SCHOOLS which serve deprived communities are often compared unfavourably to those which operate in more affluent areas.
The sad truth is that pupils who come from stable backgrounds where education is given a high priority will generally be more successful than those whose lives are blighted by many of the problems which beset inner-city communities.
There is no q
uick-fix solution to this inequality. The Government seems unwilling to accept this hard fact and has insisted on pursuing a string of policies which seek to blame the school, the teachers, the Local Education Authority and so on.
The latest gimmick is to inflict academy status on so-called failing schools. ('College to 'partner' high school', YEP, July 19). Suddenly, money which was previously unavailable is pulled like a rabbit from a hat in the form of sponsorship. Debts are to be cleared and a new golden age of learning is promised.
This ad-hoc, piecemeal type of arrangement is an abysmal way to run a modern system of education.
There is no evidence that changing the status of a school to an academy and bringing in so-called private sponsors (in reality the overwhelming bulk of 'new' money comes from the public purse) will have any transforming effect.
It would be far more helpful if the Government could focus on trying to establish a good local school for every child.
This however requires a long-term, less headline-grabbing approach, which is clearly anathema in the age of sound-bite politics.
Richard Raftery, by email
The full article contains 261 words and appears in EP Leeds First & County newspaper.
