The education debate is going Gove's way

John Bald finds evidence on a daily basis that Conservatives are winning the argument on education

Last Monday, I saw a report in The Guardian of an assessment of the phonics check for six year olds, carried out in York by academics from Oxford and York Universities.

After all of the criticism of the test for allegedly distorting early reading teaching, the researchers found that it was valid, and correlated well with other measures of reading progress. Their comment that it was unnecessary, as teachers in York were already collecting similar information by their own methods, is beside the point - the check is a national measure, and assessment systems elsewhere may or
may not be as good as those the researchers found in York. The full study has been submitted to an academic journal, so we can't read it yet. No doubt whoever leaked it was hoping to embarrass the government.

Tuesday started with former minister Nick Gibb MP giving short shrift to NUT President Christine Blower as a taster to the GCSE announcements. Nick was clear, polite, tough-minded and purposeful, countering both his opponent's weak arguments and the interviewer's rather better questions succinctly, and hitting home the need for reform in the interests of the children. Definitely one of the best media performances by a Conservative politician since the election, leaving Ms Blower, late of the hardest of hard left in her union, floundering. Listen and enjoy.

Goveism around the Globe - how free schools are taking off internationally

 Watching the US film Waiting for Superman I was struck by how similar much of the education debate is in America to hear. There is the desperation of parents who can't afford school fees to have the choice of a good school for their children. It takes particular graphic form there with the lottery as you see the faces of triumph of despair when a number comes out. There is the ferocious opposition of the teaching unions to reform and their determination to prevent bad teachers being sacked. Also the positive message that failure is not inevitable.

Since the film came out school choice in the US has been on the advance in various forms - vouchers, tax credits, Charter schools, home schooling, online learning. In Milwaukee school choice has been operating for long enough for its benefits to be established. Not least as the competition forces bad schools to close and drives up the standards in the state schools.

A National School Choice Week takes place with thousands of schools participating to celebrate what is being achieved.

These reforms are also taking off in other countries:

• New Zealand. Their version of free schools, called Partnership Schools, are  being set up. There is particularly strong support from Maoris who have most to gain from escaping failing schools.
• Education vouchers in Punjab, over 140,000 children at low-cost private schools - "better outcomes for less cost." Punjab also has it own free schools - "New Schools Programme, which funds non-state providers to open schools."
• In Chile education vocuchers have improved standards - especially for the poor. Between 2000 and 2010 there were nearly half a millon pupils who migrated to voucher schools - 2,000 new schools opened and 500 schools closed. Take a wild guess if the schools that closed were good or bad?

There are plenty of other examples of school choice being successfully applied - notably in Canada and Sweden. Most of this predates the reforms of our own Education Secretary Michael Gove. However I do think that Mr Gove's efforts will be of interest to other countries.

Will we one day speak of Goveism in respect of school reform. The success of Thatcherism was brought home to me in I think 1993 when I went along to an international privatisation conference in Westminster. There were ministers from eastern and central Europe, Africa, Latin America. All very keen.

Will we one day have education ministers from around the world turning up in London to find out about school choice?

I'm sure Mr Gove would point out that the thinking preceded him. But then Lady Thatcher said the same about Thatcherism. Speaking to Scottish Conservatives she said:

 I'm sometimes told that the Scots don't like Thatcherism. Well, I find that hard to believe—because the Scots invented Thatcherism, long before I was thought of.

It is more than two hundred years since Adam Smith, David Hume, Adam Fergusson and others first set out their ideas of a world in which wealth would be generated and spread ever more widely.

They saw that it's not Government which creates wealth—it's people. That People do best when they pursue their own vision. And that a wise Government will harness the efforts of individuals to improve the well-being of the whole community.

So they proposed to restrain Government and to liberate men and women.[fo 3]

Mr. President, those are the ideals I hold most dear. And they had their origins in the Scottish Enlightenment.

School choice was part of Thatcherism unfinished business - it is a Scot who completing the task.

Mandarin on the curriculum at the Tiger free school

The Tiger Primary free school in Maidstone has a strong focus on teaching Mandarin. A survey by the British Council earlier this year found that only 3% of primary schools offering any Mandarin teaching at all. Those that do it's usually a few classes from the age of seven.

The Tiger Primary School is much more keen:

All children will learn Mandarin from Reception class up and in the future use Chinese abacuses to master numeracy. We believe it is extremely important to expose children to other languages and cultures at an early age, with children already introduced to the language at the Trust's existing nursery.

