Why are people so upset with Mr Gove?

[nlondondad]

An invitation to people to give an explanation as we can take it as given that people ARE upset.

Note: Two kinds of possible answers to this question.

1. Why you think other people are upset
   

1. Why you are upset...
   

Answers which do not give reasons, will be marked down.

Now to go away for a bit, I wonder what will happen while I am gone?

[noblegiraffe]

Oh God, I wrote a huge list upthread of reasons he'd annoyed me and there's still more. He scrapped January modules at A-level, ostensibly to limit resits, instead of just limiting resits. Now we have lost a very useful marker of progress, especially in Y12 when some students are on unsuitable courses.

He also, despite apparently being in favour of schools choosing their curriculum as best suits their students, has scrapped the early entry opportunity for maths and English in November (now that session can only be used for resits). While I know the arguments against early entry, it actually benefits some students (usually those who may lose the plot in Y11) and we're now stuck wondering what to do with them.

[deadsimple]

boney See link. Also personal experience.

www.changingschools.org.uk/academiesfolder/complete%20report.pdf

[BoneyBackJefferson]

Thanks deadsimple

Good to see some research has taken place, Its a shame that gove will ignore it.

[Phineyj]

I think he's a handy hate figure. It saves having a more detailed debate when you've got someone ideally placed to throw darts at, so to speak. I doubt he'd still be in post if the PM/his colleagues all disagreed with what he's doing.

(Some) people also greatly dislike a focus on high academic standards because by implication that means their own standards were/are lower.

Disclaimer: I don't imagine my definition of 'high academic standards' is the same as his, however.

I don't think his looks help

[creamteas]

(Some) people also greatly dislike a focus on high academic standards

But part of the problem is that he although he states that his aim is to raise standards, his policies are not designed to do this.

So either he is so stupid he actually believes his own rhetoric, or he is deliberately undermining the education system.

The first is possible. He does think all schools can be above average after all

But I actually think it is the latter ad he is doing so in order to be seen as strong leader and thus further his own political career. The fact that this is destroying thousands of lives to get their just shows how arrogant and callous he is.

Oh and most of us do read the detail, so we know exactly why we hate him.

[IThinkOfHappyWhenIThinkOfYou]

He bangs on about standards and rigour to please the Daily Mail crowd.

He ignores expert advice.

He is a liar. I don't like liars.

His history curriculum will make history shitter than it was in the 80's.

He genuinely doesn't seem to know the difference between being educated and passing tests.

He meddles.

He is repeatedly told his policies are disastrous but ploughs ahead regardless. If I was of a suspicious nature I would say he was trying to ensure that the oiks stay uneducated and poor.

[HabbaDabba]

Phineyj - I totally agree with your 'handy hate figure' remark.

Teachers leaving the profession in droves has always been a reoccurring news story. Except up to a few years ago the stated causes has been violence against teachers, abusive parents, better paid alternative careers etc. Many idealistic teachers trained to become teachers so that they could inspire a generation of low performing pupils only to find that many of these pupils didn't want to be inspired. Consequently many left the profession within 5 years of qualifying.

These days teachers are still leaving in droves but this time it's because of Gove.

[noblegiraffe]

I imagine that teachers who have hung on through poor behaviour, abusive parents and low pay are finally being tipped over the edge by a government that hates them and an education secretary who thinks that they're all shit at their jobs.

[Feenie]

Teachers leaving the profession in droves has always been a reoccurring news story. Except up to a few years ago the stated causes has been violence against teachers, abusive parents, better paid alternative careers etc. Many idealistic teachers trained to become teachers so that they could inspire a generation of low performing pupils only to find that many of these pupils didn't want to be inspired. Consequently many left the profession within 5 years of qualifying.

Actually - the facts state that 50% of teachers leave within 5 years citing workload.

Just to be clear.

[BoneyBackJefferson]

Feenie

I'm fairly sure that habbadabba isn't interested in facts.

[Feenie]

Yes - was getting that!

[edam]

Because his new history curriculum is such a joke it starts with the dinosaurs, FGS. According to ds's teachers. Which is bizarre - dinosaurs aren't history! Apparently it all has to be taught in chronological order. What tedious amount of drivel. And this from a government which claims to believe in localism and freeing schools from over-bureaucratic control.

A cynic might think he's doing this to piss teachers off so much they all leap for privatisation into academies... or that the people who wrote the curriculum went for nonsense to show Gove up.

Oh, and because he's such a tosser he slagged off school governors. The largest group of volunteers in the country, who give up their time to try to help schools and ensure they are well-run. I assume the slagging off is again designed to push schools into becoming academies - can't think why else.

[Talkinpeace]

The high turnover of teachers in many schools is because ANY private sector employer who changed targets and demeaned their employees in the way that the DfE does would also have high turnover.

Retrospective changes, constant slagging off in public, ever increasing paperwork and frozen salaries.
Find me a Private Company that keeps staff if it behaved like that.

[edam]

There are plenty of bad employers in the private sector, Talkin, and plenty of industries where people have had to accept pay freezes or even cuts. But I agree with you, Gove is a bully who never seems to pause for breath when it comes to slagging off teachers (and has even extended that nasty attitude to school governors).

