverse in the extreme that the governments mood music is perceived as so hostile, therefore, to profitmaking. The private sector offers important skills, innovation, creativity, and capital. It also exerts a downward pressure on costs and prices, if it operates in a competitive market and responds quickly to shifting demand. Clearly profit companies are already delivering many high quality support services in health, education, prisons and other public services.

The Cabinet Office is the Department driving, overall, Public Sector reforms. It is  supposed to be rationalising procurement, cutting red tape, cutting contract costs,  culling quangos, encouraging more public service delivery from the private and not for profit sectors,  encouraging SMEs to have a greater share of public  sector contracts,  ending  late payment    and, of course, crucially  it  is also championing the Big Society. The Tories  and particularly so under Camerons leadership, stress  that individual freedom is only half the story. Cameron has said “Tradition, community, family, faith, the space between the market and the state: this is the ground where our philosophy is planted.”

The Cabinet Offices Business Plan says that ‘ We will change structures so that public sector provision is more  open to voluntary organisations, social enterprises and small businesses.’ Certainly the third sector can make a strong case to be given a greater slice of the public sector pie.

However, according to Education Investor,  Francis Maude, a Cabinet Office Minister,  was sent a letter last year  by five  leading education  companies which expressed concerns over the fairness of the education market and the anti-competitive conduct of subsidised education  quangos ,  offering constructive  recommendations about how to make the market fairer and more transparent. It took the Minister almost five months to reply, (Cabinet Office guidelines encourage reply to letters within 20 working days) . Was his reply worth waiting for? Apparently, not. In his reply (only secured after the journalist rang his office) he was entirely dismissive of the managers complaints, implying that everything was hunky-dory while failing to address a single  one of   their recommendations. These are companies, by the way, seeking to make inroads into the international education market, which will help UK Plc. Clearly they can expect little support in this from HMG in the future. They certainly haven’t in the past.  Why, one has to ask, would they have bothered to write to Maude in the first place  if there were no  legitimate issues to address. These were competitors agreeing that there were substantive issues of shared  concern, and which merited a response and action from the Government. Such cavalier and discourteous behaviour from a Government Department responsible for important reforms hardly inspires confidence. No wonder the private sector (and in this case not for profit too) is miffed. The fact that Maudes Department sent the letter initially to the Health Department, for answer, rather suggests a Department in some disarray and under- resourced. One hopes for the reforms sake that this is not the case. But this episode surely reveals three truths. A considerable degree of complacency from Ministers and senior officials  , a lack of concern or interest in   issues affecting our exporters  in the education market and   a lack of willingness to engage with  key stakeholders on matters of crucial concern to them.

A white paper on public-service reform that Mr Cameron said would lead to a “range of providers competing to offer a better service” has now been delayed. According to a leaked memo of their meeting acquired by the BBC ,  Francis Maude, recently told John Cridland of the Confederation of British Industry that there was to be no “wholesale outsourcing” of public services. The note was marked “strictly private and confidential” and was drawn up by the CBI as a record of the meeting. It said: “The minister’s messages were clear cut… the government is committed to transforming services, but this would not be a return to the 1990s with wholesale outsourcing to the private sector – this would be unpalatable to the present administration. “The government was not prepared to run the political risk of fully transferring services to the private sector with the result that they could be accused of being naive or allowing excess profit making by private sector firms.” Private sector involvement would be limited to joint ventures with not-for-profit groups.

The note adds: “Government is very open to ideas for services currently provided within the public sector to be delivered under a private/government joint venture. Government is committed to new models of partnership, and private sector organisations need to offer joint ventures – joint ventures between a new mutualised public sector organisation and a ‘for profit’ organisation would be very attractive. ”Government… was very interested in turning existing services into government companies. These would avoid the downsides of ‘hassle’ and adverse political reaction.”

The third sector and not for profits clearly have an important role in public service delivery and indeed arguably   deserve a greater role. But we need a diversified supply side bringing each sectors strengths into play. The Private Sector has access to capital and capacity that the not for profit operators could only dream of .The Governments job is to provide an enabling environment within which there is a diversified, fair, regulated  supply market but  does  little  to deliver this ,ignoring among other things , the  market activity of  subsidised quangos which increase the risks and costs to other suppliers, while  obstructing the development of the market both here and abroad. (and yes  they do cross-subsidise!)

