Academies Bill [Lords]

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Wednesday 21st July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Lucas]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his wise observation. He is exactly right. If children are put into particular training perspectives very early on, the wider set of possibilities and potential that could have been available to them will no longer exist if they have only the particularly narrow kind of education that the sponsors of academies often seem to pursue. I thank all hon. Members who have intervened and I stand by my amendment.

[Diana R. Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

I wish to speak to amendments 25, 30 and 26 in my name and those of my right hon. and hon. Friends, but first I turn to amendment 1, the lead amendment, in the name of the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), who has just passionately explained why she put it forward.

The Opposition do not support amendment 1, which is designed to make academies adopt the whole national curriculum. The previous Labour Government’s view was clear on the curriculum that an academy should follow. We said that the core national curriculum subjects of science, mathematics, information technology and English should be taught in academies, but that left room for flexibility so that academies could design their own, local curriculum to meet the needs of their local population.

The Opposition still take the view that that is the most appropriate approach to the curriculum in academies, in marked contrast to clause 1(6)(a), which refers only to the requirement for a broad and balanced curriculum. Amendment 25, which sets out the core subjects that all pupils should be required to study, would provide the best approach to ensuring that those important subjects were taught in academy schools, while retaining some flexibility for academies. I hope that the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson), who spoke from the Liberal Democrat Benches, feels able to support that approach.

Amendment 30 sets out the Opposition’s view that section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006 should apply to academies.

[Stephen Pound]

Before my hon. Friend moves on from amendment 1, I note that the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) mentioned the temptation for some academies to structure that local element, to which my hon. Friend referred, towards local employment possibilities. The pedagogic tradition of Mr Gradgrind and Dr Dryasdust concerned the hon. Lady during the early part of her speech, but the latter point concerns me. In the Opposition’s amendments is there anything to prevent the situation to which the hon. Lady referred, in which an academy is in effect the employment feeder for a local company, from occurring?

[Diana R. Johnson]

The Opposition want every pupil in an academy and any school to reach their full potential, and closing off options early on to pupils is not the appropriate approach.

Amendment 30 sets out the Opposition’s view that section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006 should apply to academies. Now that academy status will be open to primary schools, I am concerned that the Bill is ambiguous about the care and education of young children, and that section 40 of the 2006 Act does not refer to academies. That is understandable, because at the time only secondary schools could become academies, but a few all-through academies have now been developed.

Amendment 30 would introduce a clear duty to implement the early years foundation stage in academies with a nursery, ensuring that early years education in academies met the learning and developmental requirements of young children and complied with welfare requirements, too. That in turn would guarantee all young children in academies the same balanced, age-appropriate and play-based standard of care and education as children in maintained and independent schools. The Opposition believe that that is a sensible way to ensure that the excellent and well regarded early years curriculum is applied in academies. I am concerned that the Bill is silent on that subject, so it would be helpful to have a commitment to the early years foundation stage in the Bill. I listened very carefully to the Minister’s earlier remarks, but it would be better if the measure were clearly signposted in the Bill.

Amendment 26 would require academies to include personal, social, health and economic education on their curriculum and to make PSHE mandatory.

[Chris Skidmore]

I do not see economic education mentioned in the amendment—am I misreading it?

[Diana R. Johnson]

When this matter was before the House in the last Parliament, economic education was part of PSHE, but I may be mistaken in still calling it that. The original name was personal and social health and education. I think that the previous Government tried to insert “economic” to make it clear that economic education was very important to young people to give them information about bank accounts and how to budget accordingly.

[Chris Skidmore]

If the hon. Lady is not quite certain herself about what the amendment should mean or what the definition is, surely she should withdraw it and bring it back at a later stage.

[Diana R. Johnson]

With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, who is a very new Member of this House, it is clear, having checked the amendment, that I have made a mistake, as I said. I tried to explain why the previous Government wanted to include economic education in PSHE. We want to make PSHE mandatory in academies, and I am keen to set out why the Government have got this completely wrong.

