Few on the left can doubt the need for greater unity of the large number of left groups and unattached lefties. The organisation of the Left Platform meeting in London on 7th February was both a recognition of that need and an effort to do something about it. The event ran from 11.00 am to […]
Selective education is rising up the agenda: it’s no time for fudging
Dec 18th, 2014 by David Pavett.According to the Kent on Sunday newspaper (page 11) Nicky Morgan is expected to approve the renewed application for a Sevenoaks “annex” to the Weald of Kent Grammar School. The Conservatives have blown hot and cold on selective schooling. Some recognise that selection at eleven doesn’t have sufficient political legs to run very far but […]
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Tristram Hunt and Churchillian True Grit
Dec 15th, 2014 by David Pavett.After every new speech by Tristram Hunt a friend used to say to me “things can only get better”. Now, he’s not so sure. After the Shadow Education Secretary’s vaunting of Disraeli as a “working class champion”, his refusal to commit to ending selection at eleven and his suggestion that private schools should keep all […]
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Private Schools and Labour’s “Class War”
Nov 27th, 2014 by David Pavett.Tristram Hunt’s speech at Walthamstow school on 25th November has had a hostile reception from the right-wing press. The Daily Mail echoed a private school head’s cry of “Offensive bigotry” and says that the proposals are a “threat to private education”. The Telegraph warns us that “Tristram Hunt has resorted to the politics of […]
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Tristram and Schools – What can we expect in government?
Nov 22nd, 2014 by David Pavett.The People’s Parliament organised by John McDonnell MP recently held a meeting on education under the title Re-thinking schooling: class & education. The panel of speakers included Christine Blower, the General Secretary of the NUT and Diane Reay, a Cambridge university sociologist specialising in questions of class. The contributions were excellent and were followed by […]
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Is the future “local”? The case of education
Sep 16th, 2014 by David Pavett.The casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that Labour in 2014 has been entirely won over to the cause of the devolution of power. “Top-down” control is decried in favour of “bottom up” approaches, the regions/nations of the UK are to have much more control of their own affairs (the a panic quality of […]
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So where does Labour stand on: Education (part 2)
Aug 6th, 2014 by David Pavett.This is one of a series of posts which focus on the outcome of Labour’s policy review, as agreed by its national policy forum. In the the first part of these notes on the outcomes for education of the July meeting of Labour’s National Policy Forum I considered how different views on the role of […]
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So where does Labour stand on: Education
Aug 4th, 2014 by David Pavett.This is one of a series of posts which focus on the outcome of Labour’s policy review, as agreed by its national policy forum. Discussing education within the Labour Party is not easy at the best of times. Members are expected to find information where they can. The party provides virtually none, not even in […]
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Ed Balls and “ideology”
Jul 9th, 2014 by David Pavett.Our politicians regularly try to convince us that they are just practical people interested in what works and not beholden to any theory. The idea that reality can be directly perceived just as it is, without recourse to any system of ideas, is idiotic. Making this claim is not an attractive trait. It means that […]
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Promoting “British values”
Jul 5th, 2014 by David Pavett.The recent affair of the alleged extremism of some Birmingham schools has revived debate about “British values”. Michael Gove has issued draft changes to the funding agreement for new schools that would require commitment to “the fundamental British values” of (1) democracy, (2) the rule of law, (3) individual liberty, (4) mutual respect and (5) […]
