The incoming president of the Association of School and College Leaders has criticised general secretary candidate Geoff Barton for making “outspoken comments” about grammar schools and failing to attend hustings.

In a letter to Mr Barton, Carl Ward, the executive headteacher of Haywood Academy in Stoke-on-Trent, and the current ASCL vice-president, said union members were “a little puzzled” with a number of aspects of his leadership bid.

Mr Ward will become ASCL president in September, and the letter is also signed by Chris Smith, principal of St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy and ASCL’s branch secretary for Stoke-on-Trent.

Mr Barton is up against Chris Kirk in the election to be general secretary of the school leaders’ union, which has about 16,000 members. 

The letter puts four “issues” to Mr Barton, which it says members have raised at hustings.

The first relates to his decision not to apply for the role of general secretary at the outset - Mr Barton threw only threw his hat into the ring after ASCL announced that Mr Kirk was its preferred candidate. He then received the nominations needed to trigger an election run-off.

“There is confusion as to why you did not apply for the post,” the letter says.

In a response posted on his blog this morning, Mr Barton said he had been on ASCL’s council for more than eight years, and sometimes expressed concerns about the organisation’s direction.

“It seemed clear that a person with views like mine would be highly unlikely to get through the conventional selection process,” he wrote.

He said he and his supporters felt it would be a “timely and healthy” process to have a leadership election, and added: “This would give a direct voice to members, enabling them to articulate the sort of approach and direction they want ASCL to take at a time when funding and teacher recruitment worsen. In doing so, members could provide a strong mandate to the successful candidate and the association.

“I believe that the opportunity for members to elect their general secretary directly and to feel a renewed democratic connection with ASCL policy and council is something we should celebrate.”

Mr Ward’s second issue was that members “are concerned that your outspoken comments on academies and grammar schools are not consistent with an ASCL membership which has so many members working within such”.

He added that some wondered how he would be able to represent the views of academy and grammar school leaders effectively.

Mr Barton wrote: “My argument was never against academies. It was against any school being forced to become an academy against the wishes of its leadership and community.

“The grammar schools issue is a different one. It is not about existing grammars, but the process by which a return to educational selection suddenly appeared on the national agenda.”

He added it was a policy “without evidence, and one which unfairly ring-fences funds for a highly political project rather than distributing financial resources more equitably across all schools”, and said the announcement “displayed precisely the way in which ASCL needs to have much more influence on the government before policies are announced”.

Mr Ward said his third point was: “Members have asked if you are elected, how will you work with ASCL Council and an ASCL Executive that you appear unaligned with.”

In response, Mr Barton reiterated that he had been on the council for many years, and said several council members had been “very supportive” of his campaign.

He said the council should be a “crucible for powerful, informed debate”, and wrote: “The general secretary is soon to be elected directly by ASCL members - people who pay their fees, expect support, and have expectations of our association. Their mandate should empower us.”

He added: “Ours is a professional association - replete with the values that go with that. I hope those who have worked with me know that I conduct myself with principle. I have done so throughout this election.

“This is precisely how I would engage with council and executive, with ASCL staff and with all members, as together we take the new mandate and translate it into the next phase of the association’s development.”

In his final point, Mr Ward said that, while members understood Mr Barton was a busy school leader, some members asked why he had not joined Chris Kirk in hustings around the country. His letter added: “Some have queried why you have availability for a range of events outside school but have been unable to prioritise some time to address members in this important debate.”

Mr Barton said that the campaign protocol said nothing about hustings in different regions, which “would have entailed travelling and being out of school for numerous days”.

He added: “Like all school leaders, I already have meetings and conferences out of school that I sometimes attend. I occasionally lead training in other schools, run courses and speak at events.

“But I have always recognised that my day job is my priority - being a headteacher, leading the team, working with students, overseeing a complex organisation that is currently on Ofsted standby, and fulfilling the role that I have been privileged to hold for nearly fifteen years.”

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