So, today this letter dropped from the Education & Skills Funding Agency. It’s a bit of a boring one about budgeting and finance so won’t tend to get much attention. It should. The key section is this one: Let’s first of all consider the import of the final sentence. “We anticipate that in most cases… Read More The mythical bean bag
Readers of this blog may well have realised that I am not of the view that academies and multi-academy trusts are the root of all evil. My take is that where wrong-doing has been done in a trust this is down to the people within it. I can see that this may be seen as a… Read More A failure of trust
When you look at it in detail, the similarities between Nick Gibb and I are too many to ignore. We were both born in 1960. We were educated at all-boys grammar schools. We both attended university where we were members of radical student political organisations. After university we both trained and qualified as chartered accountants.… Read More The old boys network
Yesterday the SoS spoke to the National Governors Association Summer conference. Amongst other things, she said this: Because a school-led system doesn’t mean schools as islands, making their own way. It means schools fully integrated with the local community, responsive to local parents and, crucially, connected with, learning from and supporting other schools. And you… Read More Ducking the issue
There’s nothing wrong with accountability. I like a good bit of accountability. It keeps everyone honest. But if it is not operated at the appropriate level it ceases to create accountability and becomes oppressive, in every sense of the word. I’ll give you an example. I like my house to be comfortably warm in the… Read More The bleeding system
Distant Ramblings on the Horizon 