Parent governors are to be dropped from all school governing bodies England in favour of professionals with the “right skills”, prompting warnings from unions that parents will be sidelined in the running of schools.

Until now, places have been reserved for elected parents on school governing bodies, but under plans outlined by education secretary Nicky Morgan in the white paper published on Thursday those roles will now be abolished.

The new emphasis will be on the skills – for example in business or finance – that an individual brings to a governing body, rather than their value as a stakeholder, such as a parent with children in the school.

“As we move towards a system where every school is an academy, fully skills-based governance will become the normal [sic] across the education system,” the white paper said.

‘Voices of parents are being silenced.’ Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Photograph: Sam Frost

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “Voices of parents, governors and the local community are being silenced by a government that does not believe in proper democratic accountability in our schools.”



Governors also condemned the move. One former parent governor, who worked her way up from novice governor to become chair and now director of a multi-academy trust, said: “I think it’s a mistake. I would never have become a governor under these rules.

“After 12 years, I feel like an expert governor, but it would not have happened if I hadn’t had the opportunity to be elected as a parent governor. There aren’t enough ready-made skilled governors – we have to grow our own and plan for succession, just as we do with school leaders.”

Gillian Allcroft of the National Governors’ Association called on the government to keep parents on boards. “Parents of children and young people studying at a school bring an important perspective to the governance of schools that others are unlikely to bring.”

She agreed that the right mix of skills was vital, but added: “Recruiting a small number of board members from certain stakeholder groups and having a skilled board are not mutually exclusive.

In another key development, education secretary Nicky Morgan announced a radical shakeup of teacher qualifications, scrapping qualified teacher status (QTS) and introducing a more open-ended system of accreditation.

Currently, new teachers in England complete their training and then spend a year in the classroom before being awarded QTS. Ministers want a more challenging accreditation, based on a teacher’s performance in the classroom and judged by their headteacher and another senior school leader.



Some teachers will qualify quickly, but others could take years to be approved, rather like learner drivers attempting to pass a driving test. One consequence is that it will be easier for schools to hire experts, including scientists and historians who have not been through official teacher training, and prepare them for accreditation.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan launches the white paper in London on Thursday. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

Launching the white paper on Thursday, Morgan said: “Rather than being an almost automatic award to staff who complete initial teacher training and a year in the classroom, the new accreditation will be awarded when teachers have demonstrated deep subject knowledge and the ability to teach well.

“Most fundamentally – as in other mature professions like medicine and law – it will be for the teaching profession itself to decide when a teacher is ready to be accredited. This will ensure that the decision is made by those who know best what makes a great teacher: outstanding schools and heads.”

The changes to teacher qualifications were welcomed in some quarters. Malcolm Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We believe this will help to ensure the highest standards and that it will be good for new teachers and schools.”



Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the changes were “highly problematic” and that she would be seeking safeguards to stop exploitation of trainee teachers. “At a time when school budgets are being cut in real terms, there will be pressures on school leaders to delay accreditation as a way of saving wage costs.”

On other new measures, there was enthusiasm from some teachers’ leaders for government plans to introduce a 30-month “improvement period” for heads who take on challenging schools, during which they they will not be inspected by Ofsted, to give them a proper chance to lift standards.

Ministers are also considering scrapping Ofsted’s separate judgment on the quality of teaching to make clear that schools are being held to account for the outcomes their pupils achieve, not the teaching styles they use.

As schools, teachers and education experts absorbed the detail of the changes, it was the government’s announcement earlier this week that all schools are to be turned into academies that continued to raise concerns – even among lifelong Tories.

Conservative councillor Peter Edgar, executive member for education on Hampshire county council, told the Hampshire Chronicle he was “horrified” the council’s role in education was to be scrapped under plans for mass academisation.

Schools in Hampshire had had one of their most successful years academically, with 84% of schools judged good or outstanding, and the authority had been congratulated by the prime minister for its work with schools in neighbouring authorities.



“What on earth are we doing so wrong that we need to be abolished? I am a lifelong Conservative, but this statement of policy could lead to the country’s education system imploding.”

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said the white paper did little to address the real issues facing education – teacher shortages, particularly in maths, English and science, a crisis in school places, a widening attainment gap between the disadvantaged and the rest, and exam chaos with the new SATs and GCSEs not yet finalised.



“In this challenging context, to ask school leaders to take time away from educating our children to spend time and money – mainly on lawyers – to convert to an academy is irresponsible. As with the costly and disrupting reorganisation of the NHS, the government will live to regret this approach, but it will be our children who pay the price.”



