3,500 headteachers face sack under major Tory education reforms
UP to 3,500 headteachers will face the sack in a new push to stamp out "bog standard" comprehensive schools if the Tories win the general election, David Cameron will say today.
In a major speech outlining Conservative manifesto plans on education, the Prime Minister will commit his party to create thousands more academies independent of local authority control.
He will promise an "all-out war on mediocrity" in classrooms, with any schools regarded as "coasting" with indifferent exams results will be forced to accept "new leadership."
In most cases, that will lead to a switch to academy status and the appointment of a new head.
Speaking in North London today, Mr Cameron will say: “As parents we’re hardwired to want the best for our kids.
"No one wants their child to go to a failing school – and no one wants to them to go to a coasting school either.
"So this party is clear; just enough is not good enough.
"That means no more sink schools, and no more bog-standard schools either.
"We’re waging an all-out war on mediocrity, and our aim is this: the best start in life for every child, wherever they’re from, no excuses.”
Mr Cameron's remarks today will come in the fourth in a series of speeches on key issues in the Tory manifesto.
On education, the Tories plan to offer voters "a Britain that gives every child the best start in life" as a key theme in their campaign to polling day on May 7.
No one wants their child to go to a failing school – and no one wants to them to go to a coasting school either
Under Tory plans, schools that are graded by Ofsted education inspectors as needing "improvement" will be forced to change leadership unless a regional schools commissioner is convinced staff have a plan to rapidly turn things around.
The change is likely to mean a new headteacher and possibly alternative sponsorship. Some schools could be put under the leadership of better-performing neighbours.
In the case of existing academies, the school wold be expected to find new sponsorship.
Tory aides described the move as "a turbo-charging of existing coalition policy", which extended the academy programme started under Tony Blair.
At present, only schools judged "inadequate" by Ofsted can be turned into academies.
The overwhelming majority of academies are secondary schools but some primary school can also get academy status.
Mr Cameron's speech follows a pledge from Tory Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to wipe out innumeracy and illiteracy among Britain's youngsters by 2020 if her party wins the election.
She promised to accelerate the return to traditional teaching methods including forcing pupils to learn their multiplication tables by heart.
Nicky Morgan fails to answer Maths Question
Ms Morgan also said she was close to winning a Cabinet battle to guarantee that the education budget will be excluded from Whitehall cuts in the next parliamentary term.
Speaking on the BBC1 Andrew Marr Show, she said: "We're going to have more to say on schools funding very shortly but what I can say is that I am absolutely fighting for the schools budget to be protected."
She added: "We have made it very clear that it's the schools budget, so it is the five to 16-year-olds in particular.
"Having said that we have of course as a Government put £1 billion into early years education in this Parliament too.
"But it goes back to the point, the announcement that we're making today, which is actually about getting the basics right really early on and that's why the investment is in the schools budget."
Labour's shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt claimed the Government's schools policy was allowing more unqualified teachers into classrooms which was damaging England's international position in education.
He said: "David Cameron's flawed schools policy is damaging our education system and failing to close the learning gap between disadvantaged children and the rest."
