About Our Schools E-Book

Mick Waters

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 1244

Beschreibung

Foreword by Danny Dorling. Through revealing and forthright interviews with 14 secretaries of state from Kenneth Baker to Michael Gove and Gavin Williamson, together with many other leading figures in education Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters provide fascinating insights into the various evolutions and revolutions that have taken place in English state education since 1976. In so doing they highlight key areas for improvement and assess where we should go from here to enable teachers and schools to improve the learning and broaden the horizons of each and every one of their pupils whatever their talents, challenges, advantages or problems. Tim and Mick have both spent a lifetime in state-provided education first as pupils, then as teachers, and finally in various leadership and policy-making positions, both in and out of schools. About Our Schools is born out of their shared love for education and their appreciation of how schooling can be a transformative element in the lives of children and young people. All royalties from sales of this book will be donated to Barnardo's and the Compassionate Education Foundation.

Leseprobe

A

Praise for About Our Schools

You can hear the passion, the decency, the anger, the compassion, and the hope in this insider–outsider story about England’s education policy over the past 45 years. About Our Schools documents the storms, showers, glimpses of sunshine, the fronts, doldrums, cloudy times, and ends with brighter spells ahead. It shows the silencing of the profession and the cacophony of experts, the motives, hopes and honesty from many of the key political players, documents a cocktail of unfairness, and is the most exciting and exacting book I have read in a long time.

John Hattie, Emeritus Laureate Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education

It seems odd to refer to a book on education as a page-turner, but About Our Schools really is just that. Hardly surprising though, as it has been written by two of the greatest storytellers in the field, whose careers at the heart of the action mean that they know everyone and have a view on pretty much everything. They survey the past and critique current initiatives, always through the lens of the teacher and the child in the classroom. It’s full of anecdotes, balanced critiques and a surprisingly compassionate appraisal of politicians. About Our Schools is a masterpiece, and I shall be returning to it again and again.

Mary Myatt, education writer, speaker and curator of Myatt & Co

More than two men’s memoirs, less than a treatise in political science, this fascinating book opens up its readers to 45 years inside the corridors of power in UK education, like no book has ever done before. This work, from two living legends of British education, brings forward extraordinary levels of candour and insight from political figures as ideologically disparate and strategically different as Estelle Morris and Michael Gove. How did academies evolve? What was the purpose of chains and trusts? How has England’s education system become so chaotically marketised and incredibly centralised all at the same time? And how should we judge what’s happened to the training of teachers and leaders? It’s all here, unexpurgated and unplugged, from the mouths of government ministers, civil servants and education professionals. Dip in, breathe deep, keep an open mind, and enjoy!

Andy Hargreaves, Director, CHENINE (Change, Engagement and Innovation in Education), University of Ottawa, and Honorary Professor, Swansea University

Education in England is in a mess – more so than in the rest of the United Kingdom and in many other countries around the world. Buffeted by pundits and politicians who mostly know much less than they think, we are in desperate need of cool, wise, experienced thinkers who can share their good, deep, well-informed common sense. Hoorah, then, for Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters, two battle-scarred warriors of educational reform who can rise above the fray, remind us of the long view, and talk truth to power. Let us pray the powerful are listening.

Guy Claxton, author of The Future of Teaching: And the Myths That Hold It Back

BDid you ever miss someone like crazy, thinking that you would never see them again, only to have them show up out of the blue better than ever? That’s how I feel about Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters and their new stupendous magnum opus About Our Schools.

Based on much original material from interviews with central players including nearly all secretaries of state for education since 1975, and scores of key officials in positions at all levels of the education system in England, About Our Schools is a goldmine of inside thinking and action. It is as if the authors were standing over the shoulders of people when they made significant decisions, asking: ‘What were they thinking when they did X and Y?’ And Tim and Mick were there much of the time as they worked at all levels of the government, but most of all immersed themselves in the daily lives of the pupils and communities that they served.

I can say that I was never bored with a single page. Every chapter was interesting and insightful, and I felt the authors were speaking to me as a reader throughout. The authors’ cumulative critique of the worsening of the policies that have been presented over the years is so damning that their solutions bear careful scrutiny. It is time for a new approach to system change, and in the final section Brighouse and Waters serve up six foundational stones to get us started.

About Our Schools is a treasure trove of the past, and a treasure map for the future – compiled by two human explorers who combine more than 100 years of caring and action in tackling the most vexing problems of the day. Now I know in detail why I am glad they are back on centre stage.

Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/University of Toronto

In About Our Schools, Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters use their considerable experience to reflect on how we got to where we are in education, and what should happen now. Through sensitive and revealing interviews with a range of politicians, policy-makers and practitioners, they argue for a new era in our education system – moving away from the past 30 years of centralisation, marketisation and managerialism.

Lucid, accessible and attractively exploratory in tone, the book concludes with some important proposals for reform, including a change in our outmoded accountability system, acceleration of the productive blending of place-based and online schooling, new limits on centralised power and a broader curriculum fit for the education – and diverse experiences and talents – of children and adolescents living in the 21st century.

Melissa Benn, writer and campaigner

Publications like this are few and far between. I cannot remember the last time I read a book that so skilfully sets out its historical context in an analysis of our current educational landscape and its optimistic vision for the future. Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters have brought their trademark humanity, pragmatism and insight to a fascinating book that has the importance of teachers and teaching at its heart. Drawing on their unrivalled perspectives of our education system over the last 40 years, the Cauthors have created a book that is full of fascinating anecdotes, illustrations and personal accounts that enrich the overall narrative beautifully.

The panel of witnesses is a veritable ‘who’s who’ in education over the last several decades, which is testament to the regard in which the authors are held. This has enabled a fascinating set of perspectives on the inner workings of government, with all its challenges, political machinations and surprises.

About Our Schools is a must-read for anyone working in education. You may not agree with everything, but it will certainly get you thinking.

