Education Bill

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, for giving us the opportunity to look at the issue of induction periods for staff and to consider who should have to go through that induction period and on what grounds. Amendment 68, which covers international schools—or any ““duly accredited school overseas””—seems to make eminently good sense. Obviously, the underlying issue is accreditation, which means that we need to be sure that the schools that are authorised to perform the induction really are able to provide the quality of teaching to the standards that we demand. However, given that young people these days, as part of their natural early adulthood, move around the globe far more than we ever did in our day, I think that it is perfectly reasonable to expect that young people might want to start their teaching career outside the UK and to bring those skills and experiences directly back into the teaching profession in the UK. Therefore, I very much welcome the intention behind Amendment 68. On the other hand, Amendment 69 seems rather ungenerous of the noble Lord, because it implies that people who fail their induction will somehow use some underhand way of sneaking back in, so to speak, through the backdoor. When I read the proposal in the Bill, I saw it as much more a facilitative thing. As we have touched on in previous debates, some who start their training when they are very young may not really know in what age group or subject they want to specialise. Therefore, I can well imagine a situation in which some young people, having started off their induction teaching one age group, realise that that age group is not for them and, halfway through the induction year, decide to switch, for example, from secondary to primary or vice versa. I would hope that the regulations that will be set out would enable that to happen. It is not about letting poor teachers that have failed being allowed to get back in; allowing that flexibility for young people to make different career choices seems eminently sensible. Therefore, I support the intent in the original Bill. My third point is a question as much as anything. Again, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, for drawing this to our attention. It concerns the issue of what is a relevant school, and relates to new Section 135A(1)(a) under Amendment 68. In all this, it is not clear to me where academies fit in. ““A relevant school”” is defined as a school maintained by a local authority. Are we saying that you cannot do an induction in an academy or that if you qualify and go straight to work in an academy, you do not have to have done an induction period but can just train straight off? That needs to be clarified much more clearly than is set out here. I read the Bill to mean that academies are excluded, although in a letter from the noble Lord, he states that Clause 8, ““Functions of the Secretary of State in relation to teachers”” and Clause 9 on induction periods for teachers continue to apply to academies. But I would not read that from the legislation as set out here. I know that I am raising a bigger issue about what in the Bill relates to academies and what does not. Perhaps the Minister can clarify whether academies are covered by this when he responds.