Teaching
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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Another weird sacking
Another teacher has been sacked for what looks like a wholly fatuous and unjust reason; these stories come in at the rate of about two a week. Christopher Hammond, head… Continue reading
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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
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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
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Gove kicks back at school bullies
A Labour conference delegate was heckled from the floor when she mentioned her school. Joanne, an immigrant who came to this country seeking political asylum and is about to read… Continue reading
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Pay study embarrasses teaching unions
The teaching unions like to dismiss talk of introducing regional pay to the public sector as a plan that will hit deprived areas hardest. Their fierce opposition to the plans… Continue reading
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Obstruction overruled
The Spectator’s Schools Revolution conference is being held on Tuesday next week. One of the speakers, Mark Lehain, writes below about his experience setting up a free school. Other speakers… Continue reading
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Repeat after me…
The fuss stirred up by the mere suggestion that poetry might be part of the school curriculum was extremely suspicious. Just as George Osborne quietly announced his u-turn on the… Continue reading
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Gove gets covering fire
Good teaching matters; that’s something we don’t need to be taught. But how much does it matter? What are its measurable benefits? Today’s education select committee report collects some striking,… Continue reading
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The teachers’ unions take on Ofsted, Osborne and Gove
I counted five issues which the NUT conference suggested that teachers might strike over. But in a conference full of the usual bluster, the most noteworthy threat was not to… Continue reading
26 CommentsFirst, Liquidate the Teaching Unions
There are few sights more pitiful, more vexing or more predictable than the sight of teaching unions on the whinge. This time it is the EIS and the other unions… Continue reading
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When failure actually counts as success
Michael Gove’s latest prognosis for schools was delivered at a lunch in Westminster yesterday, but it’s important enough to repeat the morning after. The Independent has a full report here,… Continue reading
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Gove takes on bad teachers
Michael Gove’s giving a robust defence of his plans to make it quicker and easier for schools to sack bad teachers. ‘You wouldn’t tolerate an underperforming surgeon in an operating… Continue reading
13 CommentsFirst, Shoot All the Teachers*
Our local paper, the Southern Reporter, reports that “2,000 public service workers” took the day off work yesterday. Sorry, withdrew their labour to protest against a monstrous government regiment that… Continue reading
12 CommentsTeather pledges to double the pupil premium
Assorted acolytes from the teaching unions are padding around the Lib Dem conference, fomenting discontent around activists who are opposed to the coalition’s adoption of academies and free schools. Officials… Continue reading
15 CommentsMiliband: We can’t spend our way to a new economy
David Cameron and IDS have been promoting the Work Programme this afternoon and they reiterated that jobseekers must learn English to claim benefits if their language difficulties are hampering their job applications.… Continue reading
26 CommentsCameron’s well-schooled argument
When Michael Howard offered David Cameron the pick of the jobs in the shadow Cabinet after the 2005 election, Cameron chose education. Howard was disappointed that Cameron hadn’t opted to… Continue reading
26 CommentsBeating Labour’s education legacy
If it is GCSE results day, there must be a row about government education policy. True to form, the NASUWT — a union whose role often appears to be to… Continue reading
25 CommentsA victory for common sense
For years, teachers have been increasingly reluctant to restrain unruly pupils — for fear of being slapped with a lawsuit. But now, it seems, the government is trying to ease… Continue reading
7 CommentsThese strikes are wrong, ad nauseam
Okay, as it’s Friday, here’s footage of that weird, repetitive Ed Miliband interview that has been bouncing around the blogosphere since yesterday:
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