 

Michael Gove the Education Secretary, at the forefront of public sector reforms introducing “free schools” inspired by the Swedish system and US Charter schools has rebuffed suggestions that education companies should be able to make a profit from them, as firms can in Sweden and the United States.  Some  advisers have even briefed against profit making Charter schools in the States suggesting they were less impressive than not for profits, while studiously ignoring the fact that the most successful Swedish Free schools tend to be privately operated. Its a desperately naïve and counterproductive approach. Its not either or, but both sectors that are needed in the supply mix. Nobody would claim that the private sector is a panacea for public service delivery but the best in the private sector has much to offer  public services.   He insists that he has enough not-for-profit providers: “We don’t need the profit motive,” Mr Gove has said. . He obviously hasn’t clocked yet that the state education system relies on companies driven by the profit motive whether its building the schools, providing ICT,   school books, inspecting the schools, providing specialist support, training and improvement services, running local education departments  managing special schools and so on. Indeed isn’t it distinctly odd that there is no need of ‘profiteers’  managing state schools   but there is a need for them apparently   in managing our most vulnerable pupils  in special schools .  The mood music if not hostile to the private sector is decidedly lukewarm.

So, given this policy backdrop you would have thought, wouldn’t you, that not for profits are optimistic and gung-ho about the future and their role in support of the Big Society and looking forward to more public service contracts.   Well no, actually they are not.  The truth is its pretty cold out there .Not for profits are having a hard time of it. Many are restructuring or merging, income and donations are reducing, there are much fewer big ticket contracts available and those that are left are subject to increased competition   with contracts smaller in scope and value, while many fine charities are haemorrhaging capacity and manpower.

 

The Economist recently pointed out that Britain is unusual among rich democracies not in how much private involvement there is in its public services, but how little.

 

It also pointed out that profiteers are cold shouldered when it comes to education but welfare…. now that’s a different matter. In welfare there are no such qualms about profitmaking. A new scheme, the Work Programme, offers payment by results to providers for placing the long-term unemployed in jobs and keeping them there.

 

There is much muddled, incoherent and contradictory thinking going on which could well derail the reforms. The Government needs a long hard look at what it wants to achieve against the backdrop of straitened economic circumstances and work out how both the private and not profit sectors can deliver reforms for them. It is managing to upset large numbers of stakeholders (whom it needs to keep on board), and for no conceivable gain. Its spending too much time listening to policy wonks and woolly, pie in the sky theorising about the Big Society and too little time working out the practicalities, and the change drivers including the provision of incentives   to harness both the market and the third and voluntary sectors to deliver its public reforms, focused on raising productivity and improving efficiency. And time is running out.

 

 

ACADEMIES REGULATION

ACADEMIES –AND REGULATION

Need to ensure that autonomous schools are accountable

Comment

In January, this year, the Commons Public Accounts committee  found that academies, the independent state schools that are central to this Governments education  reforms,  have improved pupils’ educational achievements and life chances in some of the most deprived communities in the country. Around 17% of state secondary schools are academies and the government has made no secret of the fact that by the time of the next election it would like half of all secondary schools to be academies.  This certainly seems possible at the current pace of conversion.A study by Stephen Machin and James Vernoit at the London School of Economics found  that academy status tends to raise pupil performance and improves the performance of neighbouring schools. The Government takes some pride  in what it sees as the academy success story. But the rapid expansion of the scheme raises other important accountability issues that were picked up by the PAC.   Many academies, it found, have inadequate financial controls and governance to assure the proper use of public money. It said that the DfE and YPLA have not been sufficiently rigorous in requiring compliance with guidance. It added that it  should be made  compulsory for all academies – sponsored and converter – to comply with basic standards of governance and financial management. This should include ‘segregation of key roles and responsibilities, and timely submission of annual accounts.’  It added that  ‘as the Programme expands, there are increased risks to value for money and proper use of public money’ so ‘ the  Department needs to develop sufficient capacity and adequate arrangements to provide robust accountability and oversight of academies’ use of public funds.’ Until very recently Academies were not subject to the Freedom of Information Act which was an absurd anomaly, given the amount of taxpayers money  tied up in these schools.(The SSAT quango which supports Academies is  still not subject to the FOIA-work that one out)

