Charles Clarke: New freedoms for schools
Taken from a speech by the Secretary of State for Education at a conference in London to mark the 10th anniversary of Ofsted
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Your support makes all the difference.It is important to give teachers the space to develop their teaching and learning strategies around every child. Inspection should be proportionate to success and focused more on outcomes, less on process. We should benchmark schools against best-known practice, but if they have a formula that takes them further we shouldn't hold them back.
I believe that it also important to accelerate the process whereby schools can earn still greater freedoms by demonstrating that they have really earned it. This is "earned autonomy" where schools can demonstrate they are really well-managed.
I intend to give three new freedoms to those schools that earn their autonomy in the way I describe. The first is freedom to tailor the curriculum so that schools can take account of their local context and make sure that children are able to make the most of what is their "once in a lifetime" educational experience. This Government's Education Act 2002 gives new powers for the Secretary of State to establish extensive curriculum flexibilities for our most effective schools.
The second is freedom to vary terms and conditions of service of staff as they build, develop and reward the school team. Schools may want to set their own pay ranges for particular roles in the school.
The third is greater financial freedoms so that, for example, specialist schools qualifying for earned autonomy will be redesignated and receive funding for a further four years if they achieve targets agreed with us, without any need for a school development plan.
This is an offer of freedom for all, not a free for all. Freedom has to be within a framework of accountability, and Ofsted will continue to play a pivotal role in making sure that is the case. The freedom must also be for a purpose – to raise standards across all schools, providing a better and more enjoyable education for every child.
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