Andy Buck, founder, Leadership Matters, creator of the BASIC coaching method, and former teacher and head teacher

Over the past six decades and in a wide variety of roles in education, Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters have inspired, challenged and supported teachers and head teachers across the country. Their status as education heavyweights is shown by the truly impressive cast of A-listers interviewed by them in their research for this important new book.

About Our Schools is packed with fascinating insights into the motivations of and influences on the secretaries of state for education in England since 1976. It charts the key features of and changes in the education system over the last 45 years, giving the perspectives of key players and sharing amusing and moving tales from the authors’ careers. The final chapter also offers a powerful and compelling rallying cry – a manifesto for ‘building forward together’.

Younger readers will find this a fascinating history lesson, and those who have lived and taught through the years described will find it brings back a host of memories – but all who read it will gain an enhanced contextual understanding of how our education system has evolved.

Rachel Macfarlane, Director of Education, Herts for Learning, and author of Obstetrics for Schools

With sweeping ambition, Brighouse and Waters’ About Our Schools provides a compelling narrative of how markets came to dominate education policy-making since the 1970s – and how we can change course. Throughout the bulk of the book is a detailed review of educational policy in England and its trend towards centralisation, their insights, drawing upon personal interviews with dozens of policy-makers, also ring true for those of us on the other side of the Atlantic. They provide a compelling account of what happened to the hope and optimism of the post Second World War era, avoiding nostalgia, and acknowledging where trust in the system of public education went awry. And by proposing 39 policy solutions ranging from smarter accountability to fairer admissions, the authors deliver a sweeping road map to transform English schools from islands of autonomous competition towards a cohesive, collaborative whole.

Dr Adam Kirk Edgerton, Senior Researcher, Learning Policy Institute

DI had to smile when I got to the 39 steps. I read John Buchan’s novel at secondary school and the hero, Richard Hannay, sets an example to his readers of an ordinary man who puts his country’s interests before his own safety. Mick Waters and Tim Brighouse are extraordinary men who have always put the interests of children first.

As the authors tell us, About Our Schools is not meant to be read from cover to cover. Instead, it will become the go-to guide to education in England. A guided tour – with expert guides – through education policy and practice. I hope, and expect, it will be on every student’s reading list when they start teacher training and will be kept as an essential reference book.

Chris Waterman, commentator, satirist and co-author of Animals’ Tails

I was hooked from the start in this epic educational journey. Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters are honest, passionate and crystal clear on the values and beliefs that underpin their mission. Blending evidence, including fascinating perspectives from highly influential witnesses, with story-like reflections on their own wealth of experiences, they delve into key themes that have shaped education in England as we know it. Tim and Mick fill their exploration of the history, complexities, challenges and potential of the current system with rich insights, while their bold suggestions to reimagine schooling for a more equitable system make for a rousing conclusion. And, of course, as many expect and admire from these two champions of education, the authors’ hope, ambition and collaborative partnership shine through. About Our Schools is just the book to provoke powerful reflection, courageous conversations and concerted action.

Louise Stoll, Professor of Professional Learning, UCL Institute of Education

In About Our Schools Tim and Mick bring to life, with passion and purpose, the lessons of history and the potential and promise of tomorrow. This book is a masterclass in how our education system shapes and reshapes itself over time, and who better to learn it from than these two giants of the education world.

Eavesdrop on their personal memories and recent conversations with a stellar cast of educators and politicians, where nothing escapes their scrutiny – equally warm in their praise and excoriating in their criticism. I cheered mightily at many sections.

Tim and Mick love our schools and those who work to improve them, and this heartfelt hope and optimism is imprinted on every page. For those who see these times as a ‘hinge of history’ and seek a COVID legacy that leads to the transformation of our schools, I urge you to read it. This is an education manifesto like no other.

The authors say this is a book to be dipped into. I say it is much more than that. About Our Schools is a book that will keep our ‘reservoirs of hope’ full at times when we most need it. Buy it, read it, act on it, and keep it close.

Maggie Farrar, education consultant and former director of the National College for School Leadership

In About Our Schools Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters have brought together their own unparalleled depth and breadth of knowledge about the schooling system, Ealong with invaluable further testimony from movers and shakers at every level in education. Read on!

Professor Margaret Maden, former head teacher and county education officer

This book of historical context, present vexations and plans for a brighter future throws a light on the range of deep-seated barriers that need pulling down if children are to have a productive and enjoyable schooling. Brighouse and Waters offer both national decision-makers and school leaders a nuanced and insightful vantage point to look at the challenge of providing education in a post-pandemic world, and provide suggestions for planning ways forward.

About Our Schools is a must-read if you want change in our educational landscape.

Martin Illingworth, Senior Lecturer in Education, Sheffield Hallam University, education consultant and author of Forget School

What has happened to English schools over the past 40 years? Are they stronger after decades of rapid and often bewildering change? Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters, with their extensive knowledge and experience of all levels of schooling, are uniquely qualified to give us the answers.

Drawing on lengthy interviews with dozens of leading educational figures – ministers and former ministers, civil servants, directors of academy trusts, school inspectors, local authority officers and more – as well as their own personal recollections, Tim and Mick share new and sometimes shocking discoveries about how decisions that affected millions of children were reached.

Through sometimes hilarious anecdotes as well as unfailingly perceptive analysis, this book reveals the truth about what was happening behind the scenes as almost everything in the world of education changed – from the school curriculum to marking schemes, from teaching methods to pupil exclusions, and from the rise of academy trusts to the role of head teachers.

Peter Wilby, former education editor of The Independent

Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters are two sages of the educational world that are resisting the call to ‘retire to the woods’. We are the richer for their delayed departure.

About Our Schools has been crafted to provide information, inspiration and direction for anyone interested in education and social change. These stimulating and informative interviews are testimony to the power of dialogue to connect and transform individuals and communities. These two wise men provide us, in the final chapter, with the foundation stones and steps we need to take in order to continue our shared journey of school improvement. It would be fitting testimony to their efforts over the past 45 years if we followed their advice and good counsel.