What is clear is that while Academies appear to be performing relatively well against   educational benchmarks (although some  have complained including the Civitas think tank  that there has not been full transparency over what exams their pupils sit) the pace and scope of Government reforms leaves it open to criticism that the administrative and regulatory tail is playing  catch up. The  proposed  abolition of the YPLA which has responsibility for Academies may serve to complicate accountability issues.  Part of the attraction of setting up these schools is that they are autonomous and because they are freed from local authority control they have less bureaucracy and red tape to contend with, which is seen as a real positive. But some are concerned that the regulatory framework within which these autonomous schools sit is not robust enough. Policymakers have tended to focus on the imperative of  freedom of choice rather than the regulatory implications of supply side reforms  and in working out how to put in place an enabling environment that  safeguards the public interest  and  minimises the chances of these  new schools failing  and indeed ensuring  that  a system is  in place to manage  failure and its consequences. The Government has recently tightened up the vetting of Free Schools bids which suggests that  it has its own concerns.  The challenge of course is to strike the right balance between real autonomy and accountability to the Government.

Other countries have introduced supply side reforms, including autonomous state schools and there may be lessons that we can learn from their experiences.  CfBT Education Trust has been investigating  international practice in the area of school reforms and will be publishing a report this summer. The timing could not be better. Watch this space.

FREE SCHOOLS-ESCHEWING PROFIT

FREE SCHOOLS

Are Big sponsors taking over?

Are parents groups still welcome?

Comment

Michael Gove held a workshop style meeting recently according to a source on the blogosphere, (Mark Balcombe) to discuss the James Report on capital funding, which has just been published . Last year just  £50 million was set aside for free schools ( the financial year 2010-11) to meet their capital needs.  Not enough say critics..Beyond that, provision forms part of the overall spending review settlement for schools.  In short, future allocations for free schools have yet to be decided.

It is noteworthy though that at this meeting along with Sebastian James  were the bigger multiple academy sponsors, and a  few close advisors to Gove. The meeting appears to confirm the perception that the Government is looking now  to the big chains of Academy providers to deliver on the Free school initiative.

Unsurprisingly, James ,wrestling with the challenges of capital funding, didn’t write his report alone. There was input from Lewisham Council’s chief executive Barry Quirk, Kevin Grace of Tesco John Hood, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Oxford and Sir John Egan, former Chief Executive of Jaguar and BAA. The last three all work for companies which have, so far, had no involvement in sponsoring academies.  The meeting was called at short notice and was held at the Sanctuary Buildings in Great Smith Street, London SW1.  The  Multiple sponsors were there together with New Schools Network’s Rachel Wolf plus various government officials, including from Quango Partnerships for Schools. (which has been criticised for allowing  wasteful spending on the old  BSF progrmme)

Representing sponsors were: Charles Parker, operations director of the Edge Foundation and who left PfS last Summer, 2010, Sir Bruce Liddington of E-ACT, Ian Cleland of Ormiston, Rob Gwynne, the Church’s head of school development at the national level and at least one of his colleagues and Lucy Heller, managing director of Absolute Return for Kids (ARK).

Recent criticism of the free schools project has focused on the lack of funding available and the unsuitability of some groups seeking to set up free schools, either based on their capability, or their faith beliefs. As the Sunday Times has pointed out, Gove’s  apparent shift in policy has come partly because more than 320 formal applications for free schools — far more than anticipated — have already been submitted by groups unhappy with local schooling. The Department is working at the moment with around 40 free school bids some of which  will open this September.

Those who were not invited to the meeting will be wondering whether the DfE will stick with this group of ‘preferred’ suppliers and make it difficult for other suppliers to get involved and almost make it virtually impossible for parents groups to go it alone, without one of the big chains in support from the start.

Gove  supports in principle  parents groups setting up schools (he admires the idealism of these little platoons getting involved in their communities while also being sensitive to claims that they are self-serving middle class parents or faith fundamentalists)  but with over 300 proposals submitted and with resources tight he wanted a more focused approach and for the ‘oddballs’ to be weeded out early on to pre-empt wasted effort, resources and of course, bad publicity too. The big chains can, of course,    deliver economies of scale, with more efficient back office procurement. They  can  pool resources and  train and share   leadership teams, share best practice  and  also clearly  have  the resources and critical mass  that offers some security. They can  move quickly too  with most skills on tap – as well as  having a track record on which they might be judged and which can reassure parents (although this can have a downside)

The bottom line is that parents will now  find it much harder to set up schools alone (ie the Toby Young; West London model)  and they will improve their chances measurably by teaming up early on with professionals .  Some  welcome this move-not least because the whole process of setting up free schools has become politicised leaving small groups, without top cover, vulnerable.

