Public service reform
“Assemblage of Sops”
Sentence of the Day is this 129-word put-down from Michael Gove’s letter to his shadow, Stephen Twigg:
I am sure your speech was the result of a well-thought-through reflection on schools policy and all of the above questions were considered, and fully addressed, in preparation for your announcement and so you will be able to reply [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 19 June 2013 at 5:31 pm
MG ♥ DA
Earlier today in the House of Commons:
Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Lab):
The Secretary of State will appreciate that I cannot speak about the detailed implementation of his reforms, but does he agree that an emphasis on rigorous qualifications and on obtaining core academic subjects is not, as is sometimes argued, contrary to [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 7:34 pm
Better schools ‘n’ hospitals: How?
Sonia Sodha, who used to be an adviser to Ed Miliband, says Labour has to prepare for public service reform in case it wins the next election. And she says, from her new home at the Social Research Unit, that the party needs to rehabilitate Blairite top-down targets:
The most popular narrative is that the Labour [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 30 May 2013 at 4:18 pm
“(Not) a reactionary nostalgist in the republic of letters”
Another furiously aspiring speech from Michael Gove today:
All of us who are parents would be delighted if our children were learning to love George Eliot, write their own computer programmes, daring to take themselves out of their comfort zone and aspiring to be faster, higher or stronger.
Unless, of course, we write for Guardian Education…
Jacqueline Wilson [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 9 May 2013 at 11:57 am
Pupils versus trade unions
Catching up on my reading. This from the Washington Post last month is interesting on the movement among Democratic mayors in America for schools reform, often striving to overcome opposition from teachers’ unions.
There are two big battles. One over tenure: the guarantee of a job for life for most teachers, which makes it hard to [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 29 April 2013 at 2:23 pm
“We won’t win without crossing some boundaries”
John Blake of Labour Teachers has responded on his personal blog to Michael Gove’s recent praise of him, and to the depressingly predictable reaction of some of his fellow Labour supporters:
I am passionately committed to the Labour Party and the achievement of a Labour government as soon as possible and for as long as possible. [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 28 April 2013 at 4:56 pm
Blake’s 14: bipartisan schools reform
I was intrigued by a line in Michael Gove’s speech to teachers and headteachers today:
I’m also an admirer of John Blake of Labour Teachers, who has transcended party politics to praise all schools which succeed for their pupils, even if they are academies or free schools…
I hadn’t come across Blake before, but I was sure [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Thursday, 25 April 2013 at 10:01 pm
“The Boldest Measures are the Safest”
I haven’t had time to catch up on good news of one of Britain’s most inspiring exports, namely public service reform. If you haven’t read it already, I recommend Sir Michael Barber’s report of his schools reform in the Punjab, the most populous state in Pakistan, published last month.
The programme started little more than two [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Monday, 15 April 2013 at 9:45 pm
Socialist Intentions
India Knight in The Sunday Times (pay wall) on Michael Gove’s curriculum reform:
Gove, rightly, calls his proposals “fundamental building blocks”. These will result in children learning fractions from the age of five, knowing their times tables by the age of nine and learning to recite poetry from the age of five, with an added emphasis [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Sunday, 24 March 2013 at 6:04 pm
The “Ability to Think”
I am writing to warn of the dangers posed by semi-literate academics writing letters to national newspapers warning of the dangers posed by Michael Gove’s not being as left-wing and right-on as they are. This is the third sentence of their letter:
This mountain of data will not develop children’s ability to think, including problem-solving, critical [...]
By John Rentoul | Eagle Eye | Wednesday, 20 March 2013 at 11:13 am
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