Revealed: the secret school wars

Chuck Unsworth

I could comment at considerable length on this matter - Sheppey is familiar territory - but I will for the moment remark that there is a degree of coincidence here, in that local authorities have also put the frighteners on schools by saying that if they choose to become Academies then the LEA will withdraw its supporting services. There are many people employed by LEAs (Union members too, in all probability) who consider that Gove's actions may lead to loss of their jobs. One wonders just how much collusion there has been with the Trades Unions over this.

Ed P

What a great example of socialism in action!
These dim-witted, self-serving NUT-jobs do neither want improvements in educational standards, nor help for the poorest and disadvantaged - all they care about is maintaining a rotten system to their own advantage. It's a great pity Mrs Thatcher did not curb the public-sector unions when she dealt with the private sector, as this must be done now, and swiftly, if the UK is to prosper.

Dan Grover

What is the solution, alas? Local people *should* be able to contest government decisions that will affect them. Most people on here (myself included) tend to like the idea of academies, but to stop those who don't from seeking legal aid is a slippery slope - many of the governments problems could be solved by removing the ability of communities to contest against them in court, and with measures far less palatable than nice acemy schools.

Likewise, with unions, as deluded as they may be (or perhaps they aren't - unions exist, afterall, to benefit their members, so to that end the NUT et al are doing very well), there may be a time when their power could stop a terrible decision in education. Again, doing anything about it would be a slippery slope.

I got no answers, incidentally.

Craig Strachan

"Britain’s state school system is a national disgrace....Our world-class private schools show that England can be a world leader in education"

How come Scotland got lost in the intervening sentences?

denis cooper

Mrs Y

denis cooper

Maybe Mrs Y should have gone to her local newspaper and asked them to publicise the letters she'd had from the NUT, as well as copying them to all parents with children at the school as well as the governors. As least then some of those whose children would be affected - one way or another - might have been better informed about what was going on, and some of them might even have come to her defence. She is a headmistress, after all, traditionally a person enjoying significant status within the local area.

Fraser Nelson

Craig Strachan, education is devolved. Reform is only happening in England. Hell will freeze over before the Scottish authorities - stoll trying to prove that the East German economic model could have worked - would try market-based reform.

Hugh

The Secretary of State must ensure that Governing Bodies have a guaranteed floor level of additional per pupil funding available at their earliest meetings. This would ensure that Governing Bodies know that the Coalition means business.

TomTom

"The comprehensive system gives the best service to the rich, and the worst to the poor."

That was the idea behind the Comprehensive System and why Edward Boyle introduced it. It was to protect the Middle Class from having their children at Secondary Moderns and restricting access to The Catchment

True Bred Pomponian

The headteacher being on her own is certainly an issue. It is for Michael Gove to ensure that she gets all the support she needs. Somehow, I suspect he hasn't thought this through.

Craig Strachan

Yes, Fraser, but there are some world-class private schools in Scotland and all. Like Dollar Academy, no?

startledcod

Hmm Fraser, how was your education?

"Today’s Spectator cover story, by myself and Ed Howker," I think that should read "Today’s Spectator cover story, by Ed Howker and me,"

denis cooper

There's no reason why a competent and respected headmistress should be on her own. Such people, the core middle class, were once the pillars of the community and generally the prime movers when any action needed to be initiated locally. Instead of talking to a national magazine on condition of anonymity, she should have gone public locally and exposed the NUT officials for the would-be tyrants that they evidently are.

Simon Stephenson

I hope that there are not many people surprised by this, and I also hope that the vehemence with which the education establishment is opposing these reforms is not put down principally to an understandable fear of job losses on the part of the unions.

I've written before on these pages, and I'll write again, that control of the ability to programme children, through the education system, is what the British left will fight for to the death, and the very last thing that they will surrender. It's absolutely fundamental to the continuation of state socialism as a competitive political philosophy that it is drip fed as such into the minds of children as they pass through the education system.

That is not to say that they expect every school leaver to come out a socialist, but they do expect that every young person will leave school with a mindset that regards state socialism as a serious political alternative to market capitalism, and not just the fantasy world of one-track dreamboats that it actually is.

Jonathan explains it all

BTW, what is the answer to this?

‘This fundamental attack on state schools, held democratically accountable through local authorities, apparently means very little to you.’

