I Can Hear The Beeping Of A Reversing Politician

It must be in the genetic make-up of a politician to make a bold, inflammatory statement and then retract at a far faster rate when they suddenly realise that these policies are both unworkable and unpopular. And so it comes to the turn of the Secretary of State for Education to putting his blunder bus into reverse on Ofsted inpsections whilst speaking to the National Association of Head Teachers. This isn't the first time when actually faced with talking to real people in education that Michael Gove has said stuff that will get him out of the room in one piece.

The "no-notice inspections" have been scrapped apparently, although Gove didn't manage to say what would replace them, which may suggest that he has no idea and was in fear of a lynching had he not made the comment. This also comes at a time when headteachers are being encouraged to report on the inspectors via a website the newly set up School View website, with cries of a lack of consistency and of inspectors having made up their mind before even arriving in school. It's something that I've experienced, so I know it goes on but what will that actually achieve? Headteachers will not want to rock the boat for fear that if they complain, the repercussions during the next inspection could be disasterous.

Gove also questionned whether Ofsted inspectors are paid enough at a mere £60,000 per year - more than most teachers, or should I say more than every regular classroom practioner in the country in a bid to encourage "the best" people to become inspectors. Outrageous suggestion - these people are parasites on the education profession and should be paid nothing. Any encouragement to force the collapse of the quango should be shouted from every rooftop in the country.

I notice that Gove made no reference to his deeply unpopular policy of forcing schools in to academy status, especially the day after the DfE asked dozens of academies to pay back their share of £15 million, due to a mis-calculation in Whitehall over the usage of predicted roles instead of actual roles. This will mean, according to the news, that the academies will each have to pay back around £200,000 and could lead to disaster for those institutions, unless their financial managers spotted the error, which one would assume is a little unlikely. Not  great advert for educational independence.

Until the British public vote by spoiling their ballot papers or not turning up at all, these idiots in Westminster will think that they are important and wrap themselves up in their own self-importance, surrounded by "Yes" men and women destroying the public sector. It makes no difference what their political affiliations are as all parties seem to have similar, if not identical policies designed to destroy the public sector.

Rant over.

Playing Them At Their Own Game

So all the teaching unions conferences have finished and surprisingly its been the NASUWT rather the NUT who have been making all the headlines. There has been a lot of whinging that won't win much public support, despite the fact that many of the points raised have been legitimate, the public will generally just wish that teachers would stop moaning. Hot classrooms are not going to extract much sympathy I'm afraid.

Arguably the best bit of conference season was Chris Keates' (General Secretary of NASUWT) closing speech. Having taken a leaf out of Gove's book she used the gimmick of having a cadboard cut out of the Secretary of State for Education to symbolise the fact that not a single Minister has attended any part of any conference. Keates described Gove as a teaching union's poster boy as his reign in office has led to a huge increase in membership for all three teaching unions. This is worrying for two reasons: government policy has made more teachers feel threatened but also because there are a lot of teachers who aren't union members, which is naive at best.

Keates used the opportunity to accuse Gove and his cronies (yes Wilshaw, you are one of those) of "eroding the professional status of teachers", and she is absolutely correct. Gove seems hell-bent on demoralising the profession in what he claims is a bid to raise standards. An army general doesn't instil courage and fight in their troops by telling them repeatedly that they are sub-standard and should be worked into the ground. All the Department for Education ever say is that teachers have been given more power to rid classrooms of disruptive influences and that academies offer schools and staff greater freedom to teach children without government interference.

Anyone who has had any recent experience of schools will tell you that it is still nigh-on impossible to exclude pupils, and is arguably even more difficult now since the excluding school has to pay for the excluded student's future provision from an increasingly shrinking budget. Academies, it is claimed by unions, are a step towards privatisation of education and an invitation to privateers to make a profit from schools. I think that it may be a little dramatic to suggest that private companies want to take over schools to gain profit but there is very little evidence that academy status raises standards at all, especially considering that the new academy has the same under-achieving students wandering through the doors, probably late. Academies offer most teachers worse money, worse benefits regarding sick, maternity and paternity pay as well as longer hours. Are the government really surprised that teachers are opposed to the move? Turkeys don't queue up to vote for Christmas.

The fact that no-one from the Department for Education has attended any conference shows the contempt for the unions who represent the profession, and in my view, the cowardice of politiians. Ministers are happy to sit in press conferences or typing up press releases in their comfy, air-conditioned offices that slate teachers, but are extremely reluctant to actually face them.

Strikes seem imminent - bring on the revolution!

Michael "Braveheart" Gove

I was on duty on our school field recently when there was a small commotion by some gates overlooking the road that runs past the school. Around 4 kids who should have been in school were requesting an audience with a well-known fool on our role. The fool's mates all came over and started shouting abuse at these 4 "undesirables" safe in the knowledge that they were going to be in no trouble whatsoever due to the 3 metre high metal fence and a bunch of adults (us teachers) there to protect them. I said to one student "Ooh, aren't you brave calling the boy some nasty names when he can't get you. Now go away and stop being pathetic."

Had I been a member of the Association of School and College Leaders and attended their conference I would have said pretty much the same thing to Michael Gove. He gave a speech at the conference in Birmingham which is reported on the BBC News website (click here to read it) where we saw the man's true colours. Gove is trying to paint a picture of himself as a reformer. In fact he could do a passable impression (pun intended) of Van Gogh had the Dutchman cut both ears off rather than just 50% due to Gove's lack of listening skills. He, the Secretary of State rather than the painter, promised the conference that reforms were to keep coming thick and fast, which was quite brave I suppose as almost everyone in education is in agreement that he's rushing policy through without due care and attention. So a home run for Michael.

He then went on to back-track about no notice Ofsted inspections, saying that there may be a bit of notice, but palmed that decision off onto the "independent" Sir Michael of Wilshaw - which got a laugh. Not very brave from the Secretary of State - strike one Michael, and don't forget that you are out on the third strike.

Now if you're reading this blog, you are almost certainly involved in education in some way, and would have read or heard the constant slating of the teaching profession in the UK, headteachers, classroom practitioners - you name it, they've all felt the sharp end of the Gove tongue, metaphorically fortunately. But I quote from Gove's speech, and see if you can hear the distant sound of the reversing beeps: "We have the best generation of young teachers ever in our schools. We have the best generation of heads ever in our schools. And our whole school system is good, with many outstanding features." That's a huge turnaround from what we've been reading in the newspapers and hearing on the news bulletins where there's been rarely a good word said about educators and many of us could be facing the sack for being rubbish. Ironic that it was said in front a large audience of educators, don't you think? Not very brave Michael - strike two.

The speech finished only for the Secretary of State to be caught in the lobby by a group of handily placed reporters, whereupon he is quoted as saying: "If people say 'It's all just a bit too much', my view is 'man up!'". Michael, that's strike three I'm afraid - you're out.

Pathetic - I can kind of accept it from a 14 year old, but from a fully grown and well-educated man, it's frankly sad. I wonder what he'd say if I threatened him with a Chinese burn? I'd probably get all his dinner money.