Certainly the process in setting up these schools, probably inevitably,   is becoming much  more bureaucratic and although the New Schools Network is doing what it can to help parents groups its resources are stretched and it doesn’t necessarily have the in house support to  offer anything but fairly  basic, though useful, advice and support.  This Government knows it has to deliver a model that entices the large providers, but seeks to do this without  it being obvious that they are profiting from their engagement. Its a difficult circle to square.  In the meantime  all funding to parents, that want help from a consultant to put together their business case, has been stopped, it seems  .Of course,  some pro bono support  continues to be  available from some companies who are expecting a return, further down the line.

But the Gove team have irritated some in the private sector for their failure to embrace the profit motive or fully acknowledge its key role in Sweden’s free school and US Charter schools success, even suggesting in recent briefings that the not for profit Charters in the States tend to be more innovative than the profit making enterprises (although evidence in support of this claim is hard to find). The fact is that in both Sweden and the States for profits and not for for profits have both been essential for their supply side  reforms.  Nonetheless there has been a perceived shift by the Gove team away from the Swedish model and towards the Charter model and particularly the not for profit example set by KIPP.

One big problem  is that   most  in government  have no experience   of running any enterprise seeking a margin ,  or  first  hand experience of what makes  enterprises or indeed markets    tick-or what  constitutes  an incentive or disincentive-and,  unfortunately, it shows.

The private  sector  think, or hope  that in due course Gove will have to tap into their expertise and capital to up- scale this initiative. The original idea or ‘vision’  for  free schools did not envisage the whole free schools landscape being entirely  dominated by a handful of Academy chains, which looks, the way things are going,  to be the longer term outlook. .

Apart from the funding issue, a lack of suitable buildings and difficulties in planning permission continue to act as a brake on the free schools initiative. In the meantime private companies in the education sector, with  few new business opportunities at home to conjure with,  are in search of new opportunities abroad, where the level of support from government is,  as it is here, poor to non-existent, unless that is,  you  happen to be a  grant funded  quango,or linked to one.

THE QCDA-ONE REASON WHY ITS GOING?

THE QCDA-ONE REASON  WHY ITS GOING

But Government needs to be careful over the figures

Comment

The Education Secretary Michael Gove pointed out in the Second Reading of the Education Bill, on 8 February,  that the QCDA quango (shortly to be culled) has a total  staff of  393 employees of which 76 are in its Communications Department. Remember, this quango looks after the curriculum, which will be radically reformed by this Government. The QCDA doesn’t have that many defenders, it has to be said, its new and is , well  sort of, a partial successor to the not much lamented QCA. Education Journalists tend to have   quite good contacts in the communications departments  of these  type of organisations  So,  the education journalist Warwick Mansell, sharing  others astonishment at this figure,  did some  digging on this. He found that this figure  actually  covered the world and his wife –  in fact all staff in the communications and QCDA and Ofqual customer services departments, including switchboard and helpline operators; web and publishing editors; people who support schools and local authorities in delivering national curriculum tests, and those who deliver communications to employees. In April 2010, prior to the announced closure of QCDA, there were in fact  15 staff at QCDA dealing directly with communications, including three in the press office and one in internal communications.

I don’t hold a torch for the QCDA or many other education  quangos for that matter but   if one is going to criticise them (and there are plenty of grounds for doing so) Ministers can I am  sure present a strong case without the need to play fast and loose with the figures. Its all a bit unnecessary and counter-productive.

THE BRITISH COUNCIL- HAS AN IDENTITY CRISIS

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD?YOU MUST BE JOKING!

