Education is not rocket science

Thursday, 2nd February 2012

The other day John Rentoul, that noted Blairite scallywag, suggested David Cameron could improve his lot by binning Andrew Lansley and replacing him at the Department of Health with Michael Gove. I dare say this is true. It would, nevertheless, be a depressing, avoidable error. Mr Gove's education revolution - built upon Blairite foundations - may be the shining star in an otherwise cloudy coalition firmament. This will not, alas, bring much electoral benefit but some things are more important than winning votes. Education policy is one of those things. Mr Lansley is floundering and the government's confused and confusing approach to the NHS will cost it votes for it is a sad truth that the Department of Health is, politically speaking, more important than the Department of Education.

But only politically speaking. In every other respect education is more important than health. Everybody dies; not everyone gets a decent education. The Secretary of State for Health can do nothing about the former; the Secretary of State for Education can help make a difference to the latter.

Fortunately, we know what works in education. The private sector has shown the way and, to a considerable degree, the challenge in schools is importing the culture of ethos of the private sector to an often more "callenging" state-maintained environment. It is harder in the state sector; it is not impossible. There are, of course, many good state schools and a good number of ways of running good schools. Nevertheless, most successful schools have certain things in common, most notably high expectations (for staff as well as pupils) and keen discipline. The academy revolution in England (but not, alas, poor Scotland) is well underway. This week Bagehot, one of the half dozen best columnists in Britain not presently employed by the Spectator, visited one London academy where six years ago fewer than 20% of pupils received five decent passes at GCSE. Here's what he found:

Six years on, Paddington Academy draws its pupils from the same estates. But the school is unrecognisable.

Last summer 69% of pupils met the benchmark for good GCSEs, easily beating the national average. More than half come from homes poor enough to earn free school meals and more than three-quarters do not speak English as a first language, making its intake exceptionally “challenging”, in Whitehall jargon.

[...] Paddington is built around remarkable people. An unusually high proportion of staff come from Teach First, a programme that sends highly-qualified graduates into challenging schools for at least two years. Staff stay late for homework clubs that run until ten at night (many pupils come from crowded homes) and volunteer for weekend workshops. A teacher guiding 15-year-olds through a thoughtful debate on British manufacturing was a Treasury economist before switching career. His economics GCSE class is an experiment, part of a policy of promoting more academic subjects. Maths is the most popular subject for the oldest, sixth-form pupils, followed by sciences. Create an expectation that students can take hard subjects, and they will demand them, the teacher says. Thanks to pupil lobbying, the school now offers the astronomy GCSE.

The students’ families—from Africa, Bangladesh, Iraq, Kosovo and the Caribbean in the main—are remarkable, too. Many went through “trials and tribulations” to reach Britain, explains a 15-year-old girl who plans to be a doctor, so “we like a challenge”.

Second, Paddington uses distinctive methods. A motto is: “the street stops at the gates”. There is a strict uniform code, and pupils must remove hooded tops and caps as they arrive. Pupils are educated for the professional world, says a teacher: if they call a boss “Bruv”, value judgments will be made about them. Pupils agree. Using street slang would be an easy option in school, says a teenage boy. Alas, the world “out there” will not be easy.

Competition is embraced. Pupils are ranked on progress against individual targets every six weeks, with results posted publicly on a board. A difficult home life triggers support but not excuses. Some pupils arrive speaking no English: they are offered up to four years’ specialist help, but expectations are not lowered.

Do read the whole thing. It's a heart-cheering piece. If it can be done there it can be done elsewhere. But schools must be set free to flourish. This remains the government's most attractive policy; it would be a mistake to move Mr Gove before his revolution is completed and, as importantly, secured and "future-proofed"

Filed under: Academies (31 more articles) , ConLib (132 more articles) , Education (349 more articles) , England (129 more articles) , Michael Gove (211 more articles)

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escapedRoger

February 2nd, 2012 8:48pm Report this comment

I agree Gove must be left in place and given every support possible to get England's education sorted out. The true measure of success will be when the parents who opt out by paying fees to private schools realise that local schools are (can be ) just as good. Gove needs to get more ambitious and sort out the capitation payment system and free all schools , independence for all. Of course the problem of private schools trading on 'teaching pupils that they are above the common herd'will remain but draining their fee base will help.

Simon Stephenson.

February 2nd, 2012 10:08pm Report this comment

If the analysis of Paddington Academy is objective, and not the sort of fawningly selective piece of advocacy research we've become accustomed to over the last 15 years, I think we are entitled to the answer to one very simple question:-

Are the left-leaners of the education establishment hostile to academies because they don't believe they will lead, overall, to the sort of grade improvements achieved by Paddington, or does their hostility reflect a desire to prevent such grade improvements from happening?

Colin Cumner

February 2nd, 2012 11:49pm Report this comment

I have long believed there was an element within the Left of politics whose objective was to 'equalise' education at any cost even if the end result was an education not worth having. The time has long past when schools needed to get back to basics. The former 'revolutions' in education have led to a horde of near-morons being let loose on society with no skills to speak of, little self-confidence and an overwhelming propensity for violence. The Paddington experiment deserves widespread and solid support.

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