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Government plans to turn school into the new mum and dad with police and social workers in the classroom LAURA CLARK A vision of schools where teachers work side by side with police, social workers and nurses was revealed yesterday. Education Secretary Ed Balls unveiled an extraordinarily-detailed ten-year blueprint spelling out policies affecting virtually every single area of children's lives including sexual health and youth justice. He vowed to widen the free nursery places scheme to thousands of two-year-olds, and pledged to "make this country the best place in the world for our young people to grow up". But he was instantly accused of hijacking the traditional responsibilities of parents and intensifying Labour's "nanny knows best" approach. It's also emerged schools face lightning inspections in which Ofsted would turn up without warning under radical plans announced today.
Inspectors will take more notice of "local" intelligence about the performance of a school, such as concerns raised by parents about the quality of teaching. A pilot project will see the current 48 hours' notice before inspectors arrive cut to nothing to make the Ofsted system more effective and more efficient. Chief Inspector of Education Christine Gilbert set out the plan in remarks to MPs: "We are considering representations from parents and pupils that inspections should take place without any prior notice. "We will look at the practicalities of no-notice inspection as part of our planning for the new school inspection framework. At the heart of any new arrangements will be the observation of teaching and learning by skilled and knowledgeable inspectors."
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