How the British Council  steals an advantage  abroad  over other UK education suppliers

Comment

The British Council has long used taxpayers money, our money that is, to subsidise its  education operations abroad and to undercut other non-subsidised competitors from  both the profit and not for profit sectors in order  to win contracts . There is  new evidence that it uses its diplomatic ‘ top cover’  to gain an unfair  competitive advantage   in the market  with our own Governments collusion,  to help it see off   other UK   competitors.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Education tendered recently  for the supply of 360 native English  language trainers. The contract was  awarded to three providers, the British Council being one of them. The  Malaysia MoE required each provider to supply a M$4m (about £800k) performance bond. Two providers put the money on the table. The British Council didn’t . It  argued that its constitution  didn’t permit it to put up bonds. So what happened? The British High Commissioner requested that the Malaysian government waive the requirement for a bond from the British Council . This request  allegedly went to the  Malaysian Cabinet and they agreed to waive the requirement on the basis that this was a government to government agreement.  Confirming  in other words the British Council operates with a Government guarantee behind it, to help it to  win contracts even  when competing against UK companies abroad.

This particular  arrangement, of course, worked to the advantage of the British Council  and to the disadvantage of other UK education companies, as often happens.

So, what  is the status of the British Council that allows it to bend the rules when it suits its perceived interests?

Is it the cultural  arm of the FCO? Or is  it a straightforward  commercial operation?  Is it charity,  fulfilling a public benefit ie justifying its charitable status (it cant be both a charity and commercial operator can it ?) Or  is  it a quango, at arms length from the Government?  Then again, maybe its an aid agency supporting our development goals  and the  DfID (its tapping in to the DFIDs  aid budget after all).The answer is- it tries to be all of these things .  Like  a chameleon it changes its status to suit  any given circumstance.  And it has been allowed up until now to get away with it . But one has to ask, for how much longer?

Why does all  this matter anyway?  Well a publicly funded    quango that doesn’t know what it is  and has an on-going  identity crisis    is a quango ripe for culling under the Governments efficiency drive  . It cannot  for starters prove that it is indispensable. In other words private sector  and not for profit  providers could deliver  most of the services it delivers, if there is a demand for them that is  , at lower cost (and  for the most part at no cost to the taxpayer)  while delivering better quality. Few in the market doubt this.

The shenanigans in Malaysia tell us a number of other truths.  Firstly  it confirms something that UK education service providers have known for a while , that in the eyes of our diplomats and those who purport to  ‘represent’ our trade and investment interests  abroad, the British Council  is special and has a privileged status, and  is given a helping hand in the markets (with the implicit guarantee behind it). Secondly, it confirms that the British Council is effectively an arm of the FCO (subsidised now also by the DFID budget) and not an independent bona fide commercial operator, as it would have it. Thirdly, it confirms that if the British Council pitches for a contract then there is no level playing field,  and, importantly, the very  presence of the BC  raises the costs and risks  for other competitors while  deterring new  market entrants.

The protected status of the BC is from another era.  It was never easy to justify its chameleon status, its even less so now. It cannot secure value for money for  us taxpayers. The way it conducts its  business abroad and in the markets lacks transparency ,accountability and is demonstrably unfair on  other non-subsidised  competitors . It is doubly unfair because the British Council  competes head on for the same contracts with the very  companies it  is supposed to be supporting in the markets  (with taxpayers money).It  is aided in  all this  by our public servants. This is not acceptable. At a time when our Government seeks better value for money and  more engagement from the private and not for  profit sectors, in public service delivery and for small and medium sized enterprises to be awarded  a greater share of public service contracts, here and abroad , its  activities clearly serve to undermine a key Government policy  and work  against the  longer term interests  of UK plc. It is time for the Government to act to protect the interests of us  taxpayers and the education market.

The Government, according to the Cabinet Office ‘ will be establishing new procedures for  reviewing public bodies  to challenge whether there is still a requirement for them to continue  and if there is ,that they are fit  for purpose ‘. If that is  case and its  not window-dressing then the British Council should be worried.  Over to Francis  Maude and his  reform team in the Cabinet office on this one.

QUANGO REVIEW BOTCHED ACCORDING TO SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT

QUANGO REVIEW BOTCHED  ACCORDING TO SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT

Public Administration Committee says that reform of quangos has been a lost opportunity and the Bill is poorly drafted

But reforms on-going

Comment

Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, has been driving through reforms in the delivery of public services to drive down costs,  to improve efficiency,  deliver value for money, streamline public  procurement and to encourage greater  transparency and accountability. He also wants to see, at the end of this process, a greater role for small and medium sized enterprises in public service delivery.   Reforms have included a partial cull of the Quangocracy, though  more barbecue, say critics. than the widely anticipated bonfire. Although the process of reform is on-going organisations such as the British Council , the TDA  and NCSL (the SSAT now  has less public funding to manage but is still competing unfairly with non-subsidised private and not for profit operators in the markets here and abroad)  have emerged largely unscathed from the review although  critics want these organisations to be cut down to size , made more transparent and accountable and for them to demonstrate, against clear  performance benchmarks, that they deliver value for money for taxpayers  and that the services they provide cannot be provided better and cheaper by the private  and  not for profit providers ,or indeed social enterprises.

