Reformation?

Introduction & Posting Guidelines - Please Read First

The impetus to save money by the reform of publicly funded bodies hides, in my view, the ideological drive of this government to use the rhetoric of deficit reduction to drive through massive privatisation of public services including education.

The widening of the academies programme, from its initial aim of bootstrapping failing schools, to the ‘offer’ that all schools should now convert to academies is strengthened by the demands of the Education Bill that all new school commissions must preference academy or free school status before grant maintained schools.

This involves a massive centralisation, contrary, it seems to me, to the notions contained in the Localism Bill and the ideas behind the ‘Big Society’.

As evidence, I cite the many public bodies that are to be axed whose functions will be subsumed within the relevant state departments. A large number of these specialist bodies contain highly skilled staff whose duty it is to support, promote and maintain education standards.

The list of public bodies to be axed includes:

General Teaching Coucil for England
HM Chief Inspector of Education, Childrens Services and Skills (Ofsted)
Office of Qualifications and Examination Regulation (Ofqual)
Pensions Regulator
School Support Staff Negotiating Body
School Teachers Review Body
Training and Development Agency for Schools
Young Peoples Learning Agency for England
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Charity Commission for England and Wales
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Health and Safety Exutive

Edit:  I forgot the Audit Commission in that list.  The body that looks at the spend of £180bn of public monies every year.  They're going too.