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Changing structures
A vision of things to come?
Christopher Whittington charts the birth of The
Church of England Central Education Trust
In response to the challenges of the shrinking role of local
authorities as education providers and as the go-to service
for school improvement services, a unique partnership has
been created between the Diocese of Lichfield and Birmingham
and the University of Wolverhampton - The Church of England
Central Education Trust (CECET). All three partners are
accredited academy sponsors. CECET therefore brings together a
number of very substantial organisations, each with its distinctive
strengths and contribution, with collective responsibility for over
250 academies and schools.
CECET, which formally launched on March 25th, grew from
a shared wish to significantly enhance the provision of education
in the respective dioceses by delivering a robust and strategic
approach to high quality school improvement. CECET intends
to provide a range of services which will enable all Church
schools to be good schools, and will adopt a strategic approach
to extending educational opportunities for pupils, staff and
governors across the Midlands region, operating to all intents
and purposes as an umbrella trust.
CECET’s purposes are twofold: (i) to provide a strong
framework for school improvement and the professional
development of school staff and leaders; and (ii) to facilitate the
strategic expansion of academies and other new educational
structures and partnerships.
The dioceses bring to CECET their respective strengths as
statutory bodies and their expertise in promoting a distinctive
approach to education in every phase across very diverse
local communities. The University brings vital opportunities
for training, professional development, academic study and
research. The implementation of a ‘Professional Development
Framework’ and entitlement for all staff, in partnership with the
University, will also include a ‘Growing Church School Leaders
for the Future’ programme. And the schools themselves will be
an integral part of the school improvement strategy, forging the
concept of school to school support and system leadership within
a family network.
The challenge to which CECET responds is very real, and
has signs of a crisis approaching. Last year the Public Accounts
Committee issued a report warning that dozens of local
authorities are on the brink of financial collapse, accusing
ministers of failing to come up with adequate contingency
plans to prop up vital services, including those delivered by
Local Education Authorities. Margaret Hodge, Chair of the
Committee, commented that the Department for Education
had “…failed to provide a proper cost analysis of how funding
reductions will affect services to children.”
The report followed stark warnings from the National Audit
Office that nearly one in eight councils (12%) are at risk of being
unable to balance their budgets and nearly one in 10 are under
“high financial stress”.
And if the general impact of the government’s austerity
cuts wasn’t enough to deal with, the academies programme
will continue to reduce the number of guaranteed consumers
of non-statutory education support services, resulting in a
corresponding reduction in funding to local authorities. Faced
with this, local authorities will have little alternative but to
continue to withdraw from direct service provision on the basis
of dwindling funds and lost economies of scale. The majority of
local authorities have made (or are planning to make) cuts to
centrally provided education services. It would not be overstating
the situation to say that a number of LEAs appear close to falling
over and that a number are facing effective collapse.
It would be not be
overstating the situation
to say that a number
of LEAs appear close
to falling over and that
a number are facing
effective collapse
70 | Summer 2014