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THE TARGET: Professor Michael Worton |
Professor sees his vision of a city academy ripped apart by critics
BY his own reckoning he took a “pasting” but Professor Michael Worton could hardly have been expecting anything else.
The vice-provost of UCL, one of the chief engineers of the Bloomsbury university’s proposals to take control of Camden’s first city academy, stepped into the dragon’s den when he spoke at a public meeting organised by the Campaign for State Education, a group sceptical of the use of outside sponsorship in schools.
Nearly all those who turned up for the meeting at Swiss Cottage School on Tuesday night had just one message for Professor Worton: pull out of the academy – now.
Critics told him that UCL should think of other ways to help Camden’s education system rather than demanding complete control of the new school planned for Adelaide Road, in Swiss Cottage.
Parents and governors suspect UCL plans to reserve places for the borough’s cleverest pupils at the expense of existing schools. There is little dispute that the university has a vision of a school where students excel at maths and science.
But, whether he could convince the critics or not, Professor Worton has no intention of spiking a project that has been in the pipeline for two years and has entered hard-sell mode.
His diary is packed with evening meetings over the next fortnight and beyond, and at each of them he will attempt to make UCL’s case that it should handle Camden’s biggest school-building project in a generation.
“Getting a pasting is part of consultation and I find it very useful,” he said, with a half-smile. “I thank people when they tell me what they think. What UCL wants to do is raise aspirations throughout the borough. This academy would not be selective, let’s make that clear now. This is not going to be a selective school.”
The university has, as several opponents have pointed out, yet to put such a pledge in writing.
Professor Worton said UCL had a “responsibility” to help the community, a comment that drew mocking derision from parents from the south of the borough who are still mystified why a site in Swiss Cottage has been chosen ahead of a wider trawl for land in their area, where there is an obvious shortage of schools.
He said: “We want to offer our expertise but we wouldn’t be running the school. This is not about recruiting students for UCL, absolutely not. We want pupils of all abilities to come to UCL to engage with our students and staff. Many people would not think about going to university, they are just as important to us. We are looking for a broad range to make it a genuine comprehensive.”
Professor Worton said, regardless of the opposition to the scheme that has surfaced publicly, private consultation undertaken by the university has reaped positive feedback from parents who did not have a political axe to grind. It is certainly proving harder for opponents of the academies structure to argue against the use of a sponsor like UCL – with its reputation as one of the best universities in the world – than it would if Camden had chosen a private sector backer.
The issue is quickly becoming the major talking point at the Town Hall, with the question of how UCL gained pole position – without needing to enter a competition – still controversial and the subject of infighting in nearly all the political parties.
Business planned for a full council meeting on November 5 is to be shelved in favour of a city academy debate – at the request of the Labour and Green benches.
UCL still needs the final approval of the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, although there is no sign of senior councillors, at this stage at least, reversing their original decision to accept the university’s interest. Labour insists the council has been “star-struck” by the possibility of opening a school sponsored by one of academia’s giants.
Nevertheless, Professor Worton, second only to Provost Malcolm Grant at UCL, is aware that there is stiff resistance in Camden to the whole structure of academies, perhaps more than anywhere else in the country. It is the first attempt to introduce outside sponsorship.
While some opponents feel they have at the very least secured a promise that there will be no selection at the school, there is still suspicion that, once the academy has been passed over to UCL, the goalposts could be shifted without the council having any power to step in.
When Lord Adonis, the minister commonly credited as being one of the architects of the government’s city academy programme, was mentioned at the meeting there was hissing from the audience. Professor Worton told opponents to make sure the debate did not turn nasty with “rude” attacks on individuals, possibly remembering that Lord Adonis was due at the UCL campus the following day.
He said: “We can reinvent the academy model to create a real opportunity for Camden’s schoolchildren – and we want to work with the council and the other schools to do this.”
But many left the meeting still waiting for an answer to the question of why UCL, if it wants to take an interest in the schooling of Camden’s children, needs to do it by sponsoring an academy.
John Bangs, from the National Union of Teachers, said: “I’ve got good news for Michael Worton. He can take his plans back and withdraw them as the things he suggests can all be done by forging a partnership with Camden’s schools as they are. He doesn’t have to do all of this through an academy.”
Professor Worton said: “We have already stated we cannot deliver the kind of intensity in terms of people, staff, in resources to 10 schools in Camden. We want to work with all schools and create partnerships but we can’t take the same direct involvement in 10 schools. We have a university to run as well.”
THE CRITICS |
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SIMON Renton, lecturer at UCL: “We had serious doubts over whether the management team at UCL could spare the time and energy required to run another academic institution when they were stumbling over the running of an institution they did know about.” |
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JANET Dobson, research fellow at UCL and a former Camden school governor: “If UCL really wants to get involved, there is a school on its doorstep. It’s South Camden Community School. It’s an eight-minute walk away. There could be a genuine partnership there.” |
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HUGO Pierre, from Camden Unison trade union: “What is going to be the advantage of going for an academy? There is no financial gain... that has been ruled out. There is no demographic advantage... the school is not going in the area where there is the most pressing need.” |
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FIONA Millar, Camden branch of the Campaign for State Education: “We are faced with a confusing set of proposals about what the new school will be like. We don’t really know what the admissions system will be. We don’t know enough about the curriculum.” |
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KEVIN Courtney, Camden branch of the National Union of Teachers: “It will damage QuintIn Kynaston, Haverstock and Hampstead schools. We want the advantages for all the schools not just one. We want UCL’s ideas, we want them for every school.” |
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WILLIAM Nawrocki, school governor: “Less than 10 per cent of Camden children who are secondary school age will be able to get into this academy.
We need a school that kids south of Euston Road don’t have to go one hour on the bus to get to and one hour to get home.” |
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EMMA Jones, South of the Euston Road campaign: “I’m not going to bang on about the school being in the wrong place because we all know that. I’d ask UCL: are you happy with the level of consultation? I’ve been to a lot of meetings and never heard a single parent say we want an academy.” |
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DESELINE Djaiyep, Camden parent: “Not all children are clever, not all will get good A-levels and go to university. Will UCL want all our children at their academy? Or are they only going to select the cleverest children and leave the others to go to other schools where the standards will drop.” |
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JOHN Dowd, headteacher at Haverstock School: “What is a real strength of the community is the collective responsibility all of the schools have to each other. There are real benefits to working in that collective, collaborative environment. We work together.” |
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JOHN Bangs, NUT national assistant secretary: “Camden should open up relations with UCL. You have some damned good ideas, let’s have a partnership arrangement rather than UCL running the school and taking it away from the community.” |
THE BACKER |
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COUNCILLOR Chris Philp, Conservative parliamentary candidate: “After 30 or 40 years of the comprehensive system, which only really started to get unpicked by Tony Blair a couple of years ago, we have seen social mobility decline, we have seen academic attainment at best stagnate.” |
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