Pupils are pupils whether they attend an academy or any other type of school, and they all need to develop the life skills to make choices on subjects such as nutrition, sex and relationship education, and personal finance. In many constituencies across the land, we are very concerned about levels of teenage pregnancy. A few moments ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) spoke about teenage pregnancy rates in European countries where there is comprehensive sex and relationship education. The hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion also touched on that subject. We believe that making PSHE mandatory in academies and, indeed, in all schools is the way forward to ensure that young people have the information they need to make sensible and good life choices.

[Dan Rogerson]

I understand the point that the hon. Lady is making. I agree that it is important that all schools should have this subject as part of the curriculum; I have believed that for a long time. I understand that when there was a debate on this in the other place, a similar amendment was tabled by her noble Friends. However, given that the amendment has to work within the confines of this Bill and is therefore restricted to the new academies that it covers, it would not achieve the aims that she is talking about. Does she concede that this might not be the time and place to do this, and that we need to revisit the issue across the piece?

[Diana R. Johnson]

This Bill is about academies, and we have made it clear in the amendment that we want to make PSHE mandatory in academies. The position taken by my party is that we believe that PSHE should be mandatory in all schools—academies and non-academies.

We want to put PSHE on a formal footing to send out a clear message in academies about how important the subject is and how important it is to develop it as a professional subject and to train more teachers in it. Many schools already provide very good PSHE, including some academies, but more can still be done to improve its teaching. Hon. Members will know that in the previous Parliament the Labour Government attempted to legislate in the Children, Schools and Families Bill to make PSHE compulsory for all pupils in all schools, including, importantly in this case, academies. The key principles that we set out in that Bill were to make the teaching of PSHE promote equality, encourage the acceptance of diversity, and emphasise rights and responsibilities and the need to reflect on contrasting attitudes within society—in other words, to give children and young people the opportunity truly to develop their life skills. At that stage, the Liberal Democrat coalition partners fully supported the Labour Government’s policy of making PSHE compulsory for all pupils, including those in academies. It will be interesting to see tonight whether the Liberal Democrats now differ in their position.

Young people and parents both tell us that they want PSHE taught in schools. A National Children’s Bureau report showed that children wanted to be able to talk about issues important in their lives, such as emotions, relationships, mental health, sexual health and so on. In a popular survey, 81% of parents agreed that every child should have sex and relationship education as part of the curriculum, and in a survey by Parentline Plus, 97% of parents said that they wanted drug and alcohol education to be delivered in schools. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recently recommended that all primary schools should teach PSHE.

--- Later in debate ---

[George Hollingbery (Meon Valley) (Con)]

From reading the amendment, I am slightly confused. Perhaps the hon. Lady is about to develop this point, but what is the difference between compulsion and PSHE being mandatory, which is not mentioned in the amendment, and a “statutory entitlement”, which is?

[Diana R. Johnson]

We believe that all academies—we are dealing only with academies this evening—should have the subject of PSHE on the curriculum within the school day. That is what the amendment is intended to achieve. At the moment, as I understand it, and the Minister will correct me if I am wrong, it will be down to academies to decide for themselves how, whether and in what format they wish to deliver PSHE. That is my understanding of the Government’s position.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

Is my hon. Friend aware of any pressures being placed on the Government by those who have ambitions to run academies to ensure that they are free from what they would see as the constraint of having to have PSHE in their curriculum? It seems to me that there are some forces out there that are not particularly benign towards a society in which young people grow up recognising the need to understand relationships and to be equipped with the appropriate life skills at the end of their compulsory school years.

[Diana R. Johnson]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. We will have to see who comes forward to sponsor academies. I have not been given any information about any particular sponsor who might take that view, but we need to wait and see.

