Education Bill will give teachers back their authority: Mel Stride MP writes...

Okehampton MP Mel Stride writes about the changes coming to our schools.

Education matters

One of the most important Bills of this parliament is currently going through the Commons. The Education Bill will raise standards for our children across the board. This is, in my view, well overdue with far too many of our young people (especially those from poorer backgrounds) being failed by the system. A key measure of our educational performance is to look at how we are doing internationally. In a recent PISA survey – the international league tables of school performance – we fell from 4th to 14th in science, 7th to 17th in literacy and from 8th to 24th in maths. There are many reasons why a good education matters – it matters for the economy of course but far more important than that, in my view, is that it provides children with the opportunity to move on and up.

At the present moment social mobility is rock bottom – you stand less chance of escaping the restraints of a poorer background now than at any time since the 1970s. In fact if you were born in the late 50s you grew up in the golden age of social mobility and you could be forgiven for thinking that the decades since might have given people more opportunity not less but this has not happened. That is a strong reason why getting education right really matters.

One of the major areas addressed in the Bill is school discipline. Every school day nearly 1,000 children are suspended for abuse and assault and a striking two thirds of teachers say that bad behaviour is driving professionals out of the classroom. This Bill will tackle this issue head-on by giving back to our teachers the authority and protections required to deal with bad behaviour in the classroom. Firstly, they will be given the right to search children for items that disrupt learning. Currently a pupil cannot be searched without consent for items such as pornography and video cameras (which are sometimes used to post disruptive behaviour online). The Bill will allow teachers to search children for any item banned by school rules. Secondly, Head teachers will be given the final say in the exclusion of pupils for violent behaviour including instances of carrying a knife (at present the Head’s decision can be overturned by a tribunal against his or her wishes). Thirdly, teachers will be protected against children who lie. An ATL survey showed that a quarter of teachers had had an unfair allegation made against them. This can ruin careers and take teachers out of the classroom for months. The Bill will provide teachers with anonymity up until the point they are charged.

There is of course much more besides in the Bill (not least reducing bureaucracy, raising accountability and introducing the excellent pupil premium to support children from poorer families). All in all it represents a huge step forward for education – and my hope is that in time it will also provide a step up for the poorest in society too."