Academies Bill [HL]

My Lords, at about the height of his popular fame just over a century ago—a fame hardly diminished today—that distinguished private detective, Sherlock Holmes, was returning by train from an investigation of a crime in the southern counties, bound for Charing Cross. In the southern suburbs of the metropolis, he pointed out to his companion and biographer, Dr Watson, the large four or even five-storey buildings that stood every few miles in the vast sprawl of terraced housing that was and is south London. He was pointing out the schools. Some of them would have been national schools, as they were called in those days—that is to say, Church of England foundation schools built for the education of the whole community. Others would have been local authority schools. Either way, he declared that such schools were beacons of hope standing out amid their drab surroundings and that the education that they would provide would transform society and, Sherlock even said, eliminate crime. That the Government today, of whatever political hue, continue to be deeply concerned with the problem of delivering Conan Doyle’s admirable aspiration, put into the mouth of his sleuth, indicates that the late 19th-century liberal confidence in the delivery and effects of education has been seriously knocked, despite everybody’s best efforts. In last Thursday’s debate, the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, noted the constant structural reform of our education system with which all Governments since the Second World War have been preoccupied. As the Minister said at the beginning of today’s debate, changed structures will not necessarily deliver everything. Sometimes schools and the quality of education can be transformed even within present structures. I say that not to oppose Second Reading—indeed, I support the Bill—provided that we recognise that structures alone cannot deliver a good education without an ethos of purpose and common good among pupils, parents, teachers, governors and support staff. I strongly support my noble and right reverend friend the Bishop of Lincoln in stressing the significant stakeholding of the Church of England not just in faith schools narrowly conceived but in education for the whole community. Not for nothing were the Church of England schools fostered, as we have already heard in this debate, under the auspices of a body called the National Society. Perhaps it was a National Society for a big society. Our concern here is not self-interest; it is disinterested in the original meaning of that word. With my noble and right reverend friend, I think that there is both space and need now for a lot of discussion with all stakeholders in the academies project as it moves forward. One matter concerns me. What of rival academy projects? What of the possibility, as has already been mentioned, of an academy project in effect, to put it crudely, killing off a neighbouring school? Here I am given some encouragement by the Minister in his introductory speech, but let me tell the tale of a school. Already this afternoon, your Lordships have heard the late Lord Ron Dearing mentioned several times. Among his many achievements was considerable assistance to the Church of England in the revitalisation of Church of England schools, but he was also the saviour of a particular school, a Church of England high school in my diocese of Guildford. Church schools, especially church high schools, are not necessarily located, as some sometimes suggest, in the plush suburbs. The particular school lies at the centre of a genuinely deprived locality in Surrey. It was failing. However, the co-ordinated efforts of staff, pupils, governors, parents, the diocese and the local authority inspired and—those of your Lordships who knew the late Lord Dearing will know what I mean—badgered by Ron Dearing turned it around. An academy route was not at that point a possibility, but had there been a rival academy project I doubt whether that school would have survived. Today, it is flourishing and successful in and beyond its local community. Academies will help towards a better education, but I invite the coalition Government to continue to talk, as I know they are beginning to, with all the educational stakeholders especially about local strategic planning of academies, rather than simply allowing naked laissez-faire competition.