Heads back public troubleshooters

Kent head teacher Keith Hargrave now runs two schools

Head teachers want groups of secondary schools in England to pool expertise to support those that are failing.

They say the government relies too much on private sector companies in troubled schools or education authorities.

Instead, said the Secondary Heads Association, the public sector could often do better - and more cheaply.

It proposes that schools which fail an inspection should ask another head teacher in their "school improvement partnership" for assistance.

Targets missed

It is not unusual for head teachers of successful schools to be asked to help a struggling neighbour, either through advice or on secondment or even running both institutions.

Last year's worst school for GCSE results, The Ramsgate School in Kent, is now being run by Keith Hargrave, head of successful Canterbury High School.

But education authorities are not always able to persuade someone to take on such a role, and may have to ask their own education advisers to step in.

The union suggests formalising this with partnerships made up of 10 secondary schools.

The government has intervened by calling in outside firms to run a number of education authorities (LEAs) given bad Ofsted reports, but they have often pulled out or struggled to meet their targets.

'Less-hyped'

The Secondary Heads Association general secretary, John Dunford, said the private sector had a poor record of success.

"By contrast, the less-hyped approach using public sector expertise has proved successful many times in recent years."

His association said it was ironic that often, private firms' expertise had been recruited from among public servants anyway.

The Department for Education and Skills said sometimes it was necessary to call in private contractors.

"There is clear evidence that the government's approach of using a range of solutions to tackle deep-rooted problems in failing LEAs is leading to real improvements."