Remember the days when Gove used to passionately defend every last part of his policies? When he used to whip statistics out of his sleeve about kids in Shanghai, and then camp it up with a French Lesbian poem before berating some poor teacher who recently taught equations through the medium of mime? I miss that Gove. He wasn’t at committee today.
The reason I miss him is because Gove’s strength has never been detail but he was (almost?) forgiveable for being a person who was at least trying to *do* something. Love it or hate it, misguided or otherwise, there was at least energy and a willingness to engage with important issues. Instead, today we got a Gove who was admittedly handed a series of rather bitty questions but instead of engaging, he practically shrugged. On my count he said “I’ll write to you” at least six times (that’s short for “I don’t know but I’ll get a minion to find out”) and there was a lot of mention of other people – Edward Timpson, David Laws, Michael Wilshaw, Charlie Taylor. The impression became clear that these are theguys Gove thinks are actually doing stuff. Which can only leave one wondering what his own time is being spent on?
Leaves are falling. I feel like hibernating. And the chancellor is up for speaking. Nothing says autumn like an Autumn Statement. Autumn Statements are chances to tweak, not transform. Unlike the Comprehensive Spending Review (where more radical, long-term ideas can be taken forward), these statements tend not to be too disruptive to departmental spending plans….
Taking Back Curriculum Control CfEY has been delighted to support our wonderful founder and ex-CEO Loic Menzies with a new IPPR evidence review on tensions in our school system, supported by Big Change and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Balancing Act sought to answer three connected questions: How can school systems fairly and effectively assess young…
By Joe Hallgarten and Adam Muirhead This summer, we’re delighted to be collaborating with The Trust for Developing Communities to carry out a rapid ‘test and learn’ prototype for our latest action-focused idea: A freshers’ fair for young people who aren’t going to university. Find out more below. Surprise surprise, but Guy Garvey put it…
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