About Our Schools is essential reading for those interested in understanding our educational past and shaping our educational, social and economic future. The fact Fthat the royalties will go to support the work of Barnardo’s and the Compassionate Education Foundation is another good reason to buy the book.

Roy Leighton, Co-chair of the Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group (CPERG) and co-author of 101 Days to Make a Change

About Our Schools takes the reader on a thought-provoking and insightful journey through education policy, positioning and practice in examining the interdependencies, levers and drivers within the school system and the classroom. Most of all, however, the book focuses on the prize of ensuring we have an equitable, engaging and outcome-led approach to equipping our young people to positively impact upon their and our future society. In doing so, the authors reinforce the importance (and difficulties) of working beyond short-term political gains and boundaries, and towards deploying a multi-partner and holistic view of the purpose of benefits of education.

Whether you are a practitioner, student teacher, civil servant, community worker, policy-maker or education leader, About Our Schools will both challenge and inform you.

Professor Julie Mennell, Vice Chancellor, University of Cumbria

G

I

To those of our grandchildren still within the school system: Poppy, Oliver, Alfie, Charlotte and Arthur. In the writing of this book we have talked often about our hopes for their futures.

i

Foreword by Danny Dorling

We often don’t truly value something until we have lost it. In the short term, children losing access to schools in the UK in 2020 suddenly brought home not just what schools do for most children physically but also what they do in the round. Schools are about far more than education. They are places where we become socialised into our society, where we learn to respect others and, in some cases, to look up to or down on others. They don’t just teach skills. Schools help us to form our attitudes, beliefs and prejudices.

At some times and in some schools, we are told that other people are our betters, often others not at our school. We learn to behave and to be disciplined, so that later in our lives our apparent superiors will find that we have been well trained; that we are respectful; compliant; that we know our place. This still occurs in England today. Not everywhere, of course, but the idea that different children are of different rank and worth is still endlessly stamped into young minds in ways that do not often occur so forcefully elsewhere in Europe.

When classrooms emptied during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020 and 2021, it quickly became clear which schools were equipped and had the resources to teach online and which schools could not cope and handed out paper worksheets instead. The huge advantage of very low pupil–teacher ratios in private schools suddenly became glaringly obvious, not just normally but especially during a crisis. At the other end of the scale – for those for whom school was a sanctuary from harm and indifference at home – no longer being able to go to school was devastating. In a very small number of cases it will have been deadly. Schools do far more than teach. If we have learned anything from the pandemic, we now know that schools should be the last public institutions to close and the first to reopen.

The authors of this excellent book began writing in earnest in early 2021 in the weeks when it became clear that, yet again, schools would be closed for many months. State schools were only kept open physically for the children of ‘key workers’ and those identified as being in special need. It turned out that everyone who worked in a school was a key worker – something that had barely been acknowledged before. It also turned out that the politics of education was not quite as clearly divided between iigood and bad as we might have thought. You are probably reading these words many months after it has been accepted that the new coronavirus is endemic and a zero-COVID strategy is impossible. However, it was a right-wing government that tried to keep the schools open and left-wing unions (championing zero COVID) that demanded they close.

In hindsight, it is much easier to see what the right course of action would have been. This book has been written in contemplation of a much longer period when we could all take stock of what we were losing without our schools even being closed – the decades during which funding per head was cut for 13 out of 14 children; that is, all those who attended a state school in England. Note: it is a much higher proportion than 93% in most parts of the UK and a much lower proportion among those people who get to determine education policy. Furthermore, division had been sown within the state system, with schools forced to compete against each other for pupils, to attract and retain staff (not least teachers) and to be able to afford the upkeep of their buildings.

This book begins in 1976, which was the year that marked the end of optimism and trust in teaching and saw the dial adjusted to a new belief in the power of markets, centralisation and managerialism. The authors confess the hope that the previous system would have thrived was ‘probably misplaced’, which illustrates their freedom from conventional dogma. However, it is worth noting that in 1976, the UK was one of the most economically equitable large countries in Europe, second only to Sweden in terms of income equality. By that measure, Germany, Italy, Spain and France all had more socially fractured societies in that year. In contrast, in the decades that followed – when markets, centralisation and managerialism were allowed to take over much of life in Britain, not just in education – the UK saw its levels of economic inequality grow to become by far the largest of any Western European country. It was not just education that fractured after 1976. Health, housing, employment and the distribution of material assets, including wealth, and other life chances all also saw developments that worsened lives and increased division.

Economic inequality matters in education. In the 1980s, a large number of places in private schools were sponsored by the government under the Assisted Places Scheme for the academically able children (or those deemed to be) of parents who would not otherwise be able to afford the fees. Furthermore, incomes were more equal at the start of the 1980s, iiiand therefore not enough adults were paid so much more than other individuals that they could meet the cost of educating their children privately. This meant that the commercial future of private schooling was at stake. Private education only prospers in places where there is high income inequality.

However, by the time Tony Blair abolished the Assisted Places Scheme in 1997, the gap in incomes in England had grown to such an extent that there were now enough pupils with very well-paid parents to fill the private school quotas without the need for a direct government subsidy. (The indirect subsidies that enabled tax avoidance were maintained.) But it is important to note that in no single year during the period since 1997 (which included all the New Labour years as well as the decade of austerity) did income inequality fall by any measurable amount.

It is perhaps unsurprising that during the same period there have been many changes in education but few progressive movements. In fact, there has been no progressive government in the UK since the early and mid-1970s. Most recently, under New Labour and then the coalition, we have witnessed the almost wholesale privatisation of universities.

