THE axe may have fallen on Michael Gove’s tenure as Education Secretary, but it would be a mistake to confuse the Prime Minister’s tactical manoeuvring with a genuine agenda for change.
Far from being concerned by the radical attacks on education, David Cameron seems to have been delighted as Mr Gove has taken schools to the brink of privatisation and stripped power away from local authorities.
But the gross unpopularity of Mr Gove has made him a liability, and Mr Cameron’s decision was focussed purely on clinging on to votes ahead of next year’s General Election.
In all my adult life I have never known an education minister invoke such loathing among teaching professionals, unions and parents alike, as that directed towards Mr Gove.
He has stood in Conservative Party conferences and all-but accused teachers of being good-for-nothings without a care in the world for the education of children. He has moved the goalposts so many times that education professionals don’t know whether they are coming or going.
And he has imposed changes, like his disastrous ‘free schools’ programme, which has used young people as pawns in the Conservative Party’s foolish ambition to privatise as many public services as possible.
We have had first-hand experience in Derby of the Conservatives allowing their preposterous party political dogma to trump blindingly obvious common sense.
The shambolic introduction of the Al-Madinah Free School in my home city of Derby, and the failure to involve the local council in its running, put the education of hundreds of local children at great risk. Other examples of free school failures have emerged up and down the country.
Within hours of Mr Cameron’s announcement, social media was rife with jokes and quips about the welcome end of an era following Mr Gove’s move to Chief Whip. Somebody even went to the trouble to create an app allowing users to hit a cartoon figure of Mr Gove, and it predictably went viral.
But among the humour and delight of teachers and parents alike, we should not lose sight of the fact that, much of the damage has already been done.
In all the euphoria over Mr Gove’s departure, it’s worth remembering that at no point has the Prime Minister declared that his party will backtrack on any of Mr Gove’s more extreme policies.
On the contrary, from what I can see it’s business as usual. Mr Gove has played the bad guy brilliantly, but his removal in the cabinet reshuffle is just cynical window dressing 10 months before the General Election.
I’m afraid the dark clouds that have formed over schools across our country in the last four years show no signs of clearing while the Conservatives remain in Government.
Sunday 27 July 2014
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