Another day, another weary defence by the government of its controversial education reforms, Rebecca Smithers writes.
In his regular monthly briefing at Downing Street this morning, the prime minister appeared to basking in the satisfaction that he has dealt with the concerns of his rebel backbenchers over plans to set up independent 'trust' schools (which will be given greater freedoms over admissions and the way they are run) in the series of concessions announced earlier this month.
Quizzed on whether further concessions were in the pipeline, Mr Blair said: "All I'm saying to my members of parliament is if you worry it's a backdoor to selection, we've dealt with that, if you're worried about local accountability, we've dealt with that."
With less than a week to go to the publication of the Bill (expected on Tuesday), to be followed by the crucial second reading vote in the Commons in mid-March, it's hard to believe there will be no more sweeteners. Mr Blair insisted: "Our aim is not to establish a two-tier system but, on the contrary, to get rid of it, to help children - especially from the most disadvantaged backgrounds - to overcome their disadvantage and do well. "
Tantalisingly, the prime minister promised that the government would give details of "real examples" of schools benefitting from new freedoms in the next few days. He urged people to look at "the evidence" of genuine school improvement.
City academies had significantly raised standards in inner cities, he said. The actual Ofsted report on a south London school (the Academy in Peckham) reported negatively in the press was actually "extremely complimentary", he insisted. And specialist schools are outperforming their comprehensive peers in terms of overall performance at GCSE, he said.
Then, shock horror, he mentioned teachers!! Schools do well when teachers are "empowered" - presumably when given the extra freedoms the government is so keen on. - he said. We hope he has had the chance to look at our blog on whether teachers work too hard, which gives a useful snapshot of teachers' working lives.
