The Tories' higher goal for education
James Forsyth 5:12pm
Michael Gove’s speech to the RSA yesterday was a summation of where the Tories stand on education. The new policy will, word has it, be in an announcement that Gove is making tomorrow. But the section in which Gove made the case for a classical department of education jumped out at me:
I might be reading too much into this section, but it strikes me that the implication is that not only will the Tories undo the silly name change but also move universities back into the education department.“But the renaming of the old Department was no idle exercise in empty rebranding – it reflected a philosophical shift in how government sees its role....
education has indeed been eclipsed – and the renaming of the Department is genuinely significant – we no longer have a single department of state charged with encouraging learning, supporting teaching and valuing education. Instead we have one department which manages schools – and sees them as instruments to advance central government’s social agenda.
And we also now have another department – the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – which manages universities – and sees them as instruments to advance central government’s economic agenda. What we do not have – and what we desperately need – is a Department at the heart of Government championing the cause of education, the value of liberal learning, the wider spread of knowledge as an uncontested good in its own right.Today I want to argue for just such an approach from the next Government.”
Previous
Hysteria
July 1st, 2009 5:25pm Report this commentthe boxes and wires are important - sure - but the bigger issue is how it seems at least some in the Tory party "get it" in terms of rolling back the statist approach......
Chris
July 1st, 2009 5:31pm Report this commentFor a joyful moment, I thought the proposal was for a Department of Classical Education, to enforce the learning of Latin and Greek. As Evelyn Waugh used to complain, the trouble with the Conservative Party is that it has never put the clock back by as much as ten minutes. That would be a good place to start. But if the report above is accurate, hurrah!
Simon Stephenson
July 1st, 2009 5:37pm Report this commentThe first of many reforms needed to unwind most of the developments of the last 12 years. And a good one. Just need to get rid of the big-State Stalinists who have been put in by Labour to run the "education" programme, and it should have a chance of making good progress.
Keep it up.
paracelsus
July 1st, 2009 6:00pm Report this commentAn education in the classics would indeed be a fantastic return to our schools. It offers a wonderful grounding in the basics of language, and also teaches discipline and rigour in general learning.
They are, however, starting to move in the right direction. Baby steps, maybe, but at least it's a start.
Publius
July 1st, 2009 6:01pm Report this comment"...the value of liberal learning, the wider spread of knowledge as an uncontested good in its own right."
Hallelujah! A joy to read.
Wrinklybutnice
July 1st, 2009 6:48pm Report this comment"A classical department of education" - bring it on. As the product of the new welfare state/grammar school based system of the 50s, and finally a senior teacher in the jargon-driven DCSF of now, I am aware of how dreadfully the new Labour system is failing all children - both the bright and the weak. And MOTs for teachers ! I'd probably have had to be scrapped, because all my best lessons (the ones the kids seriously remembered) were the ones that went way off message from the prescriptive National Curriculum (driven to make the weak feel better and left the clever uninspired). Please can we have a Minister of Education who really understands the concept. (And maybe even did Latin at A Level!)
Michael Booth
July 1st, 2009 6:54pm Report this commentPlease can we get back to some sort of reality - New Labour rebranding is a load of ..ite - time to call a spade a spade and a shovel a shovel
Hereford
July 1st, 2009 7:04pm Report this commentThree cheers for Gove if that is indeed what he intends to do. The breakup of DfES was political vandalism and undertaken simply because Gordon had more friends to keep sweet than he had departments.
DIUS never had any sense of what it was and what it existed for. It was a total fudge. Even its employees didn't think it made sense.
KB
July 1st, 2009 8:26pm Report this commentI'd also like to see an independent Office of Educational Responsibility, containing employers, admissions tutors and members of the public; no teachers, education theorists or employess of Edexcel.
Chuck Unsworth
July 1st, 2009 9:13pm Report this commentYes indeed. Education has been grossly politicised, as has much else. Each and every government department and quango has become an arm of political machination and control.
If Gove, Cameron et al have decided that there should be a return to the concept of professional independence and impartial expertise at all levels in governance they will find people flocking to their support in droves.