Don

Startled cod wrote:
"...Hmm Fraser, how was your education?

"Today’s Spectator cover story, by myself and Ed Howker," I think that should read "Today’s Spectator cover story, by Ed Howker and me,.."
Surely you meant to type. By Ed Howker and I.

Liberty

Michael Gove should go for the Big Bang. That is, abolish all regulations concerning schools and retain only those that now apply to independent schools. Local authorities but also schools such as St Pauls, Westminster, et al plus private firms such as Tesco or independent charities could run schools all paid for with vouchers but 50% bigger value vouchers for those excluded by all other schools. There would be takeovers, mergers, closures, etc, but as we have seen in the independent sector but it is not a problem but an advantage. An incoming Labour government would have to buy out the firms if they wanted to reverse it.
Education is perfect for a free market with mostly knowledgeable parents who will create better schools for those who care little. No monopolies would be possible. Then, with academic and behavioural selection, schools would cater for pupils and the competitive market would cause a bonfire of all the restrictive practices, outmoded values and attitudes. Parents and pupils would begin to compete for places in the best schools that would favour hard work, respect and good behaviour. As we know, once established in schools and lasting until the age of 18 the values would last a lifetime. We, the parents and children would get a fantastic deal, the country would benefit massively and politicians can refer all education questions to the schools concerned.

JohnPage

So we have the NUT undemocratically setting out to sabotage government policy on schools, and Unite seeking judicial review of the proposed reorganisation of the NHS, while the EHRC thinks it has the right to call in any government policy for review.

"Who governs Britain?"

Matt C

Don, NOOOOOOOOO!

"Ed Bowker and I wrote it" is fine.
"It was written by Ed Bowker and me" is fine.

"It was written by Ed Bowker and I" is wrong wrong wrong. Would you write "It was written by I"?

Education standards really are slipping if even Spectator readers can't cope.

denis cooper

@ Liberty - I don't see how it could really be considered "a free market" when the customers were (at least part) paying for their children's education with vouchers provided at taxpayers' expense, and when the state would and must still have a duty to ensure that every child in the country was receiving some acceptable standard of education, and I don't see why the taxpayers should be forced to pay for the vouchers and yet have no say at all over how they were being used.

That threat made by the NUT:

"We ... will ... do everything we can to stop any school becoming an academy."

set a small bell ringing in my head, and it's now come to me that it's like that famous, equally dogmatic and vindictive and extreme, vow made by Anthony Crosland:

"If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every ****ing grammar school in England. And Wales and Northern Ireland",

as reported by his wife in her biography.

David Bouvier

Don - are you serious? It is the obvious subject/object distinction not some class shibboleth.

"A story written by me", not "a story written by I". Hence "a story written by Fred and me" not "a story written by Fred and I".

Simples, as we apparently say nowadays.

Andrew K

No, Don. "By Ed Howker and me" is correct. Take out the words "Ed howker and", and you will see why it is correct.

I Macmillan

Having had this article drawn to my attention it is surely more startling that people glibly accept the exaggerations, flannel and logic chopping than that most people are frightened of change. Taking two points at random, it is only reasonable that a trade union that has a core function of protecting its members is given the NUMBERS of those who support, oppose or remain undecided about change of status - NAMES would NEVER be asked for. Some of the comments, when not frothing at the mouth with delusion fulfilling ire, are likewise alarming: Scotland is undergoing massive educational reform at the present time Fraser Nelson, but then again that may have escaped your notice as it's based on consultation and building upon markedly godd practice already in operation.

Tiberius

Gove is going to have to find the equivalent of a Siberian salt mine or a Chinese government re-education facility, into which the infantile opponents of his reforms will have to be placed.

If he doesn't, the free schools programme will fall woefully short of the critical mass required to raise the required standards in our schools. And this is before he deals with the marking of exams, which has to return to the rigour of old.

denis cooper

Tiberius, you're making a serious mistake if you really think that all the opponents of Gove's reforms are "infantile".

Don

Mmmmm. the concept of the Wah (see the Army rumour service) has obviously not been understood by the pedant tendency of the Speccie.

Chris

There is an obvious response for this, make a similar FOI request to each school head requesting the details and text of any FOI requests received from the NUT in the last 12 months.

And then publish the full contents.