[Talkinpeace]

edam
Private sector bosses can be bar stewards, but they tend not to have televised press conferences demeaning their staff.

The government talks about "localism" and then Gove thinks he knows better than somebody with a Physics degree how to teach Years 7's about particles.
He says teachers should be professional and then insults their academic and professional knowledge.
He rants about the Curriculum, while forgetting that he's exempting more and more schools from it.
And yes, the fact that he wants all schools to be "above average" proves he's an ignorant twit.

[CatherineofMumbles]

'People' are upset with Mr Gove?
Teachers are upset with Mr Gove. Because he is challenging their complacency.
As a parent, I think he talks sense, and cares about children's education, and if that upsets teachers - tough!
For too long schools have been about keeping teachers happy so they remain the profession - which is crazy - schools should be about children learning, and enjoying learning.
With academies, and the recent push to get people into the profession who have had jobs in the real world, Gove is pushing the agenda that parents want, and that children need. Good on him.

[Talkinpeace]

Catherine
I am not a teacher.

I am the parent of children who have no idea what criteria their grades will be based upon as they are already taking their courses.
I can also see the tremendous damage that the Academy programme is already doing to oversight and transparency in education provision.

recent push to get people into the profession who have had jobs in the real world
sorry, where is that Gove's idea? and why will it make better teachers?

[CatherineofMumbles]

Locally we have a school that was left to rot by the LA. Since it became an academy it has flourished. Okay, this is 'anecdotal', but for us locals it is all we have, and we are relieved, because we do not exist in a theoretical ideology, we exist in a suburb where our children were being ignored, and now have hope, and a reasonable expectation of a decent education. The academy got rid of the coasting staff, and there are now genuinely enthusiastic , inspiring teachers. The LA could have done this, but didn't. The academy did. So my DD has a much better chance of getting the grades top go to Uni. Okay, maybe not the 'Oxbridge' that MN seems to be obsessed with, but at least Uni, which is better than before. So I would be grateful if you would not diss a Uni aspiration that is not Oxbridge. For us this is a real possibility now, and DD is working hard for that.

[creamteas]

Catherine I'm pleased that your local school is improving, but the majority of academies are either the same or worse than they were before. Don't take my word for it, there is plenty of evidence to support this if you look.

All the schools local to me have deteriorated since becoming academies. Some have achieved 'better' results by expanding equivalent qualifications, which was pushing them up the leagues tables, but left the DC without any good options for future employment or study.

I presume your DC are not involved in public examinations yet? If they were you would know how unfair and damaging the changes he has made are. Anyone who even thinks about education should be able to work out that the curriculum and assessment are interlinked. Thus changing one without changing the other leads to a dysfunctional course.

That is what he has done, and our DC are going to have to live with for the rest of their lives.

[noblegiraffe]

Catherine, if you have a failing school that was converted to a sponsored academy, that was actually down to Labour, not Gove. Gove is behind turning outstanding schools into unsponsored academies.

[LadyLech]

Catherine

"'People' are upset with Mr Gove?
Teachers are upset with Mr Gove. Because he is challenging their complacency.
As a parent, I think he talks sense, and cares about children's education, and if that upsets teachers - tough!"

You might like what he has to say, but believe me the experts in education absolutely do not agree with you.

The exams authority OFQUAL rejected Gove's plans as 'unworkable':
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20610137

22 University Professors in Education rejected Gove's plans:
www.free-school-from-government-control.com/BACCALAUREATE-WORRIES-1.html

The Education Select committee rejected Gove's plans:
www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2011/11/dfe-ignores-report-which-finds-little-support-for-ebac/

Oh and if you're still convinced its just a few teachers who disapprove of Gove because of their complacency, then I suggest you look at this link...
www.ebaccpetition.org.uk/supporters.html

[LadyLech]

BTW, I only picked one issue to focus on. I could have chosen so many more, but I think you get my point!!

[Talkinpeace]

Catherine
I'm really pleased that you now hope that your DD will go to a good University (and utterly agree that Oxbridge is irrelevant for many degrees)

I have to hope for her sake that by the time she gets to doing her A levels, Gove will have stopped messing about with the exam structure and curriculum so that her teachers (these good new ones) are able to teach her the way that suits her rather than the way that suits Mr Gove.

[mummytime]

Catherine I would say that becoming an academy has made no real difference at any of my local schools. Other measures have made big differences on some schools, such as federation (although not even flying in a super successful head always works).

I am a fairly well informed parent, but even someone woking on he check-out at Sainsburys has complained about Mr Gove to me. And I live reasonably lose to Mr Gove's own constituency.

I am very stressed about the effect on my children's education.

[cory]

" '(Some) people also greatly dislike a focus on high academic standards'

But part of the problem is that he although he states that his aim is to raise standards, his policies are not designed to do this."

As a university lecturer I can't think of anything more desirable than seeing new students arrive with high academic standards implanted by the secondary school system. I can see nothing either in Gove's track record or in his current plans for the curriculum that is at all likely to ensure this.

The universities are not defending themselves against any attacks by Gove on their own supposed "complacency". They oppose his plans simply because they will undermine academic standards. And we do care about those.