Michael Gove came unstuck earlier, skewered over his insistence on praising the underperforming Swedish schools system while doing down Britain's schools.
Michael Gove came unstuck on the Daily Politics this lunchtime, skewered over his insistence on praising the underperforming Swedish schools system while doing down Britain’s higher-ranked schools.
Gove, in his haste to talk down Britain’s schools, even tried to brush aside the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) which ranked England in seventh place – eight places higher than Sweden.
The shadow schools secretary was also mocked over the Conservative party’s plans to prevent graduates with third-class degrees becoming teachers, people like Carol Vorderman – the Tories’ new maths adviser.
Watch it:
Earlier today, Left Foot Forward posed several questions for Gove, who will give a key-note speech at a Spectator conference tomorrow.
35 Responses to “Gove ties himself up in knots over “free schools” policy”
B Dog
I have been confused about why Tories are flogging this dead horse for so long now, and why no-one has noticed that there is little evidence that Academies fix anything (only the opposite if anything).
And they have hidden original suggestions they made about letting parents take money from BSF to fund new schools if the parent didn’t find corporate sponsors.
If you want to understand how muddled up Gove seems to have become read my article on the subject:http://www.labourhome.org/?p=9902
Mr. Sensible
Tory education policy is all over the place, like everything else they touch.
To summarize, these are the key points:
1. Centralize the planning process for ‘free schools’, whilst at the same time preaching decentralization for our other public services. And base the idea on a failing system elsewhere.
2. Make teaching elitist, despite one of his party’s advisers happening to fall outside of their proposed standards.
3. Effectively privatize our education system by the back door. I don’t see why Labour is keeping the academies system going either, but the Tory idea is something else.
4. Put a lot of faith in teaching staff not to cheat, by removing external examinations for Key stages 1 and 2. I think the government deserves some criticism there as well, pandering to the unions by scrapping the SATS test for science; one of our most important subjects for the development needed to get us out of recession.
I would just like to ask Gove if I can have the spade back..Tory education policy is all over the place, like everything else they touch.
To summarize, these are the key points:
1. Centralize the planning process for ‘free schools’, whilst at the same time preaching decentralization for our other public services. And base the idea on a failing system elsewhere.
2. Make teaching elitist, despite one of his party’s advisers happening to fall outside of their proposed standards.
3. Effectively privatize our education system by the back door. I don’t see why Labour is keeping the academies system going either, but the Tory idea is something else.
4. Put a lot of faith in teaching staff not to cheat, by removing external examinations for Key stages 1 and 2. I think the government deserves some criticism there as well, pandering to the unions by scrapping the SATS test for science; one of our most important subjects for the development needed to get us out of recession.
I would just like to ask Gove if I can have the spade back….
Amy Bentley
RT @leftfootfwd: Gove ties himself up in knots over "free schools" policy http://bit.ly/bwE1jd
"Resounding endorsement" of Labour's record on education | Left Foot Forward
[…] Gove’s prohibition on teaching for graduates with third class degrees or lower – dubbed “The Carol Vorderman […]
steve harper
RT @leftfootfwd: Gove ties himself up in knots over "free schools" policy http://cli.gs/JPv6B – what an @rse