We have received this letter from a group of campaigners in Doncaster who are mounting a struggle against an attempt to privatise the local Pupil Referral Unit.

A meeting of concerned educators and carers worried by the vague
proposals to reorganise the management of Doncaster’s Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) was held on July 9th . The proposal to transfer all
Education Outside Schools (EOS) to a School Based Company (SBC) is being dressed up in an attempt to portray a simple cost cutting exercise, with a market driven ethos as a model to provide a better management system for learners who struggle to cope with mainstream education.The proposal calls for PRU to be taken outside local authority control, and to be replaced by a Study Centres Company governed by a management board and run by a Managing Director rather than a Head Teacher, who will be selected on the ability to provide “inspirational leadership” rather than an educator who promotes learning. Doncaster’s Mayor Peter Davies ( English Democrats - a right wing mish-mash of assorted ex-Tories, Euro-obessives, nationalists and other loonies ) has already proposed turning all the local schools over to private companies. This is because of the widespread perception that social services were badly run by previous administrations, starting with the schools in the poorer wards. He hopes that parents there are apathetic towards their children’s education,
perhaps also believing that providing educational facilities for children whose behaviour can sometimes be perceived as disruptive in mainstream schools is an unnecessary cost, and cutting that cost will
invoke no opposition. This will prove a major miscalculation.

The experience of Glasgow, Derbyshire and Lewisham have all proven that once parents understand the nature of the threat to their children’s education and hence their future quality of life, they will fight
doggedly to protect and improve the service and accountability that schools provide. Occupations of schools threatened with closure for cost cutting reasons, demonstrations and mass lobbying of MP’s and councillors are just some of the methods used by parents to restore providing education as the central focus of local authorities service provision not making budget economies.

The easiest way to make economies is of course in staffing, the installation of an “ inspirational leader” on close to £200,000 per anum, a comparable salary to the manager of a privately  run academy needs to be recouped for a start. Taking PRU’s out of local authority control, even with the present scant democratic accountability, and placing it in a private SBC will be a massive setback for parents seeking to influence the direction of their children’s education and for teachers whose chosen profession is dedicated to promote the well being and education of some of the most vulnerable children in the town. Most importantly it will adversely affect the lives of these children, instead of aiding them gain the qualifications and the analytical skills
needed to cope in the modern world - the aim presently of all PRU staff. Penny pinching new managements proposing fiscal constraints  will result in vulnerable children being fit for only the lowest unskilled jobs, as
their education suffers for budgetary reasons,  or more likely in the present crisis of capitalism, unemployment, as the financial bottom line of cost becomes the main priority of their education providers. We must not abandon our children to the capitalist curse of youth unemployment, with all its associated evils of crime and drugs. We aim to equip our children with all the skills with which they will need for happy life.
The social costs of these evils will far outstrip any savings made when their education potential is effectively written off for financial reasons.

It is clear that increasing teacher’s workloads and undermining their working conditions will result in a poorer quality of education. The recent struggles of  SOAS cleaners has shown that it’s all staff whose wages and conditions will suffer as money becomes the overriding concern of management boards charged with providing our children’s education. The only possible reason to take PRU’s out of local authority is to cut the pay and conditions of staff, the turmoil of the last 18 months of reorganisation have clearly shown the need for more democratic accountability not less. If the management of PRU’s is failing or inefficient we should seek to open it up to the input, checks and controls of the local community it serves. If the issue is money then it can only be pure madness to entrust financial responsibility to a private company in a period when banks, surely run by the most “inspirational leaders” have had to go cap in hand to taxpayers for nearly £2 trillion to stave off bankruptcy.

Our campaign to safeguard the education of vulnerable children is hampered by many factors; firstly there is no model of what a PRU taken out of local control will look like. It is a new innovation prompted by the desire to make financial cuts in the education budget, secondly lack of a clearly detailed proposal, the meagre  information we are being provided with outlining the suggestions for the new structure, with consultation meeting between management and teaching unions being repeated deferred by management, lead us to the strong impression we are getting from the indecent haste that management wish to act on this restructuring that they see consultation as merely a formality. Our children’s future is important and changes which will affect their entire lives cannot be rushed through. We intend to fight to insure that they receive the best possible education available, therefore we have formed a committee to raise awareness on this issue, to provide information and involve as many of those affected by these proposals to provide education on the cheap. If we don’t fight the introduction of business ethos into the care and education of children, it will wreck
their lives, just as these same business ethoses have wrecked the economy. When we have to fight, we fight to win.

Defend the pay and conditions of all school staff

Defend the democratic local accountability of education

Defend the education of our children