Every UK government administration feels the need to interfere with our children's future by tinkering with the education system. Within that period between general elections, the unqualified Secretaries of State are changed on a regular basis. The interference seems to be dictated by the desire to 'out do' the previous government or to make our kids the clones of Chinese, Scandanavian or US students. But in my travels children are the same the world over, some will want to learn, some will not. Of course, in some areas improvements can be made both in the UK and globally but the best teaching comes from teachers who are allowed to use their own initiative and innovation. My own career proved to me that schools that are not afraid to experiment and innovate produce the best results and then share that best practice with other local schools.
The advent of multi-academy chains have choked off innovation and tied the hands of Headteachers and staff. The senior (well paid) managers in the academy chains, if educators at all, are classroom deficient in modern techniques and impose outdated and discredited policies and procedures.
I can quite understand Jeremy Gargan, the Headteacher of Aycliffe Village Primary School's decision to resign in protest at forced academisation. His decision proves what a great teacher he is and will be a loss to the profession.
So what do we do? My personal opinion is that government and the civil service should be removed from the equation and education within England and Wales (Scotland and N. Ireland do their own thing anyway) and hand the responsibility to an Education Trust comprising real educators and non-education related business leaders. It is a well known strategic strategy that a paradigm shift is more effective than 'tinkering' strategies, so let's make that huge change now before even more damage is done to our young generation, teacher morale and results.
Headteacher resignation over forced academisation
