Tweet The transformation of the English education system by Michael Gove has been one of the most far-reaching of the the changes made by the Coalition government. The majority of secondary schools have been removed from the framework of local democracy. Many have been absorbed into academy chains some of which have more schools than [...]
Posts under ‘Education’
Academies good, other schools bad
May 9th, 2013 by Conrad Landin.Tweet When they’re not running a bout of self-justification on why the latest writer has had no choice but to use private schools, you can count on the Evening Standard to run a puff piece vindicating the “trailblazing” Mr Gove for his agenda of private-sector involvement in state education. Bookmarks Hide Sites
Who are “Labour Teachers”, and why has Michael Gove praised them?
Apr 28th, 2013 by Keith Wright.Tweet The Labour party is full of weird and wonderful groups of all shapes and sizes. If you’re active on social media, you may well have come across one particular example, the group that calls itself “Labour Teachers”. You might have also been struck by a line from a speech by Michael Gove to teachers [...]
“State-school” Clegg, and when did selfishness become the norm?
Mar 21st, 2013 by Conrad Landin.Tweet “Nick Clegg to send son to state school”, muttered the headline in the “most viewed” column on the BBC News website. This was a not-unpleasant surprise for me – for when a public figure says they are “considering” going private, it usually means the decision has already been made. It is of course a [...]
Cambridge joins the fight to Bring Back EMA
Mar 1st, 2013 by Newsdesk.Tweet At the end of a week of action from further education students and activists, students at the University of Cambridge have unfurled a banner on the city’s iconic King’s College demanding the re-instatement of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) – which helped thousands of students stay in school post-16. Students have written to and picketed [...]
On this day: Labour’s great rebellion against Churchill and its own leaders
Feb 18th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Tweet Seventy years ago today, Labour MPs mounted the biggest rebellion of the second world war against the wartime coalition government’s reluctance to implement the Beveridge report. The overwhelming majority of the parliamentary Labour Party voted against its own leadership – coalition cabinet members Clement Attlee, Herbert Morrison and Ernie Bevin who had pleaded with [...]
Listen: Conrad Landin debates private schools with ex-head of Harrow
Feb 8th, 2013 by Newsdesk.Tweet Left Futures associate editor Conrad Landin appeared on the international radio station Voice of Russia on Wednesday to discuss private education. The half-hour panel discussion also included Barnaby Lenon, the chair of the Independent Schools Council and former head of the exclusive Harrow School; Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson; and educational researcher Alka Sehgal [...]
Gramsci: the bits Gove left out
Feb 7th, 2013 by David Osler.Tweet I once drew attention to a passage from a book by Malcolm X, in which the legendary African-American activist demanded black community control of black educational institutions, and jokingly suggested that Michael Gove could use the reference when next speaking in support of free schools. Now the Tory education secretary has gone one step further, [...]
Gove’s ideological war must be challenged wholesale
Feb 4th, 2013 by Conrad Landin.Tweet It wasn’t long after Michael Gove took office as Education Secretary before he was called a “miserable pipsqueak” by Labour MP Tom Watson and got savaged by an angry parent on a radio call-in. But last week, when the abolition of the AS-level – an exam taken by lower sixth-form pupils – faced the [...]
Private school Clegg: have our politicians no shame?
Jan 25th, 2013 by Conrad Landin.Tweet Surprise, surprise. Nick Clegg, the man who once said the attainment gap between state and private schools was “corrosive for our society and damaging to our economy”, is considering going private for his own son. “I’ve never, ever, ever sought to make my children’s education or my children a political football,” he told radio [...]
