BLAIR'S EDUCATION LEGACY

According to the papers this morning the Prime Minister is fast losing his grip on power. What does this mean for his plans for schools?
Tony Blair and his Education Secretary published a White Paper last week promising a new breed of privately backed Trust Schools and sweeping new powers for parents.
Already it seems their plans are in for a rough ride from unions and Labour backbenchers unhappy with what some see as moves to revive that old Tory policy of Grant Maintained Schools - “opting out”.
And this was graphically illustrated during heated exchanges at an Education Select Committee meeting in Parliament yesterday.
Somewhat distractingly, it took place in the room next door to the cancelled Work and Pensions Committee, which marked the first signs that David Blunkett was about to leave via the Cabinet’s revolving door once again.
In the resulting media coverage, the Education Committee proceedings were drowned out by the noise of journalists chasing Mr Blunkett round Portcullis House and the loud predictions of the beginning of the end for Mr Blair.
But to those who were there, the exchanges revealed just how deep Labour opposition to the Schools White Paper runs, as MPs grilled Ruth Kelly over the plans.
Barnsley MP Jeff Ennis told Ms Kelly the good ideas in the White Paper could be achieved without "the rigmarole" of turning secondaries into Trust Schools.
And Helen Jones, Labour's member for Warrington North, challenged her argument that Trust Schools would work because they would enjoy the same freedoms as City Academies.
What was so good about Academies? she asked.Their exam results are "patchy" and according to the DfES's own figures they're turning their backs on the very children they were apparently set up to help: those coming from poor families in the most deprived parts of the country.
Of course Ms Kelly rejected these criticisms and produced her own figures which suggested Academies were teaching plenty of children who receive free school meals (a key indicator of poverty).
But the Schools Bill, when it comes, is unlikely even to come close to defeat in the Commons, however much Labour politicians, local councils, John Prescott and teachers' unions hate the plans.
For the Tories are set to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr Blair just when he needs them most. After all, Grant Maintained Schools were their idea, and if they can't win an election to get the policies they want, they feel they may as well make the most of having friends in high places.
Even if the eventual Bill is passed, however, it may still fail to give Mr Blair the schools legacy he so badly wants.
The White Paper leaves it up to individual schools to decide whether they become trusts. And heads have already suggested that they will exercise their “choice” - and simply ignore the idea.