Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Tag Archives: school attendance

Opinion: Parents want a say on school attendance policy

By Karen Wilkinson | Mon 2nd March 2015 - 4:00 pm

View image | gettyimages.com

I’ve written previously (here and here)about school attendance policy. Following the hand in of a 127,000 strong petition to the Department for Education (DfE) in October 2013, Craig Langman and I co-founded the independent campaign group “Parents Want A Say” (PWAS). Craig’s petition called for the reversal of the term time absence regulations and has now grown organically to over 220,000. The group is chaired by John Hemming MP, obtained an extremely well attended Westminster Hall debate in February 2014 and is supported by Liberty, such is the extreme nature of some decisions being made by schools under the new rule. We enjoy significant support in the media due to the feedback from audiences.

The DfE continues to misinterpret the statistical evidence base for the policy, as in Nicky Morgan’s misleading statement last weekend. Professor Stephen Gorard of Durham University confirms this. The attendance and attainment debate is far more complex than Nicky Morgan apparently believes and Heads and parents are deeply concerned at this simplistic approach.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Parents Want a Say | 13 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

You can’t defend your way to a World Cup… or No. 10 (Tom Reeve)
The financing timebomb in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Britain should do — and isn’t (Rupinder Singh)
William Wallace writes: The case for higher taxes (Lord William Wallace)
“I’ve worked with Andy Burnham. There is much to look forward to” (NewsHound)
Mathew on Monday: Ann Widdecombe, robust debate and the need to disagree agreeably (Mathew Hulbert)

Advert

Recent Comments

cim
"AI" means "a computer program with a marketing budget", and in modern terms that means "a largely useless but extremely well-marketed chatbot". Sure, they *pro...
Chloe
Follow the link to his twitter account. It absolutely sums the resignation honours up. A medieval royal court. Andrew Neil on X: "Keir Starmer — ever a man...
Chris Cory
I confess that I know less than I should about this whole topic but I sense that it will indeed shape the future and we should be talking about it rather more t...
Daniel Walker
@Peter Martin "Many countries in the West are happy to import raw materials from Africa but put barriers in place to prevent them adding value. So for exampl...
Pawel Urbanski
Tom is right, that we are lacking the story.I think there is a national story to build here, and it's around local focus and growth, which is exactly where we h...