A self-improving school system

For the last four years school autonomy has been at the heart of government policy. Ministers have consistently said they do not want to prescribe how we should teach.

Instead, they want us to operate a self-improving school-led system in which school leaders and teachers help and support each other, sharing best practice and working in collaborative partnership, and they have placed Teaching Schools at the heart of this.

They have continuously promoted academy status offering freedom from the slimmed down national curriculum, removing all kinds of regulations and stating instead that they trust school leaders to make the right decisions.

Meanwhile on the back of a recognition that Ofsted inspections have been skewing practice, placing immense constraints on schools, a constructive conversation has begun with early signs of a more proportionate approach which would facilitate a much healthier balance between an appropriate level of autonomy and the necessary public accountability.