One of the ways we hold on to hope is in the belief, at times not entirely unfounded, that after many decades of banging your head against a wall and going in the wrong direction, a group of people – in this case, those interested in education in Britain – realise that a change of tack is required. At this point we need to know what to do next. The solutions offered in this excellent book are based on learning from what did and did not work in England between 1976 and today. Although the overriding ethos of markets and competition was not conducive to progress, many individuals and some organisations, most schools and millions of children and their parents struggled over those long years to improve many things. For example, we should not forget that these were the years in which schools became dramatically less violent places, a significant part of which was banning teachers from beating pupils. Not everything was rosy before 1976.

There are so many wonderful suggestions in this book that you will have to read it to discover them; they cannot be summarised in a short foreword. One I particularly like is that ‘we should treat pupils not as they (sometimes infuriatingly) are but as they might become’. Recently, I met a teacher who is teaching in a school that I attended almost four decades ago. She told me she thought that none of her pupils would ever write iva book. It was an ‘average school’: avoided by most of the wealthiest parents in the city and aspired to by many of the parents who lived just outside its catchment area. I had some sympathy with her exasperation, but I had also been a child who failed at English at age 16. I knew that did not mark me for life. I read my first word in 1976 – very late at age 8. I had good teachers but I found reading hard. In the end, my mum taught me to read; my school barely improved on that, although they tried, but they taught me enough of maths, geography and science that I ended up writing many books. No one would have believed it if they had seen how I wrote when I was at school.

We have all followed our own individual educational paths and each of them will have shaped us and, in turn, our views on education. Very probably, Margaret Thatcher, the education secretary from 1970 to 1974, would not have believed so strongly in her own personal superiority had she not been sent to a grammar school by her father or been awarded a place at an elitist university. Tony Blair, who came to power with the mantra ‘education, education, education’, and his one-time education adviser Andrew Adonis might have had very different views on what a good education consisted of had they been differently educated too. In contrast, the authors of this book explain how every ‘young person can walk more than a few steps with genius’. They could have added that the geniuses among us tend not to seem quite so clever when you spend long enough hanging around them.

So many people who have steered the course of English education in recent decades, from prime ministers through to policy wonks, appear to have held the belief that they have truly realised their own personal potential and that it was because they held within themselves such great potential, which had somehow been allowed to burst forth and be realised, that their amazing ideas should be implemented. Such pomposity is pricked at many points in the pages that follow, including examples such as how, for all the hours of senior management teams brainstorming risk assessments, no one foresaw what might happen during a pandemic, through to how ridiculous it is that so many children are excluded from schools in England. Some 1,579 pupils are permanently excluded from English schools each year for each one of the five children excluded a year in Scotland – almost 8,000 a year in England in total. Try to imagine how that feels for each and every one of those children, that year and for the rest of their lives.v

Education, at its best, frees you from being told to believe that you are the natural inferior of others. At its worst, it leaves you with the impression that you are the natural superior of others. Education in England is in a terrible mess. If you don’t believe me, try describing what happens in your town, city or village to someone from elsewhere in Western Europe. Tell them how different children are selected to go to different schools. Tell them about the languages and arts that we no longer even try to teach. Tell them what ensues when our children are asked a maths or science question that is not directly connected to one of the answers they and their teachers have guessed would be on the exam paper. And then ask them what happens where they live in other Western European countries that did not travel the post-1976 road we took in England.

vii

Preface

Why did we write this book?

We decided to write this book in December 2020 as we entered the third restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. We thought it might just be the right time to find what we call in Chapter 7 on school improvement and leadership a ‘gap in the hedge’. That is, an unexpected opportunity for schools and the schooling system to create a new age of renewed hope and ambition through collaborative partnerships where schools are encouraged to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow rather than being locked in a relentless grind of yesterday. We wanted to think about the future for our schools in terms of the steps that can be taken as we move forward from the pandemic.

We believe that the school system was already at the point of moving into a new age of hope, ambition and collaborative partnerships, and that extraordinary circumstances provide us with an opportunity not just to build back better but to be more adventurous still.

Nobody can deny that we live in a world of accelerating change, and we therefore thought we should remind ourselves that in such a world it is the learners who inherit the world, while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists. We have spent a long time in and around schools and those who influence them, and we thought – correctly, as it turned out – that we could persuade these key influencers to help us by volunteering to be interviewed.

Who do we hope will read this book?

Different chapters will seem worthwhile to different audiences and all of them to some. Politicians ought to be considering all the issues in the later chapters and should be fascinated by the words of their colleagues past and present which dominate the first half of the book. Teachers in training will find Chapter 5 on curriculum, pedagogy and assessment illuminating and informative, as will all those existing teachers still full of the intellectual curiosity which is their vital stock in trade. Head teachers and would-be school leaders will prefer to glean what they can from Chapter 7 on school improvement and leadership. Parents, governors, viiichief executive officers (CEOs) of multi-academy trusts (MATs), directors of children’s services and those in local government should all be considering the issues we raise in various parts of the book.

It is not to be read at one sitting but can be dipped into when grappling with a particular theme. We hope everyone will read our opening chapter which provides an overview and consider the suggestions we make for change in the final chapter. There are some recurring issues that emerge in several chapters which, although similar, are addressed within different contexts.

What was our methodology?

Methodology sounds rather grander, more rigorous and organised than is usual for us! We read a lot and spent around 150 hours interviewing our witnesses. Along with the invitation to take part, we sent them a brief guide to the questions we intended to use in our Zoom-enabled interviews. (At the request of our witnesses, two of the interviews were conducted by phone.) But we allowed our interview conversations to flow – and flow they certainly did – before carefully transcribing what was said. We drew on the bank of witness statements as we put together the chapters.

We would not say that our research methods would pass muster if the most rigorous academic standards were applied, but we have stuck to the evidence for the most part – and where we haven’t, we have made that clear.

What are our underlying values or prejudices?

Anybody reading a book of this sort will seek to work out the values or prejudices that are driving the authors – in this case, about those that underpin the schooling system. We cover these in our first chapter. We focus on what has worked well and argue that now is the time to improve on that. Hence our title: we look at and question development over time and propose next steps for our school system, always with the intent of improving on previous best.

