Grammar school policy shows TM has a dysfunctional government

[noblegiraffe]

At an education conference yesterday it was pretty clear that most people involved in education in any capacity think the reintroduction of grammar schools is a bad idea. This includes the Schools Minister Nick Gibb, who in a 20 minute speech didn't mention grammars at all until questioned, at which point he looked uncomfortable and gave less than enthusiastic responses. This policy is bizarre and throws current and ongoing Tory education policy into complete turmoil, while the DfE try to pretend that it fits in nicely.

This blog suggests that the way this has been introduced shows Theresa May's government to be a shambles.

First, the Theresa May government is dysfunctional. Tony Blair, for whom I worked for five years, was criticised for centralized sofa government. But this decision shows that No 10 is even more dominant. The policy has all the hallmarks of being devised and written by someone who has just left his post heading up a lobby group – with all the skewed results that leads to. Frankly it feels like Theresa May’s chief of staff, Nick Timothy, is the de facto Secretary of State for Education. Justine Greening and the Department for Education have been completely railroaded in a way that even Blair never got near to. I also suspect that given the summer break the policy has not been through being tested in a full cabinet committee process. No wonder the May government is having such trouble devising a Brexit strategy if its policy-making procedures are in such disarray

roberthilleducationblog.com/2016/09/10/selection-brings-policy-carnage/

Any thoughts?

[NNChangeAgain]

Have you got a link to the actual policy that Robert Hill is referring to?
I've not seen it yet, and a cursory Google search has turned up nothing.

[noblegiraffe]

The Green Paper is coming out tomorrow, but Theresa May made a speech hinting at its contents on Friday.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.ibtimes.co.uk/theresa-mays-full-great-meritocracy-speech-read-prime-ministers-grammar-school-address-1580586?client=safari

[RortyCrankle]

Hardly a surprising reaction since the majority in education are left wing. No matter what was said by a Conservative PM they would find something to complain about. I thought it was an excellent speech.

[noblegiraffe]

You'd be surprised at how many Tories in education are against this plan too. Many supporters of Gove's reforms are opposed to it.

[NNChangeAgain]

Oh, I've heard TM meritocracy speech.

I'm not sure that judgements can be made about 'the policy' until the policy has actually been published though .

How can anyone be confident that it bears the hallmarks of being written by a particular genre of writer when they've not actually seen it?

The policy has all the hallmarks of being devised and written by someone who has just left his post heading up a lobby group – with all the skewed results that leads to

[noblegiraffe]

I'm guessing that people are saying that it has been led by Chief of Staff Nick Timothy because he wrote this in 2015:

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11981856/Nick-Timothy-end-ban-on-new-grammar-schools.html

[BungoWomble]

I think it's been chucked out as a distraction from the Brexit debacle hasn't it? There were never any plans for Brexit, no one has the faintest idea what to do about it, and the EU seems keen to get rid of us and move on. Also, it's hardly the first time I've seen a politician ride a favourite hobby horse in defiance of evidence, the Tories have been doing that with 'austerity' and everyone's been at it with neoliberalist economics for years. Not sure why this is being used as a distraction since it looks certain to come a cropper though. Either Theresa May is being very very clever or is being a bit stupid, dunno which. Or just waiting for the whole caboodle to completely come apart at the seams.