MICHAEL GOVE’S HERITAGE: SCHOOL GOVERNANCE REFORM

This article examines the nature and effects of the radical reforms to English school governance since 2010, the year in which a Coalition Government, led by the Conservative Party, came to power in the UK, and Michael Gove was ­appointed Secretary of State for Education for England, a post he occupied for four formative years of Education reform. These governance reforms were part of a much wider programme of change, arguably fundamental in the sense that they have affected the classroom experiences of students directly. This programme encompassed changes to the curriculum, the assessment of children (and, by proxy, teachers and schools), the initial training and assessment of teachers and, eventually, school inspection, with the most recent revised Ofsted Inspection Framework governing inspections in use from September 2019 (Ofsted 2019). Nevertheless, governance changes provide the framework through which all educational change in the future can be conceived, considered, interpreted, implemented and realised with students. So although all the above changes are identified with Gove, the changes to governance, often still badged as ‘academisation’, may be argued to be the most fundamental and the basis for considering future change and, indeed, Gove’s heritage. No one policy maker controls the complete process of change and its development, of course, one of the features of ‘complexity’, and it is argued here that the methods of realising governance reform in England have severely constrained future choices of direction.

EDITORIAL

This second edition, of the well-received, Buckingham Journal of Education, gathers a series of articles around the educational legacy of the Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP. This eclectic range of articles seeks to explore some of the facets of his influence, intention and policy from the period of 2010 through to 2014 when he was the Secretary of State for Education in the Conservative / Liberal Coalition.

RATIONALISM, RISK AND RIDICULE – EXPERTS, SCEPTICS AND THE MARK OF THE ‘BLOB’

This article offers a perspective on the debate about experts and their value. It considers why expert claims for attention are often regarded as suspect. It does so by reflecting on the work of Arendt, Oakeshott, and Scruton. It notes that decision makers can easily find themselves in a bind - sometimes railing against experts, like those presumed to inhabit an education ‘Blob’ in the UK - and at other times seemingly becoming dependent upon them, as in ‘the Science’ and public health. It draws attention to the character of the distaste for scepticism about experts within education, and to the intellectual origin of that scepticism itself. It highlights the alleged contradictions in the minds of sceptics especially where they want to conserve or draw strength from inherited social norms, and yet at the same time regard them as a dehumanising trap. It suggests that the contradiction can be overcome by distinguishing between their concerns about the dangers of rationalism, and their rooted attachment to reason and reasonableness. It invites practitioners to take a principled interest in risk and in its resistance to elimination. It suggests that ridicule can be healthy in so far as it deftly challenges complacency amongst experts and practitioners alike.

THE “TROJAN HORSE” PLOT AND THE FEAR OF MUSLIM POWER IN BRITISH STATE SCHOOLS

In 2014, an alleged “Trojan Horse” plot to Islamise education in a number of schools attended predominantly by diverse Muslim pupils in the inner-city wards of Birmingham raised considerable questions. Ofsted investigations of 21 schools explored these concerns at the behest of the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove MP. At the head of this so-called plot, a certain Tahir Alam, once a darling of New Labour’s policies on British Muslim schools, faced the brunt of the media and political furore. Based on a series of face-to-face interviews with Alam in 2015 and 2016, this paper provides a detailed insight into the allegations, the context in which they emerged, and the implications raised for young Muslims in the education system. Ultimately, as part of the government’s counter-terrorism policy the accusations of the “Islamisation” of education in these “Trojan Horse” schools foreshadowed the additional securitisation of all sectors of education. However, there was neither the evidence nor the legal justification to ratchet up anti-extremism education measures that eventually followed; namely the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The consequences of the negative attention heightened existing Islamophobia but, paradoxically, they also limited the opportunities for de-radicalisation through education.

GOVE’S GREATEST CONTRIBUTION?

