Just before the House’s recess I received an answer to a Written Question that had been languishing unanswered for quite some time. In the answer, Lord Hill of Oareford, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, apologised on behalf of Department of Education officials for providing incorrect information on the school visits of the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove.
This was not particularly headlining news, although the long time for the Department to acknowledge its error was disappointing. Events of the summer have, though, brought me back to thinking about that incorrect information and the way that it was handled.
During the Olympics, the Daily Telegraph reported that Department of Education officials, again, had provided Michael Gove with incorrect information on the number of school playing fields. With Michael Gove and the Prime Minister announcing that there had been 21 sales of school playing fields since the Coalition began, only for the true figure to be revealed as 31.
Perhaps this was a coincidence? The flow of incorrect information and apologies is not, however, a recent phenomenon. Right at the start of the Coalition, Michael Gove was compelled to apologise to Parliament for providing incorrect information to do with the Building Schools for the Future Programme.
The innocently slow and incorrect answering of a Written Question thus appears in a different light. Instead there seems to be a pattern of inaccurate and incorrect information being fed by Department of Education officials to their Secretary of State.
This does pose some questions.
Firstly, what is going on in the Department for Education? It is leading what has been widely described as a revolution in education policy, but its actions seem to be more characterised by a low level internal insurgency rather than an external revolution. This would explain the easing out of civil servants soon after Michael Gove’s arrival and also his broader discretion to hire special advisers.
Secondly, the apparent flow of incorrect information and apologies from officials to the Secretary of State must have a corrosive impact of the department’s morale. It reminds me of many of the instances that have marred the Home Office for many years. That led the then-John Reid to describe it as not-fit-for-purpose. I am certainly not saying that about the Department of Education. Something, however, seems wrong with the relationship between the Secretary of State and his officials and that needs to be remedied in one way or another for the benefit of all, and most importantly pupils and their parents.
Thirdly, the slow response indicates what appears to be an endemic lack of transparency and consultation. The current heated debate about the grading of this year’s GCSE English exam has illustrated this further. It is still unclear who said what to whom, and whether any pressure was applied to exam boards. For understanding what took place, it is not comforting that Michael Gove and his special advisers have already been found to avoid Freedom of Information requests by the Information Commissioner.
And finally, to return to the incorrect information provided to my original Written Question. The main issue this raised was that Michael Gove visited more schools than had been indicated, and particularly that he had visited Durand Academy, in south London, three times not twice. This is striking because he has visited no other school three times, and only one other school twice.
I am sure many schools across the country would be delighted to have the Secretary of State visit just once but three times smacks of almost-unimaginable. Interestingly, I have received out-of-the-blue a letter from the Executive Head of Durand Academy inviting me to meet him. Of course, I would be delighted if schools were monitoring the back end of each day’s Hansard for Written Questions, I somehow suspect though that is not the case! Which does leave you wondering who, and where from, the information was passed on or perhaps it is simply another coincidence?!
And we are paying 2,700 pounds a day for you to be concerned with trivia, point scoring and spin?
I don’t know if Google searches Hansard, but it’s trivial to set up an alert on the school’s name so that if it gets mentioned, you get an email. That way you don’t need to read through the whole lot if you’ve chosen your search text wisely.
As for any internal battles in DfE, this is what some MPs and MEPs are complaining about, that the civil servants in the department are setting policy and the minister is a figurehead (see “Yes Minister” for the instruction manual) which is why we’re pretty much carrying on as before the last election in some areas. Given what’s happening, one could come up with a whole new TV script, although the context might be the saviour battling the evil that has infiltrated the department, or the evil overlord who’s trying to drag everyone down, resisted nobly by those in the department who would save us. Having had to deal with the attitude of DCSF, I’m a bit more on Gove’s side in this given that I assume he inherited most of the senior staff from there.
@Baroness Nicholson:
I don’t for one minute agree with Lord Blagger that this issue is trivial. It is the very essence of what is wrong with government.
Although, I feel going about fixing it from ‘inside’ is counter productive. Someone mentioned ‘Please Minister’ and that strikes the nail on the head.
