MERSEYSIDE education chiefs give their take on some of the key education policies. Julie Lyon-Taylor, the National Union of Teachers’ executive member for Merseyside, Mick Burrows who carries out the same role for teaching union the NASUWT and Peter Price, headteacher of St Christopher’s Primary School, Speke, and chairman of teaching association the National Primary Headteachers, give a frank assessment on some of the pledges and big issues.

Academies

JL-T: It’s absolutely crazy to press on with academies which have not proven to produce changes. Giving more money to academies than their competitors creates an unfair system. There is no evidence they raise standards.

PP: If you get the right expertise with the right motivation, then I don’t think they are too much of a problem. I believe additional money in education is needed in all schools, so I would not want a situation where it’s a case of some schools get and some do not.

MB: There is no evidence in place that they actually bring improvements and from a union perspective industrial relations are generally harder to establish in academies. They do not have to follow agreed terms and conditions and are allowed to plough their own furrow.

Building Schools for the Future

JL-T: It is essential we replace our outdated buildings and in the long term the scheme could actually save money due to things like the better insulation and equipment they provide. It is also good for the wider economy of places like Liverpool as it creates jobs locally and helps bring up the standards of the city.

PP: We need it to continue to create education fit for the 21st century and to upgrade our building stock. It is essential we have the buildings to match a modern curriculum and there needs to be strategic approach to upgrading all schools.

MB: This is money that has been pledged and schools will have planned for it to happen. The investment has brought a lot of improvements to buildings and the conditions for pupils to learn in. It has tackled a backlog when schools had leaking roofs and to stop it now would be disastrous.

Free schools

JL-T: It is a crazy idea. Parents would not have the time or the expertise to run schools. They would not know the whole picture and just centre on their own child. Schools are accountable to the public and should serve society at large.

PP: This is not something I can support. It seems a bit whimsical to allow parents with their own motivations and agenda to open a school. It worries me what the legacy would be and what would happen after the children of those parents leave the school. Parents already have a voice and it is hard for schools to get a full complement of parent governors as it is.

MB: It’s a gimmick. How are they going to staff these things? It’s rubbish, you wouldn’t do it in the case of doctors’ surgeries, so why with teachers? I can’t see it happening.