To not understand why Katharine Birbalsingh is so controversial

[TemporaryPosition]

Just that. Am I being unreasonable in thinking the results she achieves at her school and start in life her students get which they likely otherwise wouldn't - is something to be celebrated and perhaps we should look to what's going wrong in schools which face the the same socioeconomic challenges but get far poorer results. Surely I'm not being unreasonable to wonder this.

I think her school has achieved results, so you can't fault that. I do think she challenges some shibboleths that need challenging, and I do agree with some of her points.

However, she seems to have moved on from wanting to be seen as an educationalist with a serious contribution to make; to being a reactionary talking head who seems more interested in being controversial and appearing on GB News than she is in children's welfare.

Also, her prescription for children who don't thrive under her model is a bit 'Pauline's Pens' for my liking.

I don't disagree that discipline can be good in schools - most children thrive on order and consistency.

I dislike that she attributes much of the schools "success" to the discipline etc which is not the whole story.

1. kids at Michaela take an average of only 7 GCSEs, 2 less than most decent state schools. This frees up time to drill core subjects, english & maths but at the expense of breadth, and narrows opportunity for some. So actually the "high" results aren't really the result of the behaviour. Most schools could get those maths & english stats if they cut 2/3 other subjects to give the extra time.

2. Only 2.6% of michaela pupils do separate sciences at GCSE, a much lower proportion than the national average of just under 25%. This limits pupils choices later on.

3. the demographic of Michaela parents won't be replicated everywhere. Its a diverse urban area with a high proportion of students from 1st or 2nd generation immigrant families. The culture around education is strong and parents will push their kids to study. You will not get this in a sleepy, typically british dormitory town in wiltshire.

4. Michaela pushes particular, limited subject choices - for example religion over history & geography. They boost exam stats by having children for whom english is a second language, take a GCSE in their home language (see their gcse entries in persian, arabic, Spanish, chinese & gujurati, which they don't teach). Not a single entry in GCSE music, drama, graphic, technology, textiles etc.

She doesn't select.

The results are outstanding.

Jordan Peterson is great.

The sixth form is selective. They only take grade 7 GCSE and up. That's an easy win for a start.

My DD has SEN (bright, not disruptive) and would fall apart after a day in that school.

I also hate the mentality she now has (oddly very similar to the victim mentality she criticises in children). She was clear she didn't want to work with Labour prior to the election, has ensured it's impossible for them to work with her since, and is now painting herself as a victim.

If she really wanted to change education in this country, she'd shape her arguments to fit her audience, and attempt to work with influential figures from all sides of the political spectrum.

Then your child doesn't have to go.

Many send children thrive there

She is a relentless self publicist and very dogmatic.

But she puts her money where her mouth is. It's really easy to be critical of a school, it's policies etc everyone has an opinion about what schools should be doing, everyone is an expert aren't they even if their only experience is having been to school.

PP are right that what works for a school is contextual and she doesn't understand that I don't think.

She is very unpopular among the edu-twitter lot and rarely gets praised but I don't think anyone can deny that she is dedicated to her school, the pupils appreciate what the school does and they are helped to get the results they need to move successfully through to the next stage of their life.

She expects hard work, her staff work hard and they expect hard work from the pupils. If that doesn't suit, people move to a school that does.

A lot of the pupils at that school are going to end up with MH / anxiety problems it sounds horrific

You’d be hard pushed to find much right with Jordan Peterson.

There is an horrific MH crisis in most schools at the moment

Some PP missing the point about Jordan Peterson. Whether you personally like him or not, he is hugely divisive. Headteachers should strive to appear politically neutral in public and, at the very least, steer clear of divisive figures.

That includes figures from the left too. If she were sucking up to Owen Jones or Jeremy Corbyn that would be equally inappropriate, because they too are very divisive.

She's a horrible woman. I saw her talking about a private meeting she'd had with Bridget Phillipson the other day. She clearly does not understand the meaning of the word private.

Because for some people maths and English don’t matter. Because for some kids passing drama is an achievement they’ve worked their arse off for.
my son passed 4 GCSE’s above a C: English language, Welsh language , catering and Music. For a child who has a moderate to severe learning disability, is mostly non-verbal and couldn’t read until he was 13? To pass any was an INCREDIBLE achievement. It was enough passes for him to be able to go into a catering course, where he is thriving and where in the last 5 years he HAS passed English and Maths GCSE’s and made huge successes in national catering competitions, been student of the year in his college and now has a place in commercial kitchen to learn French cookery. None of that would have happened if he didn’t have that pointless music gcse to get him started.

Very true.

Jordan Peterson is a great liar. I’ll give him that.

I read her book years ago and liked her and thought she seemed like she really cared about kids getting a quality education.

However she's now got far to into being online and being a right wing talking head and getting attention. I remember she had a rant a while back about a John Lewis advert being non British or some nonsense.

I also don't agree with her about academies and most people in the sector don't for good reason. There are some great ones but also some absolute horror stories. I'm sure hers is great for some students but I don't think she speaks for everyone in education or should get all the attention she gets.

In what world does maths + English not matter? That's the exact point KB makes, for the majority of kids getting good grades in m+e are the foundation for the rest of their lives.
If her school doesn't suit specific children then presumably as a parent, you wouldn't send them there??
The kids in her cohorts are inner city, often ethnic minority who are frequently let down in the state system.

Of course English & maths matter but if a child excels at drama, their self esteem is very important too.

She had a misquote written on her wall and really didn’t like it when it was pointed out to her.

I couldn’t teach there. I value my freedom as a teacher. And I would be freaked out by the regimented way they have to behave in class. I also couldn’t teach in any school that does SLANT. I physically couldn’t do it.

Still at least, she is very clear she doesn’t want teachers like me so I know not to apply. The lack of green in the school grounds would also do my head in. But I’m spoilt with where I am.

Had to Google her.

As others said, she actively courts controversy with her choices to go on controversial podcasts to discuss emotional topics and bring controversial guests into her school.

There is also controversy that the plan that was approved for her free school does not match at all what is going on there, particular around KS4 options and number of GCSEs. The original had a far more typical, broader education. Many free school change from their original vision as reality of local context comes in, but the strong contrast and lack of discussion around those changes (she presents an image of being very single minded and not changing) has some questions around it.

Then there is the court cases she and the school have been involved in, social media stuff...

That parents can choose not to send their child there or that some people agree with her doesn't change that she's surrounded by controversy, some of her own making.

TheOriginal, that is wonderful. Good for your son 😊 You should be so proud of him and of yourself.

Some people don’t seem to understand that a child being good at and succeeding in a subject - any subject - makes it more likely that they’ll achieve higher all round. It boosts confidence, self-esteem etc.

What are the strict policies that Michaela has that other schools don't? My kids go to another new north London academy (also outstanding, quite a different cohort though) and that is quite strict (no smartphones allowed at all, uniform/equipment/homework violations punished first time without exception etc) - would be interested to know what the difference is.

Exactly. She likes to preach a lot about how strict she is but from what I know of other local schools from DS' friends I don't see how Michaela is more strict than others.

I'm sincerely not. I hear people saying they have an issue with him but they struggle to articulate what the problem is and just make vague sounds about him being bad because other people said he's bad.