The Statist centralisation of government for the past decade has been a complete and unmitigated disaster. It has led to the devastation and destruction of individual responsibility and accountability in every part of society. The victim culture is all-pervasive. Frivolous litigation has fattened the wallets of lawyers. Accountants control our armed forces. The police service is simply a paramilitary bureacracy. The NHS is run by 'managers' who have no concept of medicine or medical ethics. We have lost our entire manufacturing base. Research and Development and manufacturing have all been outsourced to other continents. Our universities are no longer centres of excellence but mere education businesses. Even our justice system has become a means of application of political policy.
Our great national bodies and tenets are emasculated. We have lost our way. It is time for radical change, an affirmation of decency, honesty and integrity across the whole of our society, and a return to honourable principles.
Scary Biscuits
July 1st, 2009 9:18pm Report this commentThey should move universities and schools out of Whitehall altogether. Denationalise them and give them back to the people from who they were perloined in the name of 'progress'. True progress is, as Burke said, the maximisation of liberty. This is completely incompatible with central government controlling the minutae of education.
TGF UKIP
July 1st, 2009 9:43pm Report this commentOr perhaps he's just trying a diversionary tactic to get away from his daft, unsaleable "swedish" schools policy.
Won't work, though, Mikie - Balls is going to put you through the wringer on that as will your colleagues who have to try to sell it on the doorstep.
Hysteria
July 1st, 2009 9:49pm Report this commentoh - was really impressed with Gove on Paxman and at the despatch box - more sound thinking like his please Dave...!
Hysteria
July 2nd, 2009 2:56am Report this commentChuck - absolutely right.
Dave - are you listening ??
Verity
July 2nd, 2009 2:57am Report this commentScary Biscuits, formerly Scary Biscuit, ... have you gone forth and multiplied?
And yes, you think "moving schools and education" out of Whitehall, with the government giving up control, is going to happen.
The only way to get control of our civil life back at this point, is by force. Gorgon Brown will be the first into the bunker. David Cameron and good pals will have a private bunker.
Verity
July 2nd, 2009 3:13am Report this commentWhat's with it with the hand gestures? Dave and Gove are big on the Italianate hand movements.
How did this journey into the surreal happen?
Looking at newsreels of WWII, one doesn't see Winston Churchill employing operatic gestures. Nor Clement Atlee. Nor Anthony Eden nor Margaret Thatcher.
How did opera seep in? It's not indigenous.
Could it be the Blairy touchy feely curse?
How about a politician stands in front of a mike and makes a serious statement without pantomiming his "thoughts"? Alternatively, if he wants to emphasize them, he could sing them.
For God's sake let's get rid of this cheap theatricality that Tony Blair inserted into our politics.
Verity
July 2nd, 2009 5:02am Report this commentOh, yeah, Dave, and more promotion of homosexuality in schools, please! The people are crying out for it.
Major Plonquer
July 2nd, 2009 8:43am Report this commentWhat we really need is a Department for Departmental Naming.
It can start with The Fees Department and rename it the Office for The Regulation of Finances or OfTROF.
The Home Office could be the Second Home Office.
And to promote Dave's Homosexuality in Schools mandate we could have the Parliamentary Office of Freedom To Explore Relationships (POoFTER).
But my favourite would be the replacement for teh Xcahncellor of the Exchequor who would become the Cancellor of Cheques.
Government should make sense.
Is this all too PC?
Talia
July 2nd, 2009 1:42pm Report this commentcompletely agree, Verity. What are they trying to prove with these hand movements? They're not even Italian: Italians don't make gestures in this way; for them they are an innate, genuine and very specific form of communication.
Verity
July 2nd, 2009 3:38pm Report this commentTalia, having never been to Italy, I should not have implicated the blameless Italians in this new Cameronesque means of dumbing down the message.
I should have said "florid gestures".
In any event, such theatricality has no part in British public life and I suggest they can it and address the audience with words alone. This can work, as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher proved.
Back to top