Michael Gove
Exclusive: Clement Attlee backs Michael Gove’s free schools
Great news for all progressives: a private school has been effectively been nationalised. Queen Elizabeth Grammar in Blackburn, founded in 1509, is to enter the state sector as one of… Continue reading
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What Gove should know about Singapore schools
Excelliarmus! Why do East Asian children feel they can relate to Harry Potter? Because he wears glasses, like so many of them do. The fascination with British wizarding students extends… Continue reading
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Gove: I’d vote to leave the EU if referendum held today
In a firecracker of an interview on the Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove confirmed that if an EU referendum was held today he would vote out. But he followed this… Continue reading
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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
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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
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Skills are the problem. But does anyone have a solution?
For years, words ‘skills’ and ‘crisis’ have been joined in British political discourse. It’s a problem that no one seems able to crack and on May 2nd, The Spectator is… Continue reading
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Westminster School opens a free school
Guests at The Spectator’s schools conference on Thursday arrived via the stunning grounds of Westminster School (above), one of the best not just in the country but the world. It… Continue reading
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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
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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
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Michael Gove’s planned national curriculum is designed to renew teaching as a vocation
Michael Gove’s planned national curriculum, heavily influenced by American reformer E.D. Hirsch, came under strong attack over the weekend. Critics claim that it will de-professionalise teachers. NUT activists and their… Continue reading
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Heard it on the Gove-Vine
Times journalist Sarah Vine has written the diary in the forthcoming edition of the Spectator. For those wondering why that caught Mr Steerpike’s eye, Vine is the wife of Education… Continue reading
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School wars: Michael Gove, Fiona Millar and Andrew Adonis at Spectator conference
Three years ago, Dennis Sewell wrote a Spectator piece about the real enemy awaiting Michael Gove: ‘The Blob’. Carla Millar illustrated the point (below). Today in the Mail on Sunday,… Continue reading
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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
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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
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Michael Gove: My debt to Jade Goody and the future of school reform
In shaping education policy I have been influenced by many people… But two particular individuals have influenced me more than any others. The Italian Marxist thinker – and father of… Continue reading
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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
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Tim Loughton vs the Department for Education, round 2
The battle between Tim Loughton and the Education department rumbles on, with new foot soldiers joining the fray. The latest shot fired in the war comes from Labour’s Stephen Twigg,… Continue reading
7 Comments Children and families ‘not a priority’ for Michael Gove, former children’s minister argues
Of all the sackings in September’s reshuffle, two of the most surprising came from the Education department. So it was fascinating to hear those two victims of the purge, Tim… Continue reading
14 Comments Michael Gove’s plans for profit-making schools
Coffee House readers won’t be surprised by the Independent’s report that Michael Gove has been telling friends he has no objections to profit-making schools: he explained his position on the… Continue reading
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