Nicholas Pyke reports as the pyschologists’ conference outlines the burdens that their training shortfall places on schools. Excluded pupils should be worth substantially more money to the schools willing to take them on, said Professor Tim Brighouse, speaking at the educational psychologists conference.
Figures on the intellectual Left are increasingly talking in terms of the “vouchers” favoured so far by right-wing commentators.
Professor Brighouse, Birmingham’s chief education officer, believes schools can be encouraged to compete for difficult pupils if financial support is guaranteed. At present, many excluded children find themselves shunned by anxious heads.
Last week the Labour MP for Perry Barr, Jeff Rooker, outlined a plan to support pupils from homes where neither parent had benefited from higher education.
Describing a system of “warranties” rather than the politically loaded “vouchers”, Mr Rooker told The TES that the scheme would give comparatively vulnerable parents a choice of school for the first time. Children with special needs could also be helped in this way, he said. He believes that the Government’s approach to parental choice has failed to benefit the poorer sections of society.
