Tag Archives: Michael Wilshaw

It’s Laws v Gove again as Lib Dem schools minister says academy chains should be accountable to Ofsted

‘It’s civil war in the Coalition classroom’ – that’s how the Independent bills the latest row between those two very civil politicians running the education department, Conservative secretary of state Michael Gove and Lib Dem schools minister David Laws.

I wrote at the weekend about the first spat, which erupted after Michael Gove’s decision to sack Baroness (Sally) Morgan as chair of Ofsted for doing too good a job – at least, that seemed to be the gist of his argument, as he praised her to the skies for her “superlative” work before saying it was time for a …

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 8 Comments

Opinion: Ever greater centralisation is not the answer for failing schools

“Troubleshooters are needed to spot failing academy schools around the country and sack incompetent headteachers, the new chief education inspector has said.” So reported the Daily Telegraph on 28 December. The article continued:

Sir Michael Wilshaw said ministers must set up regional early warning systems because by the time his Ofsted inspectors discover an institution is in trouble, it is too late.

As more and more secondary schools gain independence from town halls and become academies, it will also be difficult for the Department of Education to focus on improving individual schools.

Sir Michael said that to maintain standards, dozens of local commissioners

Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 13 Comments
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  • Michael BG
    Simon R, My point was that as rich people ignore their social responsibility there should be no surprise that those who feel excluded from the economic benef...
  • Mary ReidMary Reid
    @Simon R. I think you will find it a fascinating read. The authors set up The Equality Trust https://equalitytrust.org.uk/ - which explores the ideas further....
  • Simon R
    @Mary: Thanks for the link to The Spirit Level. That looks an interesting read, which I have now just added to my Amazon wishlist :-) I do though tend t...
  • Simon R
    I totally agree with Alan's article. There's nothing inconsistent with being liberal and being patriotic, and liberals should feel able to be proud of their cou...
  • Hywel
    I came looking here as I'd not seen the party's response reported anywhere. I'm not sure it was worth the Mbps I used up to get it as it is so vague and could ...