Parents' fury at 'failing' schools

Jul 30 2007 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

PARENTS demanded top-level talks with Birmingham's education boss after claiming some schools were "failing" their children.

Organisers of a new lobby group asked for the meeting with Coun Les Lawrence and called for action to help more school leavers achieve five good GCSE grades.

More than 70 parents, governors and even teachers attended the organisation's first gathering.

Organiser Naseem Akhtar, a mother-of-two from Balsall Heath, said: "There is real frustration among parents at what they see as the failure of many schools to provide children with a decent education.

"Too many are leaving school without decent qualifications and the skills needed for the world of work.

"This cuts across race and community boundaries, but seems to affect all pupils from poor working class backgrounds, especially boys.

"We need the education authority to do its job. That means giving more power to governors, and better performance management of teachers and heads."

Many at the meeting said they felt schools "scrubbed up" for Government inspections but failed to maintain standards in between.

The chairman of Birmingham's education scrutiny committee, Coun Jon Hunt, attended the meeting.

He admitted there were concerns surrounding the poor performance of working class white boys across the city.

And he said officials were investigating how to help teachers find the confidence to deal with pupils of different racial and cultural backgrounds.

"It is good that parents are taking such a strong interest in education and demanding more from schools," he said.

"Birmingham has made a lot of progress in education, but there is still much to do and these parents can make a massive difference."