Micheal Gove has a job with this one. We all know there is little intention, by either doctrine, to change our ludicrously failing education system. And the failure is far worse than our suffocatingly secretive department will ever have you know. The name of the game is subterfuge and concealment, because in their mind, you will be gone in a year or two. Their objective is to sit on the butt until the muscle is sore.
What I feel you may have to do to get the whole ‘new’ think really off, is, to circumvent the entire workforce by hiring a couple of really clever, discreet people who can find out what you must know in a week or two. It will be cheap and reliable. Get visible confirmation of their research and start out with a contract covering the information’s accuracy. Don’t wait for the non responders in the office of no return. That is a waste of time. As you said yourself, they are unlikely to tell you what you need in order to forward your aims.
If you continuously sidetrack and move away from reliance on those whose inefficiency has become a barrier, to your surprise they may suddenly become keen and want to offer their ‘assistance.’ Don’t fall for that, it will be a stalling tactic.
In other words, circumvent until you no longer need those who are in the way.
Nothing is more important that taking this country from an underachieving gelatinous blob and returning us to a nation of high achievers. We all depend on it. And we all depend on you people to do it. We cannot.
However, that said, you must address the fundamental problem. And that is to expose a clear view of your objectives. If you want to lead the State education system toward a profound change in attitude and expectation of abilities the only answer is to stratify by talent and intellect. Decouple social problems from education. The mistake is in believing they are solvable as a unit. One affects the emotional ability to aspire and achieve. Whilst the other is a matter of practicality. The blurring of the two removes the incentives required to have confidence in the value of study.
It is trivia. It’s behaving like a small child saying please please look at me.
It’s an irrelevance when you compare it with the major issues.
Where on the list of problems, ranked by order of seriousness, is whether or not an official has correctly reported the number of playing fields in the UK? Note, the question isn’t about playing fields, but about an official getting a number wrong or right. It’s point scoring and its trivial.
Since we are paying for lots of peers at 2,700 a day, and no doubt even more for first division civil servants to answer trivial questions, its bonkers.
Nothing is more important that taking this country from an underachieving gelatinous blob and returning us to a nation of high achievers.
It’s doesn’t make the number one spot. That is debt. Pure and simple. Government debt in particular.
The reason is you won’t get the education, because the government has other obligations it has to pay. Education doesn’t make the number one spot.
It’s desirable, I agree. However unless you have the money to pay for it, you won’t get it. And there isn’t the money because they have hidden 6,000 bn pounds of debt (inflation linked) off the books.
So, LB, you stop trivializing the overwhelming issue we have, debt, and be specific about what you want done to eliminate it. And what you are going to do to assist in that process.
In the meantime, the issue of State secrecy and deliberate covering or hiding of information is an issue that is as dire as our debt.
And unless measures are taken to eliminate it from our system then you and the rest of us are not going to be informed on any matter the State can dodge around. Including the size of our owings and how and who got us into that mess and how we are going to hold them accountable for it.
Which, is why secrecy is what the State is presently and desperately trying to enact in full. Think the Stasi. Once a law is passed giving them the right to secrecy on ‘trivia’ and that is what they are up to, under the guise of terror and defense of the realm, we all are done for.
Just look at Hillsbrorough as a small example. Do you really believe the Police acted alone in the concealment of that truth? That could not have been possible. And the State is using the Police as the fall guy. Jack Straw is a wily character and his name crops up over and over. He blames, Margaret Thatcher, for this fiasco yet he was in the thick of it, along with the Blair and co.. And who is trying to push through this secrecy issue as hard as possible??? Now, I wonder why that is?
Secrecy means ‘we’ the public do not have the right to know what is being done in our name and with our pounds or by whom and to. It also means we are to be excluded from who did what and when. Which covers anyone who performed certain tasks from facing the dock should they mess up big time. Think about those in the Lords and Commons who committed crimes and still sit wallowing in privilege over us.
Its a lot to do with war crimes and torture and being in thick with the yanks and their underhand games of treachery against human rights. And they sell it in the papers as the mess having been created and caused by ‘Europe.’ They really take the cake these faces.
