Since being reappointed as secretary of state for education, Nicky Morgan has immediately selected structural reform as her main focus, trailing new legislation empowering the Department for Education (DfE) to force “failing and coasting” schools to become academies.
Indeed the very short mention of education policy in last week’s Queen’s Speech focused entirely on that initiative.
Ms Morgan’s language about “tackling” all “coasting” schools is familiar. We have heard government and Ofsted tell us since at least 1999 that they will be cracking down on “coasting” schools. However, this rhetoric has now become the keystone of current government policy.
“Coasting” is still not defined yet, although as reported by SecEd (Teachers demand clarity over definition of ‘coasting schools’, SecEd 415, May 21, 2015: http://bit.ly/1PwFkvF), Ms Morgan recently said that the progress students make will be one of the ways of identifying a “coasting school”. She has confirmed that the new Progress 8 measure will specifically play a part, too.
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