Campaign for Real Education Manifesto
Freedom to teach
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Freedom to learn
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Freedom to choose
Freedom to teach
Teachers should be free to teach in the style that best suits them. The school curriculum should only set out the expected knowledge and understanding that pupils should attain by the end of each school year. It should not require any particular teaching methodology since that can act as a constraint on good teaching. The quality of teaching should be evaluated according to the progress made by pupils. The emphasis should be on the ‘product’ of teaching rather than on the ‘process’ of teaching.
Freedom to learn
Pupils should be free to learn without disruption. Within defined procedures, classroom teachers should have the freedom to exclude unruly pupils who prevent other children from learning. Excluded pupils should be taught in small groups on school premises with a view to their re-entering main stream classes. In more serious cases of disruptive behaviour the head teacher should have the freedom to exclude pupils on a long-term or on a permanent basis. Support units should be set up for pupils who are permanently excluded with a view to these pupils re-entering mainstream education as part of a ‘fresh start’ process.
Freedom to choose
Parents should be free to choose their child’s school. This will mean that popular schools should be allowed to expand in accordance with parental demand. Unpopular schools should contract or close or be taken over. Where a choice of public examination exists (e.g. GCSE and IGSCE) schools should be free to exercise that choice after consultation with parents.
30 March 2011