The Tories seem very close to adopting the idea that children shouldn’t be allowed to pass into secondary school until they have passed certain tests as party policy. In the Independent today, Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, makes a passionate case for it.
“Earlier this week, our party’s policy group on education floated the idea that young people who are falling desperately behind at primary school be given intensive, remedial, help to master the basics. The usual suspects had a go at the idea, with the usual talk about stigma and self-esteem.
I’m afraid I don’t have much time for that sort of attitude. Do these people really think it’s acceptable to let children leave primary school after six or seven years without them being able to read or write? I think it’s unacceptable to throw young people into secondary schools without the skills necessary to learn, and leave them to sink or swim. That sort of casual indifference to lost human potential masquerading as a belief in progress is what I’m in politics to fight against.” The idea strikes me as a sensible one and has the political benefit of being easily communicated. As Fraser argues, there are some encouraging signs on education policy from the Tories.
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