It was with some sense of foreboding that I started Andrew Adonis' Education Education Education book a couple of days ago. I suppose thoughts of doing a Masters degree which have been fluttering in and out of my conscious thought patterns just lately may well be to blame e for the desire to get inside the heads of those who feel they know best what it is that will make education in this country a successful experience for all.
Thus far I am half way through and finding it a fascinating read. Some of the detail about the ministers in government who department hop annually and have little or absolutely no experience or knowledge of their responsibilities is just shocking. If schools put people with no knowledge or experience of a department in charge of it one can only imagine the outcomes and impact on not just headlines but staff morale and student welfare. How can the government so blatantly drop people into roles without so much as a hint that they understand the job in hand and the crucial decision making that lies ahead for them. Worse still the good Lord states that the appointment of Ruth Kelly in 2004 was "for complex political reasons and clearly wasn't the best thing for education ..". How did the PM justify this to anyone let alone himself.
The regard afforded the department for education by Mr Adonis is also worthy of concerned note. He talks of popping over there on a daily basis in order to drive through academy policy as if it is a distraction and nuisance. He mocks the multiple title changes of the very government department with which he is directly advising and should be collaborating. Now dont get me wrong the DCSF was always synonymous with the dodgy sofa store in my school and supplied many a joke as it coincided with the advent of the carpet flooring King buying up schools a-plenty across south east london to turn into his own chain of academies. My thoughts wandered from the page repeatedly during these early chapters wondering if the jobs for the boys approach to government roles was mirrored in the men in suits approach that is seen and feared in some academies. Further to this I could not fail to wonder if the annual 'fares please, all change' approach to government jobs was also happening in academy chains as I am pretty sure almost every Harris academy has advertised for a new principle or vice principle in the first term of this academic year.
So to say the first half of this book have been thought provoking is to say the least, but as I approach the chapter entitled 'Why academies succeed' I am holding baited breath to hear his views on this aspect. As the book I hope moves away from details of the inside dealings of government departments of which Mr Adonis can claim considerable knowledge and experience I am eager to read his views on the impact and outcomes of academies as someone without any experience of teaching or learning other than his own school experience on which to draw. As he himself has said in the intro chapters he often visited under-performing inner city schools, measured them in his head against his boarding school and thought these kids deserve better. By his own admission he eventually bothered to visit some good state comprehensive schools and suddenly decided that his measuring stick was not fit for purpose as he wanted to have attended one of these successful inclusive places of learning.
Walk this path with me if you fancy it, get hold of a copy or nag me for a loan of mine when I am done, or if you have already finished the book yourself join in by commenting below and sharing your thoughts. I know I will have much more to come as I work through the second half of the book and do a little background research of my own into some of the local trends and trajectories of the secondary schools south of the river.
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