Who were our witnesses?

We started out thinking that we wanted to interview all the available secretaries of state since 1976. There followed some mission creep. At one ixpoint we thought of calling the book, ‘You Ought To Talk To …’ as so many of our witnesses pointed us to another source of insight.

Having talked with some of our secretaries of state, we realised there were other players whose views would help us with our enquiries. In the end, we have interviewed fourteen secretaries of state, four heads of Ofsted and Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectors of Schools (HMCIs), two permanent secretaries at the Department for Education (DfE), three other senior civil servants at the DfE, five ministers for schools, one national schools commissioner, three regional schools commissioners, sixteen CEOs of MATs and free schools, four directors of children’s services, four leaders of the teacher and head teacher unions, one children’s commissioner, governors and trustees of schools and MATs and the CEO of their national organisation, several representatives of educational organisations, charitable causes and interest groups, and many head teachers and teachers. All have been generous with their time, their forthright opinions about their term in post and where they think the schooling system should go now. We have set out in the list of contributors the names of all those individuals we have spoken to and either quoted in their own words or recounted their views. Occasionally, our witnesses asked that their observations were not directly attributed to them and we have respected that wish.

We are grateful to all who have spent time with us, many of whom sent us further thoughts, recollections or documents that were enormously helpful. We have also read extensively relevant autobiographies, books about schooling and politics as well as many of the education acts, reports and reviews of the last 45 years. To point us in the right direction, we have turned regularly to Derek Gillard’s comprehensive web-based History of Education in England, which has provided a valuable reminder of the events we ourselves witnessed.1

The royalties from this book are being donated to Barnardo’s and the Compassionate Education Foundation. Our witnesses and the readers of our book will have each contributed to these worthwhile causes.

We thank all our witnesses for their involvement: they have clarified events, enlightened our thinking and stimulated ideas.x

1 See http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history.

xi

Acknowledgements

Both of us owe a huge debt to those who have helped us over the six months we spent interviewing, writing and rewriting drafts. Their comments have helped us consider and reconsider many of the issues covered. So, thank you to our many friends who have offered advice on how we might improve the schooling system, including: Sebastian Benney, Jim Briden, Nigel Chapman, Jonathan Crossley-Holland, Iain Erskine, Graham Fraser, Andrew Freeland, John Harrop, Lisa Hinton, John Lloyd, Ron Lloyd, Doug Lowes, Giti Paulin, Vikki Pendry, Graham Phillips, Aimée Tinkler, Trevor Walker, David Winkley, Tom Wylie and David Young. Special thanks are due to (The Real) David Cameron, Mike Davies, John Fowler, John Jones, Phil Marshall, Bob Moon, Wendy Rawlinson and Les Walton who joined the many who have taken to Zoom for long, focused conversations, and to Julie Bloor, David Boyle, Andrea Curran, Peter Hall Jones, Paul Keane, Vanessa Ogden, Gary Phillips, Terry Wrigley and others who commented on drafts.

We are also grateful to Nancy Cartwright, professor of philosophy at Durham University, who invited us to join a very fruitful seminar at the Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society. We were fortunate to be able to share our thinking with the New Visions for Education Group and gained valuable advice from their collective wisdom and experience. The Charter for Compassion was also a source of insight.

We would like to thank Danny Dorling for his foreword. He is a social geographer and the Halford Mackinder Professor at the University of Oxford. He has researched widely on inequalities in Britain and has written extensively on housing, health, employment, education and poverty. His writing is accessible and brings alive the essence of official reports and statistics to offer thought-provoking and often challenging arguments about social trends and patterns. The insights that Danny offers have proved increasingly interesting to educationalists who believe that schooling should be life-affirming and develop society for the common good.

We have been especially fortunate to be assisted in our fallible organisational capabilities by Amarjot Butcher and Linda Kilmurry, who managed the transcriptions and filing of drafts. We have also been ably supported xiiby the team at Crown House Publishing. Our last word goes, as it always has, to our editors, Louise Penny and Emma Tuck; we are enormously grateful to them both.

Contents

Title PageDedicationForeword by Danny DorlingPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of abbreviationsList of contributorsPart One:Political influence – storms, showers and sunny periods … and the realities of a changing climate in schoolingChapter 1:School climate changes over the years: the state’s involvement in schooling and how 1976 was a turning point from one educational age to another – a brief synopsisChapter 2:Do politicians make a difference? Do they help or hinder? Who creates the climate in which teachers work?Chapter 3:How policies are made: what helps and what gets in the wayChapter 4:Political involvement in the way our schooling is organised: the decline of local authorities and the rise of MATs – it all ends in tiersPart Two:The confused and disputed arenas – the occluded frontsChapter 5:Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment: the three-sided wheel driving learning in schools on an unnecessarily bumpy rideChapter 6:Securing a sufficient supply of suitably qualified teachers and then keeping them goingChapter 7:School improvement and leadership – creating a climate where the weather can improvePart Three:Overcoming barriers to success: institutional barriers and obstacles to pupil fulfilment – the doldrumsChapter 8:Admissions, attendance, exclusions and behaviour – a cocktail of unfairnessChapter 9:Special educational needs and disabilities – unfulfilled good intentionsChapter 10:Circumstances, disadvantage, parents, community, early years and adolescence – lives under a cloudChapter 11:Accountability – room for improvementChapter 12:Governance and finance of schooling – too many cooks and pipersPart Four:An age of hope, ambition and collaborative partnerships – brighter spells aheadChapter 13:Building forward together: our six foundation stones and 39 steps to successBibliographyIndexAbout the authorsCopyright

