Education reform
Michael Gove’s love of a good scrap sometimes leads him up blind alleys
Michael Gove is right about almost everything, but like most know-it-alls, he has a habit of putting people’s backs up when telling them he’s right. That’s the theme of a… Continue reading
71 Comments
Michael Gove: wind-up artist
Michael Gove likes to make mischief. Every so often he stokes London’s liberal elite into fits of righteous indignation. If he does this out of pure joy, then his latest… Continue reading
43 Comments
Is Gove’s school reform genie out of the bottle?
Will Michael Gove’s reforms outlast him? They are perhaps this government’s single greatest accomplishment. Within three years it has gone from legislation to a nascent industry, and much of it… Continue reading
36 Comments
Michael Gove: Unions need to do a better job
Cometh the Gove, cometh the angry trade union representative. It was inevitable that the Education Secretary would have at least one exchange with someone from one of the two largest… Continue reading
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Michael Gove the evil overlord strikes again
Michael Gove is at it again. Today he’s taken it upon himself to ‘heap further misery’ onto teachers with ‘reckless’ plans that would damage children’s education. At least, that’s what… Continue reading
78 Comments
Yes, Gove has lost a battle. But he’s winning the education war
Michael Gove’s enemies will have savoured his defeat yesterday, and enjoyed every second of his Commons speech admitting that his pet project, the EBacc, was ‘a bridge too far’. Gove… Continue reading
33 Comments
Even the best laid plans of Michael Gove can go awry
Coalition ministers and commentators like to study Michael Gove as an example of a successful reforming politician. The Education Secretary is most definitely man not mouse, taking on some of… Continue reading
23 Comments
If Nick Clegg doesn’t think his local schools are much cop, then he should say so
Normally, it is really rather tiresome when a politician is pilloried in the media for choosing to send their children to a private school above the local state schools. There’s… Continue reading
15 Comments
Why meddling with A-levels won’t work
Conservatives will, no doubt, welcome the government’s announcement about A-levels today. Modules will be abolished. We will return to one tough exam at the end of the two years of… Continue reading
10 Comments Gove to Treasury: let schools borrow!
For all the good intention of Michael Gove’s school reforms, there have been only a few dozen new schools so far. When I interviewed him for The Spectator earlier this… Continue reading
34 Comments
Michael Gove’s schools ultimatum pushes up standards
Michael Gove’s reformation of the education system from top to bottom has so far been unstoppable. Often though, the Education Secretary’s detractors bellow there is a lack of proof that… Continue reading
32 Comments
Do teaching unions not trust head teachers?
Michael Gove had a very good autumn statement: not only did he get £1bn for new free schools and academies, but he also got performance-related pay for teachers. Gone will… Continue reading
24 Comments
How will Michael Gove respond to Ofsted’s attack on councils?
Ofsted’s annual report, due out later today, will launch a scathing attack on those responsible for underperforming schools. But rather than taking aim at the teachers or the schools, it’s… Continue reading
13 Comments
The quiet country lane hosting a schooling revolution
The location hardly suggests revolution. A few miles down a Somerset country lane, a new school opened this week. It will do so on the site of a tiny old… Continue reading
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Not ‘the best results ever’: Good news for GCSEs
For the first year since GCSE’s came in we have not seen ‘the best results ever’. Which is, of course, a great relief. As Anthony Seldon, among others, has pointed… Continue reading
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What influences GCSE grades?
For the first time in the history of GCSE exams, this year’s results have seen a decline in grades. Today, the Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents exam boards, announced… Continue reading
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The View from 22 – international justice, school sports and unfair GCSE results
Is there a downside to our glowing era of ‘international justice’? In this week’s cover feature, Douglas Murray writes that our carefully designed system can trap criminals, giving them no… Continue reading
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The ideological row over profit-making schools
Earlier this week IPPR published a paper which made the case against for-profit schools. Two of the leading proponents of such schools, Toby Young and Gabriel Sahlgren, have since responded.… Continue reading
31 Comments
Give profit-making schools a chance
Rick Muir, an associate director of the IPPR, published a paper this week called ‘Not For Profit: the role of the private sector in England’s schools’ in which he argues… Continue reading
24 Comments
Training does not make the best teachers
None of us would accept being treated by a doctor or by a nurse who hadn’t had extensive training, nor would we want legal advice from someone who hadn’t been… Continue reading
44 Comments