In case you hadn’t yet noticed, we have a new government. It is a time for hope, and also reflection. As a former school leader what have I learned about national education strategy over the past fourteen years?
That’s easy to answer. There hasn’t been one.
Our profession has suffered greatly under ten, yes, count them, ten Secretaries of State for Education. That’s astonishing, but more than that, it has caused constant churn and chaos as a never-ending procession of politicians have tried to make their mark so they can move on up the greasy pole.
I often share this little anecdote with colleagues; I was visiting the DFE building in London when I was involved with setting up a new school some years ago. It was while I was waiting in the foyer that I had a rare moment of absolute clarity. On the walls were photographs of every EdSec since the 1920’s. I did a quick mental tally and it suddenly hit me that the average tenure was barely a little over two years.
How utterly ludicrous! Education, by its very nature is a long term proposition, requiring dedication, commitment, stability, focus and consistency over the many years of a child’s educational journey.
During the past fourteen years the average time in post for an EdSec has been just 17 months. Not even a year and a half, or put another way, just four and a half school terms. Of course, a few have been longer (Gove was actually nearly four years), and some have been far shorter. One, whose name I forget, lasted just two days.
Do you find that absurd? I certainly do. Can you imagine if you tried to run a school in that way?
I’m convinced that the actual strategic management of the entire sector should be under the stewardship of a national education council, comprised of educators from all phases, academics, business leaders, health professionals and others. They should report to the EdSec and be accountable to them, but they would transcend politics and the short-termism of Government ministers, and thus provide the continuity of purpose that a truly effective education system so desperately needs.
If, like me, you led schools through the pandemic, and was on the receiving end of genuinely staggering incompetence and chaos from the then Secretary of Education, Gavin Williamson, now rewarded for his failure with a knighthood, you will remember the sense of panic and confusion as yet another diktat or set of instructions was emailed through on a Sunday evening for implementation less than twelve hours later.
Like me, you probably developed more educational technology skills in six months than you had in the past six years, and you developed a blended learning offer on the fly, while operating as a social service and food bank.
Somehow we survived, and education professionals all over the country came together, supported one another, and largely ignored the government, EdSec and DfE, because we needed committed professionals, not amateurs with their own agendas.
Of course our school inspection system became unfit for purpose a long time ago and offered nothing during the pandemic years. When brave teachers and leaders risked their health and wellbeing, many inspectors skulked in the shadows, irrelevant but sharpening their fangs, desperate to show that they still wielded the power that had been bestowed upon them.
Once again many schools suffered, as inspectors roamed at will, pretending the pandemic had never happened and treating staff teams who had soldiered through the most difficult period in education for a century with contempt.
And then one team called in at Caversham Primary School in Reading, and you know what happened after they left.
The new Government has promised to abolish the toxic, flawed and erratic single word judgements that have done so much damage to so many, and replace them with far more balanced and developmental report cards – highlighting a school’s strengths and challenging its’ weaknesses.
Many other countries have operated such a system for years. Scotland and Wales already do. So why hasn’t England? The answer can only be political and that we have suffered too many EdSecs who are totally out of touch and out of their depth.
The education and development of our children is without a doubt the single most important function and responsibility that a nation has. The future of our society depends upon nurturing all our young and giving them the widest possible routes to success.
The past decade and a half have seen the erosion, often to the point of disappearance, of much that our curriculum used to offer – music, drama, dance and more. The creative subjects have been whittled away in a particularly baffling ignorance of these areas in which Britain actually still is a world leader.
For some reason, little understood by me, we have been forced to funnel students through an ever narrowing academic pathway that seeks to emulate entirely different societies and cultures, such as China, South Korea, and Singapore, thus guaranteeing the failure and alienation of so many of our young people. Let us not forget that Michael Gove pushed schools to teach Latin. If I need to understand a Latin phrase, I use Google.
So as I write this, shortly after there has been a transition of power in No.10, I truly hope that our new Government keeps their promise to provide the sector with desperately needed stability and to listen to the professionals rather than treating them as the enemy. It would make a very welcome change.
After all, why should something as important as our national education strategy be at the whim of amateurs?
Guest author: Alex Prior – Author, Teaching School Leader, and former Head teacher