As the hon. Member for North Cornwall said, the same amendment was debated in the other place. It was clear there that the Government accepted that there was broad agreement on the importance of PSHE but argued that there were differences of opinion on the way forward. We have been debating and discussing PSHE for far too long, and we need to get on and do something about it now. The Secretary of State for Education has said several times in the House recently that he is in a hurry in his zest to reform education, as can be seen in the speed at which the Bill is going through Parliament. I say to the Government, please let us be in a hurry on PSHE. Let us get on with it and do what we all agree should happen, to prepare our young people with the life skills that they need.

[George Hollingbery]

May I pursue my point a little further? I am a new Member, so forgive me if I am incorrect. Amendment 26 would require

“a statutory entitlement for all pupils”

to PSHE, but it does not mention compulsion or say that PSHE should be mandatory. Could pupils who wish to opt out of PSHE do so? The word used in the amendment is “entitlement,” not “compulsion.”

[Diana R. Johnson]

The proposal is as it is. In the previous Parliament, there was a long debate on opting out of PSHE, especially regarding sex and relationship education. The proposed amendment does not address that matter, but if the Government were minded to accept it, they may have to consider it further. The proposal is for

“a statutory entitlement for all pupils”

in academies.

There was huge disappointment among parliamentarians and many other organisations at the failure of the previous Parliament to legislate on PSHE owing to the fact that the Conservative party would not accept the PSHE clauses in the Children, Schools and Families Act 2010 during the wash-up period. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats now have an opportunity for an early win on PSHE for our young people who will be educated in academies.

[Dan Rogerson]

The hon. Lady’s telling of events of the closing days of the previous Parliament is interesting, but obviously, the wash-up process is somewhat arcane for those of us who were not party to the negotiations. Could the previous Government have dug their heels in and pushed for those PSHE clauses with other interested parties?

[Diana R. Johnson]

I, too, was not party to those negotiations, but I understand that that was not possible.

I intend to press amendment 26 to a Division to test the opinion of the Committee on that very important proposal.

[Mr Gibb]

Amendment 1 would require all academies established in future to follow the national curriculum rather than one that satisfied

“the requirements of section 78 of the EA 2002”,

which is that academies must provide a

“balanced and broadly based curriculum”.

Amendment 25 would mean that new academies would be required to teach the national curriculum in

“science, mathematics, information technology and English”.

Academies have been regulated since their inception by funding agreements. The previous Government took the stance—for many years—that that was the appropriate mechanism, and we agree with them. We intend to retain the funding agreement as the principle regulatory mechanism for academies. Via the new model funding agreement, academies will be required to teach English, maths and science as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Beyond that, they can choose a curriculum that both engages and meets the needs of their pupils.

The freedoms in the academy system allow school leaders and teachers to be innovative in their approaches to raising standards and improving pupil engagement by tailoring the curriculum to the needs of their students in response to the type and quality of education demanded by parents. We trust teachers to use their professional judgment. They are the people who are best-placed to make such decisions. We want more freedom and flexibility for schools, not less.

--- Later in debate ---

Amendment 26 would require all new academies to teach PSHE—I will give the hon. Lady that—as a statutory subject. This issue was debated at length in Committee and on Report in the other place, and no one doubts the importance of children learning these essential skills for life. However, we know that many academies are teaching PSHE right now and teaching it very well. There is no reason to believe that academies teach PSHE any less well than maintained schools, or that a maintained school that becomes an academy will suddenly teach it less well. The key point is that if we make PSHE a statutory part of the curriculum in academies, it will mean imposing greater requirements on academies in this respect than on maintained schools, where PSHE is not a statutory subject. We are not in the business of reducing freedoms for academies; that is not the direction we want the academies programme to be travelling in. In addition, it does not make sense to single out PSHE and place it on a statutory footing, while not doing so for other subjects. That does not seem the right thing to do in this circumstance.

[Diana R. Johnson]

Is it now the coalition Government’s position that they are not going to proceed with making PSHE statutory in maintained schools or academies?

[Mr Gibb]

The coalition’s position is that we are having a curriculum review and all these issues will be addressed in it.