xv

List of abbreviations

AAA  area admissions authorityAAE adverse adolescent experienceACC Association of County CouncilsACE adverse childhood experienceACSET Advisory Committee for the Supply and Education of TeachersADHD attention deficit hyperactivity disorderAEC Association of Education CommitteesAI artificial intelligenceASBO anti-social behaviour orderAMA Association of Metropolitan AuthoritiesASD autism spectrum disorderAST advanced skills teacherATO area training organisationAWPU age-weighted pupil unitBecta British Educational Communications and Technology AgencyBEd Bachelor of EducationBELMAS British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration SocietyCAG centre assessment gradeCAMHS child and adolescent mental health servicesCATE Council for the Accreditation of Teacher EducationCBI Confederation of British IndustryCEO chief executive officerCIEA Chartered Institute of Educational AssessorsCNAA Council for National Academic AwardsCPD continuing professional developmentCQC Care Quality CommissionDBS Disclosure and Barring ServiceDCS director of children’s servicesxviDfE Department for Education  The Department for Education has had various names from the 1960s until the present day. Unless relevant to the period under discussion, we have used the catch-all term DfE.  

 1964–1992: Department of Education and Science (DES)

  

 1992–1995: Department for Education (DfE)

  

 1995–2001: Department for Education and Employment (DFEE)

  

 2001–2007: Department for Education and Skills (DfES)

  

 2007–2010: Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)

  

 2010–present day: Department for Education (DfE)

DIRT directed improvement and reflection timeDR ICE deepening thinking, role modelling learning, impact on learning, challenging expectations, engaging in learningDT design and technologyEAL English as an additional languageEAZ Education Action ZoneEBacc English BaccalaureateEBD emotional and behavioural disorderEBI even better ifECF early career frameworkECT early career teacher (2021 onwards; see also NQT)EDP education development planEEF Education Endowment FoundationEFSA Education Funding and Skills AgencyEHCP education, health and care planEiC Excellence in CitiesELECT Extraordinary Learners with Exceptional Creative TalentxviiEMA Education Maintenance AllowanceEPA education priority areaEPQ Extended Project QualificationESFA Education and Skills Funding AgencyESG(E) expenditure steering group (education)ESN(M) or (S) educationally subnormal (moderate/mild) or (severe)FE further educationFED Foundation for Education DevelopmentFFT Fischer Family TrustFSM free school mealsFTSE Financial Times Stock ExchangeGDPR General Data Protection RegulationHeadLAMP Headteacher Leadership and Management ProgrammeHEI higher education institutionHMI Her Majesty’s Inspectorate or Her Majesty’s InspectorsHMRC Her Majesty’s Revenue and CustomsIEB interim executive boardILEA Inner London Education AuthorityINSET in-service education and trainingITE initial teacher educationITT initial teacher trainingJTC junior training centreKPI key performance indicatorLAP Low Attainers ProjectLEA local education authorityLFM local financial managementLMS local management of schoolsLO learning objectiveMAC multi-academy companyMAT multi-academy trustMLD moderate learning difficultiesxviiiMRHA Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory AgencyMSC Manpower Service CommissionNASUWT National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women TeachersNCC National Curriculum CouncilNCS National Citizen ServiceNCSL National College for School LeadershipNDPB non-departmental public bodyNesta National Endowment for Science, Technology and the ArtsNEU National Education UnionNFER National Foundation for Educational ResearchNGA National Governance AssociationNICE National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceNLE national leader of educationNPQ national professional qualificationNPQH National Professional Qualification in HeadshipNQT newly qualified teacher (pre 2021; see also ECT)NS national strategiesNUT National Union of TeachersOECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOfqual Office of Qualifications and Examinations RegulationOfsted Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and SkillsOSA Office of the Schools AdjudicatorP4C Philosophy for ChildrenPACE Pedagogy, Assessment and Curriculum in EducationPAN published admission numberPFI private finance initiativePGCE Postgraduate Certificate in EducationPIRLS Progress in Reading Literacy StudyPISA Programme for International Student AssessmentxixPPA planning, preparation and administrationPRU pupil referral unitPSHE personal, social, health and economic (education)PTA parent–teacher associationQCA Qualifications and Curriculum AuthorityQCDA Qualifications and Curriculum Development AgencyQTS qualified teacher statusRADY Raising Attainment for Disadvantaged YoungstersRAG red, amber, greenREF Research Excellence FrameworkRI requires improvementRPI retail price indexRQT recently qualified teacherRSC regional schools commissionerRUCSAC read, understand, choose, solve, answer, checkSAT Standard Assessment Task/TestSCAA School Curriculum and Assessment AuthoritySCC Schools’ Curriculum CouncilSCITT school-centred initial teacher trainingSEAL social and emotional aspects of learningSEN/SEND special educational needs (and disabilities)SENCO/SENDCO special educational needs (and disabilities) coordinatorSIP school improvement partnerSpAd special adviserSTEPS Seeking Talent and Extending Participation SchemeTGAT Task Group on Assessment and TestingTIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science StudyTTA Teacher Training AgencyTVEI Technical and Vocational Education InitiativeUCET Universities Council for the Education of TeachersUNICEF United Nations Children’s FundUTC university technical collegexxWAGOLL what a good one looks likeWALT we are learning toWCF Worcestershire Children FirstWILF what I’m looking forWWW what went well