NLL Academy, where Tiger is based, is one of 272 Confucius Classrooms, established in 88 countries across the globe, making it a Centre of Excellence for the teaching of Mandarin. Being able to utilise Academy resources means that pupils will have three Mandarin lessons each week with tutors from NLL. Research suggests that Mandarin supports the development of both sides of the brain and the Abacus technique makes pupils more adept at mental arithmetic and embeds numeracy in children's minds.

There are other distinctive features to the school. There is an extended school day but the extra hours are optional. There is also a school farm:

We have a superb school farm on site with a range of animals including sheep, donkeys, pigs, goats, cattle, rabbits, ponies, ducks and chickens. Frequent supervised visits to the farm and walks through our woodland will add enormously to our children’s learning and enjoyment of their curriculum.

Great. But it's probably the Mandarin that will of the greatest importance in competing in the global economy.

Say "hola" to the Bilingual free school in Brighton

The Bilingual Primary School, a free school in Brighton, is the first state funded bilingual English / Spanish primary school in the UK.

Its basis is as follows:

The Bilingual Primary School, Brighton & Hove is brought to you by the Bilingual Primary School Project which was founded in 2010. BLPSP is made up of a group of parents, educators and teachers who are passionate about bilingualism, bi-culturalism and bi-literacy. Some of us are bilingual or have bilingual children and we see how disadvantaged children in England are, in terms of language learning. Our proposer group is very committed to the success of the school and aims to work closely with it into the future. Others wish for their children to have the advantage of becoming fully bilingual.

The Times Education Supplement reports:

Oscar is five years old. His mother speaks Spanish and English at home but his father only knows English. “Sometimes I don’t understand the teachers,” he says. “But I just listen to what they’re saying and then I know what they’re saying.”

This knowing without - or rather before - “understanding” is partly how this type of language learning works. You may not understand “Ponte el abrigo”, but if you’re rushing to go out to play and your
teacher is standing by the coat pegs you may know she wants you to put your coat on. But at the Bilingual Primary School, Spanish is also taught in discrete lessons and some lessons use more English than others - there is no straightforward translation for the maths method of “chunking”, says Gopal.

There is research suggesting that children attending bilingual schools have an advantageous rather than an impediment in terms of language development in their mother tongue. However, others dispute this. Let's see how the pupils at this school in Brighton get on with their English results.

There is also plenty of research to suggest that we are behind other countries in learning foreign languages. There are also neuroscientists who believe that attending bilingual primary school will help childrens' brain to develop in such a way that Alzeimer's in later life is less likely.

Plenty of parents are confident that the Bilingual Primary School in Brighton will produce better results for their children than an ordinary primary school. Maybe they are right and we will see chains of popular bilingual free schools opening across the country. Maybe they are wrong and English results will suffer. We will find out. Making room for pioneers and for innovation is the route to progress.

The Reach Academy Feltham - a pioneering all through free school

The Reach Academy,  a free school in Feltham which opened last year, has a number of distinctive characteristics. It is fairly small - a maximum of 60 places for each year group.Indeed it was founded by a group of teachers who believe that large secondary schools are not right for all pupils - that sometimes pupils find it difficult to flourish in them. It is felt that a small school makes it easier to give pupils individual attention - for instance to stretch the "gifted and talented" or give extra support for those with "English as an additional language."

The school teaches philosophy and logic.

There is a longer school day than usual:

For pupils in Reception, the school day runs from 8.30am until 3pm. For pupils in Year 7, the day runs from 8am until 4pm. We have a longer school day which enables us to do more English and Maths and retain a broad and balanced curriculum, and there are after school clubs and activities from 4-5pm.

King's College Maths School shows free schools are fostering innovation

Often, free schools offer a pretty general, all round good education. That's fine. The more of them that open, the more choice there is for parents and the more competition there is - driving up standards in other schools. However, another aspect of the free school revolution is the scope for innovation. When the first free schools opened in 2011 the critics could say there were "only" 24. When last September another 55 opened, the critics could still say there were "only" 79. With around another 90 opening this year and over 100 more next year it gets gradually harder to prefix the total with "only."

Also we can now start to see how these schools get on with doing things differently. The process is bottom up, rather than top down. Groups of teachers or parents or specialist organisations can come up with their own ideas and then ask to be given a chance. It is not easy, of course. They have to find a site, they have to show evidence that they would attract a viable number of pupils and so on. But coming through all this are some pioneers that I will be looking at this week.

