The appointment of local schools commissioners would be a U turn for government.

In response to the proposal by Sir Michael Wilshaw that Michael Gove should appoint local school superintendents, Brian Lightman – General Secretary of ASCL commented:

‘This proposal sounds remarkably like a return to local authority control under a slightly new form of Chief Education Officer.  It  would be a complete U-turn for a government which says it believes in the devolution of freedom and autonomy to schools. It  would add substantially to the cost of the education service by appointing a whole new tier of expensive officials and adopting a model of top down management.

Instead ASCL has long argued that the one appointment the government should make is a Chief Education Officer who, like the Chief Medical Officer, would provide wholly independent expert advice to ministers and officials without fear or favour or party political affiliation. This might help us to move towards genuinely evidence based policies.’

28th December 2011