MPs recommend end to school targets
Centrally-set targets for secondary schools have served their purpose, according to a report from the Education and Skills Select Committee.
The cross-party group of MPs has suggested that the Government should scrap national targets, and allow schools to set their own.
The committee’s report stated that the targets introduced since 1997 had ‘met with some success’ and had contributed to ‘the rising levels of achievement in both primary and secondary schools’.
But it suggested that most schools would benefit from focusing on the performance of their individual pupils. That echoed a new more personalised approach for education alluded to by the Prime Minister and Charles Clarke at the Labour Party Conference earlier this month.
The committee also suggested that the Government’s strategy for secondary pupils was ‘unclear’ and that too many initiatives had been introduced, many of which overlapped.
Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Education backed the findings of the report: ‘After six years of constantly urging the Government to scrap their target-driven agenda, Liberal Democrats are delighted that the committee has come to the same conclusion.’
“Targets do have a place in our schools, but only when they relate to individual children and are set by schools themselves.”
Shadow Education Secretary Damian Green also welcomed the recommendations, noting that it was Tory policy to scrap central targets and reduce national testing.
