Labour still doesn`t get it! Gove`s reforms were
unnecessary.
Labour`s policies on housing and the minimum wage
have been criticised recently for being too moderate, for lacking ambition and
for failing to appreciate the fundamental problems. Sadly the same criticism can
be made of the party`s education policies.
The main reason for this appears to be the same
one which explains Labour`s acceptance of the need for austerity: it is Labour`s
failure to understand that the policies of the Tory-dominated coalition
government are ideologically driven. The Tories are not so much concerned with
reducing the deficit as with carrying out their aim of shrinking the state back
to levels last seen in the middle of the last century. We only have to examine
the borrowing figures for the coalition in the last five years, £572.5bn
compared with the Labour government, in thirteen years borrowing £442.7bn.
Deficit reduction was essential, we were told, to prevent lumbering the next
generation with huge debts, but the government almost immediately lumbered
thousands of university students with mountains of debt! Banks in need of
re-capitalisation were given £375bn via quantitative easing, no mention of
deficit causing funding problems there!
Similarly, to enable Gove to have carte blanche
powers over education, the Tories led the people to believe that reforms were
necessary, because as GCSE and A-level results had improved so much,
examinations had to be made more difficult, the attainment of top grades made
more arduous, and the division of the assessment procedure into manageable
chunks called modules ended. Labour`s immediate response was negligible at best,
failing to challenge the basic precept that the success of the state
comprehensive schools, with results on a par with many expensive private
schools, had more to do with other factors, and that Tory reforms would give an
unfair advantage to children from well-off homes. Tories do not want either
level playing fields or an increase in social mobility, and the
immediate removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance should have reminded
the Labour party of those facts
Had teachers been asked to explain improved
results, they would undoubtedly have emphasised facts like increased pupil
effort, increased teacher expertise, the inevitability of results improving with
previous mistakes being rectified, mark schemes scrutinised, and coursework
problems resolved. Television programmes might well highlight unruly behaviour
and ill-discipline in the classroom to improve viewing figures, but focussing
cameras on the students concentrating on their learning, absolute silence during
tests, essays being discussed, and evaluation techniques examined would provide
a more accurate picture of everyday life in most state schools, and also explain
the recent improvements in examination results. Then there`s the increased
availability of technology being used, bringing learning and lessons to life, in
a way which was well nigh impossible a few decades ago.
If some pupils gained top grades even though
their spelling and grammar were rather wayward, changes to mark schemes, with
the highest levels only available to accurate users of language, would have done
the trick.
Instead Gove proceeded with wholesale reforms
which took educational assessment back to the last century, with their emphasis
on long,essay-based examinations, the need for factual recall rather than skills
in analysis and evaluation, the ending of modular assessment and coursework, and
the teaching of nationalist, imperialist, British history. Top jobs were to be
for Oxbridge graduates, with state school applicants still having less chance of
gaining places in the so-called top universities than those from private
schools. Without the repeal of Gove`s changes, it is likely schools will have to
develop different curricula for different abilities, with the inevitable
consequence being different types of schools. Without changes introduced by law,
in student recruitment, universities will continue to give preference to the
privately educated, even though only 7% attend private schools.
But what does Labour, now with the
privately-educated , history expert, Tristram Hunt at the helm, do? At first
out-goveing Gove was the priority, with support for free schools, Performance
Related Pay, re-licensing of teachers, and most recently, a teachers` oath.
Notice how all of these proposals imply the inadequacy of the teaching
profession and the need to improve. Hunt has supported the return of AS levels
and the need for all teachers in the classroom to be qualified, but he clearly
does not get it. Gove`s reforms were introduced, not because of inadequacies on
the part of pupils and teachers, but because of their success, and this is why
Hunt and the Labour party should be promising to support teachers and to repeal
every single measure Gove placed on the statute book. Gove was criticised
because he would not listen to the education experts, the ones with expertise
and experience, but is there any evidence to suggest Hunt is any different in
this respect?
Bernie Evans
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