xxi

List of contributors

Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis of Camden Town   Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools and Learners (2005–2008) and adviser to the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (1998–2005)Professor Melvin Ainscow, CBE Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Manchester, and Visiting Professor, University of GlasgowProfessor Robin Alexander Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. Former Director, Cambridge Primary Review and Chair, Cambridge Primary Review TrustJanice Allen Head Teacher, Falinge Park High School, RochdaleGwyn ap Harri CEO, XP School TrustVincent Ashworth Ofsted inspector for initial teacher education (2005–2020) and independent education consultantJill Attenborough CEO, The Country TrustDave Baker CEO, Olympus Academy TrustKenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking Secretary of State for Education and Science (1986–1989) and co-founder of the Baker Dearing Educational TrustEd Balls Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (2007–2010)Claire Banks Director of Education, Olympus Academy TrustSir Michael Barber Chief adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards (1997–2001) and Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (2001–2005)Geoff Barton General Secretary, Association of School and College Leaders (since 2017)xxiiSir David Bell Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of Sunderland. Former HMCI (2002–2005), Permanent Secretary at the DfE (2006–2011) and Vice-Chancellor, University of Reading (2012–2018)Nikkie Beniams Executive Head Teacher, Keeble Gateway Academy and Thornton Dale Primary Academy (both part of Elevate Multi Academy Trust)Tom Bennett Director, researchED, and school behaviour adviser to the DfE (since 2016)Katharine Birbalsingh, CBE Joint founder and Head Teacher, Michaela Community School, LondonLouise Blackburn Director of Challenging Education, RADYSimon Blackburn Director of Challenging Education, RADYJulie Bloor Principal, Shirebrook Academy and other schools and School Improvement Director/adviser for two MATsDavid Blunkett, Baron Blunkett of Brightside and Hillsborough Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1997–2001)Dr Mary Bousted Joint General Secretary, National Education Union (since 2017)Nick Brook Deputy General Secretary, National Association of Head Teachers (since 2016)Reverend Gilroy Brown Former Principal and Governor, King Solomon International Business School, BirminghamKate Brunt CEO/Executive Principal, The Rivers Church of England Academy TrustKevin Butlin Director of Education, Plymouth CASTRob Carpenter CEO, Inspire PartnershipSir David Carter National Schools Commissioner (2016–2018), Regional Schools Commissioner for South-West England (2014–2016) and CEO, Cabot Learning Federation (2007–2014)xxiiiDave Claricoates Senior Assistant Principal, Bosworth Academy (LiFE Multi-Academy Trust), DesfordRt Hon. Charles Clarke Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2002–2004)Kenneth Clarke, Baron Clarke of Nottingham Secretary of State for Education and Science (1990–1992)Dame Julia Cleverdon, DCVO CBE Director of Education, Industrial Society. Former CEO, Business in the Community, speaker, campaigner and charity workerSir Jon Coles CEO, United Learning. Former Director General for Schools and for Education StandardsSir Kevan Collins Education Recovery Commissioner. Former CEO, Education Endowment Foundation; CEO, Tower Hamlets; and Director of Children’s Services, Tower HamletsAndy Couldrick CEO, Birmingham Children’s TrustStephen Cox CEO, Osiris EducationalLucy Crehan Teacher, education explorer, author and international education consultantClaire Delaney Managing Director, Schools’ Buying Club. Former Managing Director, Place Group, and Chair, Bellevue Place Education TrustSusan Douglas CEO, Eden Academy TrustSir John Dunford General Secretary of Association of School and College Leaders (1998–2013) and Pupil Premium Champion (2013–2015)Ben Erskine Principal, Fulbridge Academy, PeterboroughSarah Finch CEO, Marches Academy TrustClare Flintoff CEO, ASSET Education TrustSam Freedman CEO, Ark, Education Partnerships Group. Former special adviser at the DfE (2010–2013); Head of Education Unit, Policy Exchange; and Executive Director of Impact and Delivery, Teach FirstChristine Gilbert, CBE Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (2006–2011)xxivNarinder Gill School Improvement Director, Elevate Multi Academy Trust. Former Head Teacher, Hunslet Moor Primary School, LeedsRichard Gill, CBE CEO, Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, and Chair, Teaching Schools CouncilRt Hon. Michael Gove, MP Secretary of State for Education (2010–2014)Rt Hon. Justine Greening Secretary of State for Education (2016–2018)Sir Mark Grundy CEO, Shireland Collegiate Academy TrustDavid Gumbrell Senior lecturer at Kingston University, education consultant and founder of the Resilience ProjectLucy Heller CEO, Ark SchoolsRobert Hill Special adviser at the DfE and Prime Minister’s Policy Unit (1997–2002)Rt Hon. Damian Hinds, MP Secretary of State for Education (2018–2019)Alex Hope Head Teacher, Knaresborough St John’s C of E Primary School (Elevate Multi Academy Trust)Sir Peter Housden Director General for Schools (2001–2005), Permanent Secretary of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2005–2010) and Permanent Secretary of the Scottish Government (2010–2015)Peter Hyman Co-founder and Director, Big Education, and founder and Executive Head Teacher, School 21. Strategist and speechwriter to Tony Blair (1994–2003)Rt Hon. Alan Johnson Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2006–2007)Jonathan Johnson CEO, West Lakes Multi Academy Trust/One Cumbria Teaching School HubChristine Keates General Secretary, National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (2004–2020)xxvRt Hon. Ruth Kelly Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2004–2006)Javed Khan Former CEO, Barnardo’s, and Director of Education, London Borough of HarrowDebra Kidd Teacher and authorRichard Kieran Head Teacher, Woodrow First School, RedditchJames Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth Minister of State for Schools and Learners (2006–2009)Emma Knights, OBE CEO, National Governance Association (since 2010)Rt Hon. David Laws Minister of State for Schools (2012–2015)Rt Hon. Dame Andrea Leadsom, MP Early Years Healthy Development Adviser for the Government (since 2020)Anne Longfield, CBE Children’s Commissioner for England (2015–2021)Sir Alasdair Macdonald, CBE Educationalist and former Head Teacher, Morpeth School, Tower HamletsRebecca Maiden Head Teacher, Meadowside Primary Academy (Elevate Multi Academy Trust), KnaresboroughNicola Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes Secretary of State for Education (2014–2016)Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley Secretary of State for Education and Skills (2001–2002)Sir Dan Moynihan CEO, Harris Federation. Former Head Teacher of Valentines High School, IlfordDr Steve Munby CEO, National College for School Leadership (2005–2012), consultant and speakerJames Noble-Rogers Executive Director, Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (since 2004)Georgina Nutton Head Teacher, Preston Park Primary School, WembleyHelen O’Donnell CEO and Director of Partnerships, Children’s UniversityTim Oates, CBE Group Director of Assessment, Research and Development, Cambridge AssessmentxxviAlan Parker Former Education Officer, Association of Metropolitan Authorities, and Director of Education, London Borough of EnfieldPank Patel Former Regional Schools Commissioner, West Midlands, and Head Teacher, Wood Green Academy, WednesburyDame Alison Peacock, DBE DL CEO, Chartered College of TeachingRobert Peston Founder of Speakers for Schools, journalist and broadcasterColin Pettigrew Corporate Director for Children and Families, NottinghamshireJemima Reilly Head Teacher, Morpeth School, Tower HamletsNigel Richardson Former Director of Children’s Services in Hull and Leeds, writer and consultantHywel Roberts Teacher, author and speakerSharon Robertson Executive Head Teacher, Aspin Park Academy (Elevate Multi Academy Trust), KnaresboroughAndreas Schleicher Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentSir Anthony Seldon Former Master of Wellington College, academic and authorSarah Sewell Founder and CEO, Yes FuturesGillian Shephard, Baroness Shephard of Northwold Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1995–1997)Tracy Smith Executive Director, Tower Hamlets Education PartnershipNick Stuart, CB Director General for Lifelong Learning, DfES (2000-2001), Deputy Secretary for Schools (1987–1992), career civil servant and Chair of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and other charitiesxxviiTrevor Sutcliffe Director of Challenging Education, RADYSir Michael Tomlinson Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (2000–2002) and Chair of the Working Group for 14–19 ReformRachel Tomlinson Head Teacher, Barrowford Primary School, NelsonProfessor Samantha Twiselton, OBE Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University and member of DfE review panelsJohn Vickers Chair of Trustees, Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, and former Head TeacherDr Mick Walker Vice Chair, Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors and Chair, Evidence Based Education Advisory BoardRt Hon. Robin Walker, MP Minister of State for School Standards (since 2021)Carl Ward Executive Chair, Foundation for Education Development and CEO, City Learning TrustRachael Wardell Executive Director of Children’s Services, SurreyChris Waterman Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Teaching Profession, political adviser in the House of Lords and commentator on public policy issuesProfessor John West-Burnham Independent writer, teacher and consultant in education leadershipLisa Williams Head Teacher, Rushey Green Primary School, London. Former education adviser in HackneyRt Hon. Gavin Williamson, MP Secretary of State for Education (2019–2021)Sir Michael Wilshaw Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (2012–2016)Hannah Woodhouse Regional Schools Commissioner, South-West England, and previously DfE civil servant

