The government has decided to ignore the results of its own consultation and force councils to tell parents about university technical colleges and studio schools in their area.

The plan comes as former education secretary Michael Gove has written an article setting out why he thinks the decision to set up UTCs was a mistake. 

Writing in The Times today, Mr Gove said: “Having invested civil service time and taxpayers’ money in a policy, having first persuaded oneself and then expended a hefty slice of whatever stock of credibility one has in persuading others, having dispatched special advisers to brief the press on the policy’s virtues, and having defended it at the dispatch box, it’s difficult to acknowledge when this cherished idea has all gone Pete Tong.” 

But he feared this was the case for UTCs, he said. He went on to state that “the majority” of UTCs had not been a success, partly because “other schools have seen them as destinations for underperforming children” and also because parents and students have felt that 14 is too young an age to opt for a more “specialist path”.

He also said that “UTCs perform very badly in EBacc rankings and consequently constrain students’ future choices”, and concluded: “The lesson I’ve learnt about technical education is that what matters is developing high quality courses, not building shiny new institutions.”

UTCs were introduced by the coalition government in 2010, but already Greater Manchester, Royal Greenwich, Hackney, Central Bedfordshire, Black Country and Lancashire UTCs have announced their closure, blaming pupil shortfalls. Other UTCs were aborted before they opened, for similar reasons.

Some UTC and studio school leaders have blamed poor recruitment on the reluctance of secondary school headteachers to promote their institutions, for fear of losing pupils and funding.

‘Raise parent and pupil awareness of UTCs’

In a letter seen by TES, the Department for Education’s Free Schools Group deputy director Mary Pooley told directors of children’s services that the government was going ahead with plans to force councils to publicise UTCs and studio schools to parents.

The letter says that a four-week consultation attracted 45 responses, of which 11 were “positive” about the proposal, while 18 were against it. The remaining 16 responses “did not indicate a clear view either way”, it says.

It adds: “Following the consultation, we are proceeding with the proposed amendment to regulations to bring this requirement into effect...these regulations will come into effect on 14 February.”

The new requirement means that councils must write, either by post or email, to parents of prospective pupils with information about schools with an “atypical admission age” by no later than 12 September each year, where the school or college is “within reasonable travelling distance of the local authority area”.

Councils should also include in their composite prospectus, which provides information on schools in the area, “a prominent statement that there is such a school, the age range of the school and where in the prospectus information about the school can be found”.

The letter also states: “Experience of schools with an atypical admission age shows that pupils often travel further than would normally be expected for a more typical school, such as an 11-18 school, with pupils often travelling up to an hour or even longer. Local authorities should take this into account when considering what is a reasonable travelling distance.”

The majority of consultation responses highlighted that the duty “would be a new burden on local authorities at a time of financial constraints”, says the letter. Local authorities will therefore be handed a one-off grant in 2016-17, based on projected pupil numbers, to pay for the duty, but TES understands there is no funding commitment for future years.

The other common theme arising from the consultation, according to the letter, was that the requirement would only work if letters were sent to the pupils on roll at schools in a local authority, rather than those resident in the area but attending schools elsewhere. The DfE agreed with this, and it is part of the regulations.

Some respondents “expressed concern that this requirement would be unfair on other local schools”, the letter adds. 

Richard Watts, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people’s board, criticised the “imposition of central government red tape on councils”.

He said: “There has been little consultation on the matter and many of those directors of children’s services who were consulted out rightly opposed the plans.

“We are extremely concerned about the extra burden that this will place on councils, particularly given that funding has only been promised for one year.”

“Councils are already struggling to make ends meet and they should not be having to use what limited resources they have to prop up a scheme that’s success has yet to be measured.”

A DfE spokesman said: “We want to create a more diverse education system that will give every pupil the necessary skills to lead a productive and fulfilled life. 

“The best UTCs are providing excellent technical and professional education. We are strengthening the UTC programme to make it more sustainable, including partnerships with successful secondary schools, establishing more UTCs as part as multi-academy trusts and doing more to raise parent and pupil awareness of UTCs.

“We recognise that recruitment for UTCs can be challenging, which is why we are requiring local authorities to write to parents about UTCs in their locality.  This builds on the good practice of some local authorities which are already doing this.”

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