To start off. King's College, London is opening a free school specialising in maths. The Kings College London Maths School is due to open next year, probably in Waterloo. It will be small - just for 120 sixth formers - and all the pupils will take A-levels in Maths, Further maths and Physics.

The Left's hypocrisy on "surplus places"

Interviewed on Sky News last year the Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg criticised free schools on various grounds. Mr Twigg claimed the new schools were not "value for money" - although the average cost for setting one up is £6 million while the average for new secondary schools under the Labour Government was £28 million for each new school under the Building Schools for the Future programme. Free schools tend to be conversions of existing buildings.

Then Mr Twigg said that the Education Secretary Michael Gove had put "all his eggs in one basket" on free school - as if Mr Gove was not bringing in any other reforms.

We also had Mr Twigg seizing on any examples he could find of projects with free schools being delayed or abandoned. Yet the speed of new schools being established has been staggering. The BSF scheme - with its bureaucratic wrangling, vanity projects and modernist architects - would routinely take three years before a brick was laid.

However, the main theme of attack on the new free schools, from Mr Twigg and others, has been that some of them open where there are "surplus places" at exisiting schools.The suggestion is that if there are schools with spare places then a new school is not "needed." Mr Twigg even equated areas with surplus places with areas where parents "don't want" free schools.

Reforming Education - more steps on a long, hard road

John Bald on Michael v Michael

The key to Michael Gove's speech on Thursday, and to our opponents' furious response, lies in his use of this joke:

As Dr Johnson once observed of two women arguing from the windows of houses on opposing sides of a street - ‘they will never agree, Boswell, because they are arguing from different premises’.

Follow Michael Rosen's monthly free hit at Michael Gove, and the debate in the comments column - in which I take part as Quaestor - and you will see the chasm running down the middle of education's street.

The Left see the purpose of Michael Gove's reforms to the curriculum, testing and examinations, as ensuring that a high proportion of children fail, are labelled as failures from the earliest possible age, have their confidence battered,  and are then fed into docile, low-paid employment. Some contributors add his intention to privatise the education service and hand it to Rupert Murdoch, and some just write four-letter abuse, which The Guardian usually deletes.

Michael Gove's premises are set out in his speech, which addresses the fundamental question of what education is for, beginning with literacy, which remains the foundation of everything else. He quotes the view of John Blake, of Labour Teachers, that Michael Rosen's column is  ‘basically an argument that poor kids can’t possibly learn to write properly’.

The LGA wants to give councils a veto on free schools

Should free schools only be allowed where there is such a shortage of school places that the existing schools, however bad, have nothing to fear?

A pretty typical comment on Newsnight from Gerald Meehan, the Strategic Director for Children and Young People on Halton Borough Council, made the case as follows:

What I'm interested in is the impact on the other schools. Clearly we would want every school in Halton to be a success. But we also have responsibility for the pupils who are attending our schools today that the future of their education isn't threatened by their school not being viable or by a large number of surplus places or money being removed from their budget that otherwise would have gone to them.

Imagine if Mr Meehan switched to the Council's planning department and said:

What I'm interested in is the impact on the other restaurants. Clearly we would want every restaurant in Halton to be a success. But we also have responsibility for the diners who are attending our restaurants today that the future of their meals isn't threatened by their restaurant not being viable or by a large number of surplus places or money being removed from their budget that otherwise would have gone to them.

Conservative councillor resigns after racist comments

Cllr John Cherry of Chichester District Council has resigned from the Conservative Party after comments he made opposing a state boarding school opening in his area.

Cllr Cherry says:

"My remarks about Durand Academy, as reported in the Mail on Sunday today, were plainly wrong. They were thoughtless and extremely foolish. I unreservedly apologise and withdraw them. I very much regret the distress this must have caused."

His remarks were as follows:

"Ninety-seven per cent of pupils will be black or Asian. It depends what type of Asian. If they're Chinese they'll rise to the top. If they're Indian they'll rise to the top. If they're Pakistani they won't.

"There are certain nationalities where hard work is highly valued. There are certain nationalities where they are uncertain what this hard work is all about.

"If the children are not allowed out of the site then it will make them want to escape into the forest - it will be a sexual volcano.

"Has anyone asked whether these children want to be plucked from their natural surroundings? They have never done boarding before, so they won't know how it works.

"The trauma of taking the children out of their natural surroundings is going to be considerable."