Note: Formal titles and honours have been checked with Who’sWho for accuracy; we apologise for any errors or omissions. We have taken the decision, as a matter of editorial style and chronology (for example, xxviiisome contributors had not received their honour or award at the time of the events described in this book), not to include honorific titles in the main text. We have used the names by which our contributors are commonly known in the world of education. We hope they and readers will understand.

1

Part One

Political influence – storms, showers and sunny periods … and the realities of a changing climate in schooling

2

3

Chapter 1

School climate changes over the years

The state’s involvement in schooling and how 1976 was a turning point from one educational age to another – a brief synopsis

What sort of climate should we want?

The teacher is the most important influence in the schooling system.

We have each spent a lifetime in state-provided education, first as pupils, then as teachers and finally in various leadership positions both in and out of schools. We have never stopped learning or making mistakes from which we like to think we have sometimes learned. We know that the best teachers use pupil mistakes as a positive opportunity to learn, and we believe that the same is true of ourselves and the other professionals with whom we have worked and to whom we owe so much. Our endeavour has always been to improve on previous best.

This book has been born out of a shared passion for education as it occurs in schools, where it can so often be transformative of children and young people’s lives. Teachers at their best – and we have witnessed myriad examples of this – change for the better the attitudes and future trajectory of young lives. We agree with the wisdom and judgement of Haim Ginott when he famously said: ‘I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.’1

4Nor do we disagree with Robert Fried’s judgement:

Of some of our teachers, we remember their foibles and mannerisms, of others, their kindness and encouragement, or their fierce devotion to standards of work that we probably did not share at the time. And of those who inspired us most, we remember what they cared about, and that they cared about us, and the person we might become. It is the quality of caring about ideas and values, this fascination with the potential for growth within people, this depth and fervour about doing things well and striving for excellence, that comes closest to what I mean in describing a ‘passionate teacher’.2

In our experience as pupils, we were each fortunate when we met such teachers and the ones who, as Fried says, ‘inspired us most’, and know of their effect on us. In our adult lives, in and around schools, we have witnessed the sometimes profound impact of a teacher on pupils and sought to spread it and improve the chances of it occurring more often and more widely. Dylan Wiliam is surely right when he reminds teachers in workshops that their individual effectiveness is the most significant influence on pupil success and that this can explain why variations in quality and outcome within a school are greater than that between schools.

But we also think that the school is powerfully influential too. It creates the ‘climate’ within which the teacher has a better or worse chance of making the best ‘weather’. That is why consideration of school improvement, which only surfaced as a concept with research by Michael Rutter at the very start of the period we have chosen to examine, is so important in the improvement of pupil experiences and outcomes that has occurred in our lifetimes.

To extend the search for improved schooling and pupil outcomes, we must also look beyond the school itself. The climate and the weather are affected deliberately (and indirectly by many other factors, such as the community and the socio-economic background of the individual families that the school serves) by two further agents: first, by the MAT and/or the local authority within which the school operates and, second, and most insistently, by central government through the secretary of state for education, the DfE and other central agencies such as the Office for 5Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual).

That is why we sought to interview some of the key civil servants and special advisers (SpAds), as well as the former secretaries of state who were available, since the Ruskin College speech by Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in October 1976, which launched what was described as the ‘Great Debate’ about education and the schooling system.3