Teaching awards winners offer a view from the chalkface for the benefit of politicians and colleagues
The academies bill was perplexing some of Britain's best teachers last week, gathered at the British Museum for the London and the south-east regional Teaching Awards. Baroness Shirley Williams, chair of the UK judging panel, and, of course, a Lib Dem peer, asked for opinions at a special workshop, and there was little holding back.
How on earth could any school have decided already to apply for academy status, wondered an infants' school governor, when detail about the nitty gritty, including the actual cash involved, was hard to sleuth. "I find it baffling to hear that 1,700 schools have already applied," he said, his voice rising with incredulity. "How do they know?"
Ah, said Williams, there was an explanation for that... "The government has been a little bit naughty," she said. "You see, if you want to get the information about it, you've got to turn up." By which she meant that expressing an interest was the only way to find out details. So out of the 1,700 that Michael Gove, the education secretary, said had applied, "in many cases, all they are doing is asking for information," she explained.
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