By taking sides in the long-running ‘Reading Wars’ and terminating the existing model of early reading instruction with extreme prejudice, Michael Gove took one of the boldest, most contentious, unpopular and far-reaching decisions of his tenure as Education Secretary. This paper investigates the history, the battle lines, the weaponry and, if, indeed, he won the war, whether it resulted in more children in England being able to read. The results suggest that this, rather than his changes to curriculum and assessment, may be his greatest legacy.

MICHAEL GOVE 2010–2014

The article provides an overview of the extensive and fast-moving reforms ­initiated by Michael Gove as the Secretary of State for Education in the years 2010–2014. These include the rapid acceleration of the academisation programme and the development of free schools. There is a more extensive exploration of the reform of the curriculum and the reformation of examination structures. This latter review is set in the context of university advice and against the backdrop of international performance. Much of the focus of the article considers the implementation of the intentions of a minster who had been in waiting for three years before taking office. However, consideration is also given to the unexpected, yet significant, issues which intersect a politician’s tenure of office. The Birmingham based ‘Trojan Horse Schools’ situation is considered both as an issue of accountability but also its implications for the nature of schooling, state funding and societal values.

THE EROSION OF TRUST – A REFLECTION

David Gumbrell was a Primary headteacher in a successful London school when Michael Gove was Education Secretary. He is now a successful writer, trainer and academic with a special interest in teacher induction, development and wellbeing. The following are some of his reflections from the position of school leadership on what he sees as fundamental flaws in Gove’s leadership of education. Whilst, Gumbrell remains aware of potential unconscious bias he uses trust as the pivot, for his reflections. He states ‘I hope to mitigate the inevitable emotional attachment to my profession and my view as to the effect that Michael Gove has had upon it, both at the time and also the resultant legacy of his ministerial post. Gove was and remains a polarising figure. For some Gove was the saviour of high-quality education, others regarded him as a ‘vandal’, busy sacking the person-centred education which had built up and refined since Plowden. Although never a consensus view, many teacher expressed their dismay at the reforms to the accreditation structure, curriculum, schemes of assessment and opportunities to control schools brought in by Gove.

THE WILDERNESS YEARS: AN ANALYSIS OF GOVES’S EDUCATION REFORMS ON TEACHER ASSESSMENT LITERACY

During Michael Gove’s educational reforms between 2010–2014, he imposed several policy changes that changed the nature of assessment in terms of grading, terminal examinations and classroom expectations. Despite his vision of England rising up the international league tables, there has been little change in England’s position and even signs of stagnation of attainment at upper secondary. This paper uses the Teacher Assessment Literacy in Practice (TALiP) framework to understand why the reforms associated with assessment have had little impact on attainment and reveals the devastating effect of such wholesale change to school assessment systems, without time or support to change, leaving teachers in a decade of assessment wilderness.

CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: ENHANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PRACTICAL ENQUIRY IN SCHOOL SCIENCE THROUGH THRESHOLD CONCEPTS

The higher education sector has been working with threshold concepts since they were first postulated in 2003. Threshold concepts offer a way to focus on areas of content which students find challenging to master. Once mastered, threshold concepts explain and integrate further areas of learning. In this sense threshold concepts can be regarded as liminal. Although well established in the higher education sector, the use of threshold concepts has not been extensively explored in schools. This article focuses on Science in the upper secondary school. Yet it is possible to imagine scenarios where highly targeted teaching of liminal content leads to space being created for practical enquiry. There is an established theoretical pedagogical framework within which threshold concepts can sit comfortably and will be familiar to schoolteachers. This framework also provides a route by which troublesome liminal knowledge can be taught. There is then the question of defining and identifying threshold concepts. Threshold concepts do suffer from a lack of definition. Much of the literature explores ideas as diverse as complex physics and attitudes and values of nursery workers. This diversity has led to a discipline specific approach to defining concepts. It is argued that teachers can work with a range of stakeholders to identify troublesome knowledge. This could alter curriculum planning, particularly time allocation, to specific troublesome content and provide time for a more diverse learning experience for pupils.

Editorial

An introduction to the first Issue of the Buckingham Journal of Education.