It appears, Mrs Thatcher, has joined Europe in the hold to ransom and make a patsy of game. This morning the daily beasts tell us Straw says ‘she’ was at the back of the police force being so sure of themselves they were able to pull that stunt off all on their own. No conspiracy, mustn’t go down that route. I’m surprised it wasn’t Brussels, they usually come top of the blame game.
Watch out for what you believe is trivia. That is a good way to assist in the cover of all things deadly.
And why are the Lib Dems caving in on this matter and letting it pass. Oh, I forgot, must be a secret. Can’t discuss it with those who foot the bill can they? What a wash out that bunch turned out to be. And I thought they were going to really make a difference. Silly me.
Schools seem to march by numbers these days.
I don’t understand them at all. They all pass their exams with 100%.
Then they all complain about the exam boards.
Better to get a mortgage on a digger and earn a good living building roads, or some garden tools and do jobbing gardening, garden design.
They all pass their exams with 100%.
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Really?
What about the schools that can’t get a majority of pupils to 5 GCSE (maths and English included)? And that’s with the dodge of making sure you don’t enter those who won’t pass.
This is how the game works.
Triage your pupils.
1. Those that won’t pass – don’t enter them, and your ‘pass rate’ goes up.
2. Those that would pass even if the teachers did nothing, because they are bright. Don’t put much effort in there, because its wasted as far as the school is concerned. However the pupil is failed by the school.
3. Concentrate all your efforts on the margins, to get your pass rate up there.
It’s scam.
Did you know?
According to the Schools Appeal Code (more secondary legislation that the house cannot scrutinise) a parent, usually a naïve and solitary twenty something mum, on hearing something prejudicial by an appeal official cannot hold the official to account by referring to recorded notes because the law says:
2.27 These notes and records of proceedings MUST be kept securely by the admission authority for a minimum of two years. Such notes and records will, in most cases, be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998, but admission authorities receiving requests under those Acts for information or data contained in such notes or records should obtain legal advice.
In other words, if the mum cannot demonstrate that disclosure serves the public interest the state keeps the content of these notes a secret unless requested by an ombudsman or court judge. Mum or any third party interest attending the appeal would need to show the notes to an authority in order to make the required determination.
Chinese whispers: send three and fourpence we are going to a dance! Message received by the Department of Education: send reinforcements we are going to advance. Let’s hope so!
Ref: School Admission Appeals Code; February 1, 2012
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmissions/a00195/current-codes-and-regulations
Talking of education…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9540905/Learning-about-the-Lords.html
Some rather amusing videos, and quite informative if not, ahem, ‘entirely unbiased’..
Surprising how few women there are in the Lords – maybe perception is skewed by the fact that more of them must actually show up as a percentage ?
Or that the Lord Speaker is female ?
Bedd Gelert
Posted on 13/09/2012 at 10:29 pm | Permalink |
Talking of education
Bedd for the Lords!
Senex’s secrets are beginning to replicate in the post commissioning of NHS medical files which the DWP seem to have access to now, for their own pleasure.
If you don’t pay for it, then you ARE the possession of the state, so how can you complain about it, and your consequent loss of freedom?
From above points made
1) Blagger is right to spotlight the £2700 cost;
as my below attempts to show, such amounts accumulate to become both excessive and often, as in this case, are being applied in the wrong direction.
But nevertheless, this one is not “Trivia”.
——-
2) Somewhat likewise for Dave H, calling ‘preparing facts including from Hansard before going into action’, “trivial” tends to blind one eye a bit and ‘skew’ the greater context somewhat out of the picture altogether.
——-
3) Maude has grasped a nettle, in her dichotomisation of the “ludicrously failing British Education System”,
but it needs more ‘sting’, and a deeper penetration:
a) Distinguish, and separate-off, Lifeplace-Enablement from Workplace-Skilling.
b) Divide existing schools and universities (including the ‘New College of Humanities’ breakaways-upwards) into distinctly named Rooms, Curriculums, Syllabuses, Subjects, and Models/Modules/Topics,
according to their need to be used in the/a Workplace (in which case ‘zero-tolerance’ of failure and no grade below B allowed to ‘pass’, the Workplace being an ‘unforgiving’ ‘gloves-off’ often ‘fight-to-the-death’ toughly-competitive environment)
or in the/a Lifeplace (in which case a different, cooperatively-competitive, scale of grades should be made whereby the relative and often ‘dynamic’ sustain-worthiness of the micro-skill involved may be assessed
from A (99% excellent, constructive, non-wasteful)
right down to ‘zero’ at (say) “p”,
then becoming increasingly ‘wasteful’ down as far as (say) “t”,
and finally being seen to be ‘unacceptably destructive’, from “u” to “z”.