The Public Administration Committee has been looking at reforms affecting quangos and has just published a report ‘ Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango State’ . The verdict is  that the Government’s “Bonfire of the Quangos” has been “poorly managed” resulting in badly drafted legislation that won’t deliver significant cost savings or improved accountability. Bernard Jenkin, the committee’s Conservative chairman, says “the whole process was rushed and poorly handled and should have been thought through a lot more”. Pre-election promises from the Conservatives  about cuts to costly bureaucracy “created a false expectation that the review would deliver greater savings” than appear likely. And to make meaningful savings, the government needs to examine not just how the quangos operate, but what they exist to do. In many cases, the committee argues, functions could have been transferred to charities or mutuals. “This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the big society and save money at the same time,” Mr Jenkin says. “But it has been botched.”

The Committee report claims that the Public Bodies Reform Bill currently with the Lords  aimed at delivering  these reforms was  badly drafted. And it  promised to issue a further detailed report on the Bill once the Lords have finished their scrutiny. The report concluded “ The Government should have reassessed what function public bodies are needed to perform and transferred many more of these activities to charities and mutuals. Doing so would have helped explain more clearly its vision for a Big Society, giving these organisations the ability to provide more government services. It should also have used the review to get control of some activities of public bodies that provide questionable benefit to the taxpayer, most notably the use of public funds for lobbying and public relations campaigns.”  The  Committee added  that ‘Deciding which bodies can be moved into the private and voluntary sector should form only part of the Government’s review. It should also reconsider what activities public bodies should continue to engage in. Some public bodies have allowed their remit to increase over the years and there is a need to refocus them on their core functions. Identifying the essential activities of these bodies will both make them more efficient and reduce cost. This principle must be embedded in future reviews. (Paragraph 114)

The Committee intends to bring forward proposals to strengthen the  Select Committees’ role in scrutinising changes to public bodies in its future report on the detail of the Public Bodies Reform Bill.

The Committee though  has failed to address the issue of  the unfair activities of quangos in the markets  both here and abroad which disadvantage non-subsidised private and not for profit providers. In short,  Quangos use taxpayers money to  cross subsidise their operations  in order to under cut  other competitors bids for contracts  and quangos, such as the SSAT and British Council,  are frequently awarded contracts that are not put out to open  tender which  apart from being unfair, cannot ensure value for money for taxpayers. Francis Maude has, though,  been made aware of providers concerns  and their  calls for urgent  reform.

Mr Maude  has rejected the Committees  criticism, promising to “see the reforms through”. The Committee welcomed the Minister’s comments which indicate that future reviews will include considerations about efficiency and value for money of quangos along with his assurances that  he would be able to devise a more cost-effective review system than previous efforts.

Reforms are on-going  driven by the Cabinet Office.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmpubadm/537/53702.htm

GOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR UK EDUCATION ABROAD BUT NOT MUCH SUPPORT

WELLINGTON COLLEGE CONFERENCE- CONTINUED

Opportunities for private schools, education companies and HE institutions

But still a shortage of support for UK exporters

Comment

Notwithstanding the issues raised by the Duke of York at the recent Wellington College Conference ‘Brand UK: Why Britsh Schools and Universities should set up abroad’ regarding the current visa regime and  confusion over support for education companies abroad, highlighted by the conflicted roles of the British Council , there was much optimism about the future of UK  companies schools and HE institutions  expanding into  international  education markets, exploiting the UK education brand. Private schools, including Dulwich College, which now has three off shoots in China, and is looking to expand in Asia and  India,  Harrow and Wellington College whose Tianjin campus is close to completion, were all mentioned, with David Cook the Headmaster of Wellington College International Tianjin presenting on his experiences  . The college is now open for applications for the term starting August 2011. Significantly UK schools were making inroads in countries such as Thailand and China which had no colonial ties with the UK. Schools setting up abroad will have problems and challenges and there seems to be a high turnover of start -up Heads, which implies that start up Headteachers need particular qualities.  Universities are also making a big effort to expand abroad with Nottingham something of a pioneer with two new campuses, one in China one in Malaysia. The Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University too. It is an independent university based in Suzhou China, resulting from a partnership between the universities of Liverpool and Xi’an Jiaotong.  It is the world’s first Sino-British university between research led universities, and is officially recognised by the Chinese Ministry of Education as a “not for profit” educational institution. However, the Chinese market is less open than in the UK.  I heard from one reliable source at this conference that over 30 University Vice Chancellors had passed through Malaysia in the past year alone, which gives some idea of just how important Universities now rate the international market. China and the Middle East were seen as significant markets ripe for development and India too.  However Indian bureaucracy and its apparent residual protectionism remain a problem. A Bill in the Indian Parliament is supposed to be about to enable Universities to set up campuses in India, but I seem to remember this was mentioned at the last conference two years ago.  In China there is a limitation on school expansion because foreign owned schools cant teach Chinese nationals, although according to the Chinese representative, Tian Xiaogang this is possible if there is a joint venture with Chinese partners. 102 international school are currently operating in China . Universities are setting up in China too but the Chinese have some concerns over the variable quality of teaching and qualifications on offer from some international ventures. The 5^TH China UK Education Summit took place on 9 November and there appears to be considerable mutual interest in furthering ties, with the number of Chinese students attending UK institutions increasing. It was noted that UK schools are taking an interest in Mandarin and Brighton College has become the first school to make the subject compulsory. The Chinese representative seemed particularly taken by Wellingtons attempts to revive Confucius in its  Tianjin school.

As far as the Middle East was concerned, there appears to be a large market which is relatively untapped. Paul Andrews, the Private Schools Manager of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), gave a presentation .ADEC oversees policy, planning, inspection and QA of private schools sector. There are 200 schools and 170,000 students. With the population growing rapidly and a major priority attached by the Government to education many more local students are  moving into private schools. So there is demand beyond the ex-pat community. The pace of schools development  is not however keeping pace with population growth. ADEC appears to be bending over backwards to ease the process of establishing schools, cutting though the local bureaucracy and red tape. Indeed it is willing to allocate empty buildings for opportunities to run “affordable” schools and indeed to find empty school buildings to tide operators  over  until a new school is built.

Significantly there appears to be a large gap in the market for support for Special Educational Needs   with very little provision currently available within existing schools, the implication being that the Government wants to address this as a priority.  Inaddition  the aim is to drive improvement in  standards  with the help of a  schools inspections  system,  so an inspection market is  developing.   There is an urgent need to build local capability and capacity. Training courses are beginning too, for selected teachers to become inspectors which will bear fruit over the next couple of years. ADECS ten year plan aims to improve school standards to the best international benchmarks.  It claims to be able to easily match local  investors  with schools operators and the impression given was that there was no shortage of investor interest. Local partners though are important, indeed it seems essential.    UK companies such as Tribal, which is involved in inspections and the SSAT quango, which provides a range of support services to 21 schools, including for instance leadership and teacher support and Anthony Millard Consulting  which focuses on recruitment of school leaders and strategic consulting are all  active and successful  in Abu Dhabi

ADEC is looking for :

modernisation of teaching approaches to core subjects

innovative private schools to train  the young to be future leaders

innovative use of IT, new approaches to learning

access for all students incl SEN

basic teacher training with Continuing Professional Development

leadership training for present and future school leaders

Certainly, as evidenced by the attendance at this conference, and the fact that the  education market in the UK  has been affected by the downturn and cuts in Government and local authority budgets, there  is   real increased  interest in markets abroad, for schools, education providers and HE institutions. But it is also clear that there are pitfalls and a lack of co-ordinated support from the Government and its agencies for providers, and the unfair anti-competitive practices of education quangos seeking to increase their income streams aboard  is making a difficult market even harder for  many operators . In addition  management of the current visa regime is positively harming UK Higher Education Institutions and will do nothing to aid their expansion abroad. The Government needs to think long and hard about how it can  make life easier for UK education exporters and to be  a  better enabler . A  good  start would be to listen to  providers concerns and the challenges they  currently have to  face.