More Gove nonsense

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

How can one man's whim wreck our education system in so many ways? Is there no-one who can stand up to him?

It's a dictatorship. His incompetence gets through parliament amongst a stash of other things.

Do you remember when the word "reform" meant something positive - something to aid the wellbeing of the people? Ever since Kenneth Baker, it has become a term of abuse.

[Ferretfancy]

It's a dictatorship. His incompetence gets through parliament amongst a stash of other things.

Do you remember when the word "reform" meant something positive - something to aid the wellbeing of the people? Ever since Kenneth Baker, it has become a term of abuse.

Absolutely Alpensinfonie, but the incompetence seems to be across the board doesn't it? There doesn't seem to be much evidence of decision making in Cabinet, rather we have the situation in which individual ministers dream up so called bright ideas without any consultation with their colleagues.

Gove's latest wheeze would take us back to my days at boarding school in the late forties, with long teaching hours and two hours prep every night before a mug of cocoa and bed. There might possibly be something to be said for shorter half terms, which at one time were only a single day's holiday, but it would probably not be worth the upheaval.

[Historian]

There might possibly be something to be said for shorter half terms, which at one time were only a single day's holiday, but it would probably not be worth the upheaval.

In my experience as a parent, my children are tired by the end of each half-term and benefit from the rest. Given the increasingly remorseless focus on assessment and teaching to the test in many schools, any reduction in the holidays should be examined very carefully. As Eine Alpensinfonie pointed out:

The fool seeks out different countries to justify his crackpot ideas. Now it's the Far East for longer hours, etc. It was Finland for "free schools" and parts of America for old-fashioned teaching methods.

Not only that, he disregards any aspects of education in those countries which do not conform to his preconceptions.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I too went to a boarding school, where the hours were longer than in most other schools, and we worked on Saturday mornings. But terms were shorter, and that meant that overall teaching time is in fact less. This still applies in many independent schools. Michael G*** is surprising silent on this little detail.

[Serial_Apologist]

I too went to a boarding school, where the hours were longer than in most other schools, and we worked on Saturday mornings. But terms were shorter, and that meant that overall teaching time is in fact less. This still applies in many independent schools. Michael G*** is surprising silent on this little detail.

Exactly, EA. My boarding experiences in the late 50's/early 60's concur with ferret's.