Do any teachers on here support Michael Gove's education policies?

[SummerExhibition]

Just wondering. Everything related to curriculum changes, academies, free schools etc gets a bashing on here and just wondering if there's another side to the argument really.

I don't think you have to be tory loving to want to raise educational standards ,particularly for those children living in areas of deprivation.

He's a clueless twit who seems determined to undermine the future prospects for any sort of coherent publicly funded education system for all children.

I wonder what his plans are for children who "fail" a year in primary school? Stay behind and do resits? Or will he just use those unhelpful results to further berate and undermine the professional judgement of teachers? I bet the option of providing funding to appropriately support the kids who can not "pass" would never cross his mind.

Shudder.

Nice, that's why we choose to work in areas of deprivation. What do you think - that we want to keep them all "in their place"?

As someone who comes from a very deprived background that is the environment in which I have chosen to spend most of my career. In two schools in particular I saw children pushed towards qualifications that would boost league tables rather than necessarily benefit the child in the long run .

I escaped poverty because my teachers set me high standards and were ambitious for me, this is especially important when no other adults provide boundaries, structure and ambition. I am so pleased that my teachers helped me realise that sadly when you are poor and working class you have to work harder and behave better. Often with the best of intentions some schools do nt do this.

I am no Gove fan, in fact I am rather renowned for my views on him and my many letters of complaint to him. However I disagree with him on individual policies, not simply because he is a Tory. You can be a Tory and have good ideas .... Sometimes.

I am parent chiildren in state primary. I think the KS1 and KS2 breadth of education is very good.

I do believe, as with most things in life, that we must embrace change. In the workplace I do see very good foreign workers - with admirable levels of literacy and numeracy. I just think that it is good to benchmark with the best, and to have an education system that is adaptrive to an ever-changing and competitive world.

tectime I agree with exactly what you say as do, I would imagine, all teachers. However Gove may state this is what he wants but I don't believe the changes he is making will address that and I don't think most of the changes he will make are for the good on the whole.
Teachers are not afraid of change, in fact change is a central part of education and has been for a long while.

What we object to is change for reasons of political whimsy - and not sound educational research.

Education should be made independent of politics, much like the Bank of England. Change should not be made so that teachers can dance to the latest political tune, only to have everything turned on its head yet again because someone who has never, ever, EVER taught asks some more people who have never, ever taught to make a list of what we should be teaching.

Totally agree, politicians meddle. They should provide a prescribed syllabus (getting engagement from credible stakeholder) and to then give teachers the resources and autonomy to do what they do best.

On a different note, I am gald to see ol fashion testing of A'Levels, and the increasing adoption of IGCSEs (Though O'Levels would be preferable).

well said feenie

Sums it up perfectly, feenie.

I feel that his ideas show that he has no understanding of children or education, it's all about the political soundbite, which I find disgusting, tbh.

Sorry, just out of curiousity how many of the posters on this thread are teachers.

I was- given up recently.

Most us, I think?

It was in the thread title

'Most us'??? - Thinking about Gove does this to me, I lose my coherent powers of cu=ommunication........

• And spelling, obviously (takes glasses from desk and replaces on nose)....

Well, Education Secretaries come and go. So, don't lose heart.

I am a parent and I know full well that teachers are under-paid, under-resourced and under-valued.

But, as a parent I still beleive we can make some step-changes to our NC to comepete with the world's best - we are almost there!!!

As a parent, I should also check my posts for grammar and spelling, before posting!!!

What really pisses me off is that he apparently wants to seriously reform education but instead of coming out with a coherent and comprehensive policy, he appears on the news every so often chucking out sound bites like 'exams to be harder from 2013' (still waiting for the details on that one) 'maths to be compulsory till 18' (not sure when that's happening), 'A-levels to be linear' (hope not). Reviews are conducted and dragged out, reports are commissioned and ignored (I was quite positive after reading Carol Vorderman's tory-commissioned maths report but apparently it wasn't to Gove's taste, what with being evidenced and knowledgeable).

No one seems to know what the fuck is going on, least of all the teachers who will be the ones forced to implement all this bollocks at short notice, with no recognition, funding or training for the weeks and weeks of extra work that is being created for each and every one of us.

As a teacher, or maybe as a parent, as I don't teach this age group, I like the requirement for MFL at primary (though I thought we did that already?? - are there primary schools where they don't do any MFL currently?), poetry off by heart and the need for pupils to study 5 proper subjects incl a humanity at GCSE.

I dislike every other thing he's ever said or done and his manner and manner of expression to the point he makes me feel sick.

Oh, and I think he's an idiot. And a not a remotely useful one, either.