Bristol Schools Mythbuster

Blimey. We all knew Bristol schools were in trouble, but the news that 40% of Bristol secondary school pupils are being educated outside the city's state schools (20% in the private sector, 20% in neighbouring districts) is still pretty stark.

On the face of it, the problem and the solution seem pretty simple. The Local Authority (LEA as was) is failing miserably in its duties. Get rid of it, give schools more autonomy, and watch standards rise. This is the Tory view, the government's view, and the view of many in Bristol.

Luckily for them, it's already happening. Practically every crap secondary school in Bristol is in the process of becoming an academy, and primary schools probably won't be far behind. New Oak Primary in Hengrove was saved from the clutches of the Christian Oasis Trust, but rumour has it that the city's academies may have their eyes on other primaries.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. The 'get rid of the LEA and all will be well' view rests on two myths:

1. The LA controls what happens in schools.

Sure, the likes of Heather Tomlinson certainly act - and get paid - as if they have a say in how Bristol schools are run. But in fact, the LA can only really intervene in a school if it goes into special measures. The real power in British education lies with central government and headteachers.

Central government's obsession with testing and targets has, according to a major review carried out by Cambridge University, led a rise in pupil stress and 'teaching to the test' rather than a genuine rise in standards.

Headteachers are held to account by school governors rather than the local authority. Governors are by and large well meaning amateurs totally overwhelmed by the workload and ever changing bureaucracy of modern education. Getting to grips with whatever the Department of Education is called this month is enough of a challenge, never mind truly getting to the bottom of what is going on in a school.

2. Schools outside of LA control will necessarily do better.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that, once freed from the dead hand of the LA, schools will flourish.

Bristol's own City Academy, under "inspirational" headteacher Ray Priest, is often held up as a prime example of this, and used as a justification for the transformation of other failing Bristol schools into Academies.

A much quoted statistic is the improvement in exam results at the City Academy - up from 33% achieving five GSCEs at A-C in 2004 to 50% in 2006. Not bad.

But how many pupils got five GCSEs at A-C including English and Maths ? 18% - a measly 2% rise from 2004.

So, three years after glorious liberation from LA control, 82% of its pupils are still failing to get the qualifications that might actually get them a job. Not a resounding success for a school where, according to its websites, 'learning comes first', pupils are 'learning about learning', 'learning today for tomorrow', and even 'learning to live together' in 'learning villages'.

Academies are nothing less than the privatisation of state education, handing over the education of the most vulnerable to shadowy coalitions of businessmen and the religous right. It shouldn't suprise us that a right wing think tank like Policy Exchange supports them. But it is more suprising that people on the left are in favour - particularly when there's bugger all evidence that they actually work.

So what is to be done? To be continued...