Yesterday the government revealed its first major policy document on school reform for six years. Schools Week and Policy Exchange gathered a group of policy experts to read all of its 128-pages and quickly distil the key plans.
Panel members were:
– Becky Allen: Chief executive of Education Datalab
– Sam Freedman: Exective director at Teach First
– Warwick Mansell: Education journalist & Guardian Speed Read columnist
– Laura McInerney (chair): Editor of Schools Week
– Jonathan Simons: Director of education at Policy Exchange
Originally broadcast as a free video webinar, this is the audio recording. A transcription will be available shortly.
You can also download a one-page, no-fuss guide to the white paper.
https://soundcloud.com/laura-mcinerney-271175870/2016-03-17-2000-schools-week-and-policy-exchange-schools-white-paper-expert-panel
Why have you got Policy Exchange to review their own dirty work? They are solely responsible for this market based, ideologically driven and wholly unworkable mess. Teachers and headteachers are in despair. We are all, young and old, planning our exit. Who will run your school’s then? Presumably the ‘accredited’ newcomers, fresh off the street, without training, experience or commitment. The future of English education is truly bleak. A vision of competition of all against all. Schools against schools, teacher against teacher and pupil against pupil. One great race to the bottom. God help us.
Can we assume now that Schoolsweek is nothing more than the online face of Policy Exchange?
Have you even listened to the podcast? The panellists are incredibly detailed and critical. This is a histrionic response to good, on-the-pulse journalism.
What Jonathon Simonds, principle author of the White paper, doesn’t ‘get’ is that teachers will work all kinds of unsocial hours (starting at 7.30, not leaving til gone 6.00, working good knows how many hours evenings and weekends) for the benefit of children and parents. They will NOT make this sacrifice so that parasites like ‘sir’ Moynihan can take home a six figure salary every year.
I appreciate your efforts and I think this is really valuable content. However, the production values are pretty terrible and it is really hard to make out what people are saying. This is a shame because I am genuinely interested in what is being said.