York head teacher leads national call for shake-up of education (From York Press)
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York head teacher leads national call for shake-up of education
9:50am Monday 29th October 2012 in News
By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk
John Tomsett, of Huntington School
A YORK head teacher is at the forefront of a new national forum aimed at revolutionising school education.
John Tomsett, of Huntington School, is one of about ten head teachers from across the country who have joined together to form the online Head Teachers’ Roundtable which grew out of frustration with current government educational policy and the Labour opposition response to it.
The non party political group has launched a six point manifesto aimed at shaking up the way children are assessed, schools are inspected and taking education out of the hands of the politicians.
It states:
1) Schools should be assessed in a range of ways, not just judged on exam results
2) Ofsted should be replaced by local partnerships that would hold schools to account and help them improve
3) The curriculum and assessment should be taken out of political control and given to an independent agency with a 20-year licence
4) The government should encourage small “families” of local schools in preference to large national chains
5) Stopping the current system of capping the number of students who can achieve a certain grade in exams
6) School accountability measures should encourage collaboration between schools and explicitly develop systems of leadership.
The group set up a twitter account @HeadsRoundtable and the response, said Mr Tomsett, had been “phenomenal”.
Within four hours of the twitter account being set up it had 1,000 followers and that number had now risen to more than 2,700.
Stephen Twigg, Shadow Minister for Education, has approached the group and they plan to meet next month.
Mr Tomsett said: “We are hoping politicians from all political parties will follow Mr Twigg’s lead and that we can meet with other senior politicians with responsibility for education in the near future.
“The support is overwhelming. The response from the profession underlines the need for a clear input from teachers to shape national policy. We also think it is really important parents understand what the new English Baccalaureate Certificate proposals - which are set to replace GCSEs by 2017 - mean for their children.”
Fellow York head teacher David Ellis, of York High in Acomb, said an important message to come out of the group was that it was important not to dismiss students who were not academic.
He said: “I fully support what John is doing. I think as head teachers we know that we work in a political environment and changes of government bring changes of policy and that comes with the territory. I think one of the difficulties at the moment is that policy changes are coming so thick and fast that we really need to stand back and say ‘hold on a minute. Are we really doing the best for our young people?’”
As well as its supporters, the group also has its detractors including Nick Seaton, the chairman of the York-based parent group, The Campaign for Real Education.
He said: “I think most parents will think that this is just another self-interest group trying to put forward their point of view. The suggestion that everything should be done locally and in-house could lead to things going wrong.”
Comments(20)
Tug job
says...
11:29am Mon 29 Oct 12
Stevie D
says...
11:58am Mon 29 Oct 12
John Tomsett is an incredibly thoughtful and reflective headteacher, who knows what is best for students and is determined to bring about the changes that are needed, despite the government's determination to do the opposite. If you are in any doubt about that, have a read of his blog – it really is inspiring, and a delightful antidote to the depressing and dispiriting articles that you see everywhere else on educational matters.
Zetkin
says...
12:22pm Mon 29 Oct 12
What he said.
jadestars
says...
12:37pm Mon 29 Oct 12
YSTClinguist
says...
1:21pm Mon 29 Oct 12
A government sets a currciulum based on a future workforce, but it seems so many individual politicians meddle with education to serve their own purposes. A few politicians, a few million of our children. Groups like this need proper support if the cycle is to be broken.
Even AndyD
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1:35pm Mon 29 Oct 12
beretta
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1:39pm Mon 29 Oct 12
Sawday2
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2:05pm Mon 29 Oct 12
welf_man
says...
3:40pm Mon 29 Oct 12
beretta wrote:My child is at Huntington, and I'm more than happy for this to be done in school time - there's more to teaching than cramming facts into children, like having care an concern about all their futures.
I hope Mr. Tomsett is doing this campain in his own time and holidays and not in school time. After all he is paid by me and all tax payers to teach my children and other tax payers children. If he feels he needs to go into politics he should leave teaching and let another head take over.
YorkCityLuke
says...
4:36pm Mon 29 Oct 12
welf_man wrote:Seconded - I work there, and he's an excellent head.
beretta wrote:My child is at Huntington, and I'm more than happy for this to be done in school time - there's more to teaching than cramming facts into children, like having care an concern about all their futures.
I hope Mr. Tomsett is doing this campain in his own time and holidays and not in school time. After all he is paid by me and all tax payers to teach my children and other tax payers children. If he feels he needs to go into politics he should leave teaching and let another head take over.
flipflop wearer
says...
4:54pm Mon 29 Oct 12
hendom
says...
7:09pm Mon 29 Oct 12
I hope it is allowed to succeed. I never trust politicians (and that includes the obnoxoius Twigg and Gove).They always seem to have their own agenda rather than the interests of our children at heart.
ajbc11
says...
11:06pm Mon 29 Oct 12
On the other hand John is an excellent professional, knows his job and cares about doing the best for children. If he is representative of the Headteachers trying to wrest control of education from the similarly uninformed politictians then keep up the good work!
York1900
says...
6:13am Tue 30 Oct 12
this way children will learn and want to go to school
newcyclist
says...
12:23pm Tue 30 Oct 12
flipflop wearer wrote:Is flipflop wearer a pupil at the school, showing the slipping standards by not knowing that names have capital letters and not writing one of his sentences with a main verb? Or is he a product of the failed education system that this group of Headteachers seek to reform?
I absolutely agree that john tomsett should be dedicating the time he is paid to run a school, running a school. Not teaching but managing and directing the school and maintaining the standards that could arguably be said are slipping. How can the school be his primary concern if he is diversifying in this way? He does care and he is an excellent head but even he has limitations.
The best way to run most things that are run for the community is to have local, community involvement. Pupils should be inspired, not fearful, to be motivated; and teachers should be treated likewise so that they are teaching and listening, rather than filling in tick sheets, justifying everything they do or say, and looking over their shoulders the whole time to see who may be judging them.
kirchheim
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1:09pm Tue 30 Oct 12
ShunGokuSatsu
says...
1:17pm Tue 30 Oct 12
Magicman!
says...
12:24am Wed 31 Oct 12
angry mother
says...
6:45pm Thu 8 Nov 12
Sawday2 says...
10:58am Mon 29 Oct 12