c) At the same top-strategy stroke, the “NHS” should be renamed and clearly defined as the “NIS” – National Illnessess Sector
(longstandingly the ‘biggest’ Employer in the whole of Great Britain, the NIS deserves to have its own sector all to itself)
and at the same time
d) a new “Health, Healthier-Habits, and Longterm Wellbeing Building Service” should be founded;
and it might be life-relevant and dynamic to call it a “Movement” rather than a “Service”,
if only because its main achievement will be upon helping people to “move themselves” rather than to be having it all done for them or to them by one-way-workplace-experts super-wildly-expensively and unn-necessarily painfully.
——-
4) Senex’s focus in turn shows the need to segregate Workplace(s) from Lifeplace(s);
and thereby to establish a “Method III Needs & Hows Recognition and Cooperative Problem Solving Service/Facility”.
=======
Please, let me hand over here to other participants
The first link was illuminating/stunning in that I had no idea there were so many types of schools, later described to me as a “****ing mess”.
The variety of offer can not all be down to securing ‘parental choice’, surely? If not, what are the other acid tests?
so many types of schools, later described to me as a “****ing
Some of them started in 1870, and with each generation along came a different method of organisation, I s’pose. They’ve got 1870 in capital letters in cement on the front. Ah! sorry. That is a private house for sale at £800,000.
What surprises me is the number of so called
public schools with fake foundation dates, and fake histories to go with them.
Founded in 1548,say, and then the reality is that there was a room in the village said to be used thus, at that time, for four children. In fact the school started in 1927, and charges fees … so it is “public” NO. PRIVATE! arghhhhhhhhh!What is it?
This cry of Public verses State is another phoney pretence at caring for the poor and under educated.
If the State schools had remained focused on educating those who trusted them, and followed the progress made by the Public or independent schools, this shambles you have brought to the British children would not exist.
Parents from all walks of life are desperately trying to afford to send their kids to an independent school. And fret and weep when they can no longer afford it.
If Gove can make a difference by insisiting these dung heep schools keep up with the fee paying tribe, as they used to, then they wouldn’t have to bear the terrible disappointment when they have to breadk down and give in to the fact they cannot pay enough for it.
And if you dare come back to me Gareth Howell abot racisim and the lean you so psychotially hang onto that ethnic people do not also send their kids to fee paying schools in order to make sure their kid can speak and read and write well enough to find a job when they leave.
Ethnic women in poor parts of the country work hard at two and three jobs to make sure their boy or girl gets a chance outside the pits created by your idiotic and elitist game of social engineering. And even when its blatant and in your face that the places are nothing but expensive cauldrons of mundanity and underachievement, you turn around and look for a scapegoat as to why they are that way.
The truth is, those tied into this lunacy don’t want a thinking public. Because who will man the bins and stack the shelves. Who will clean their houses for pay that will barely feed them like the poor girl who worked for that so called Attorney General who wanted cheap foreign labour.
Gove is a brave guy. He is making an effort on behalf of all the people of this country. To enable their kids to have hope of leaving the misery of the poverty they were born into and will now may get a chance to fly high, like those they read about. Or, if they don’t read, hear about. He hasn’t gone remotely far enough, but, this is just the first step.
But, again, the game is up for those who want to play politics with the less fortunate. You have been outed for what you are. Political cretins who cannot look truth in the face for fear of what it tells us you are.
And if you dare come back to me Gareth Howell abot racisim and the lean you so psychotially hang onto that ethnic people do not also send their kids to fee paying schools in order to make sure their kid can speak and read and write well enough to find a job when they leave.
I am so sorry Maude I must apologize! The post of hammering against Gar’s hairy chest with her fists,is currently taken but we will certainly inform her when a vacancy arises.