New Labour a threat to education
Monday 2 June 2008 at 15:56 BST
Back in December 1996 a fresh-faced Tony Blair famously set out his priorities for office as “Education, education, education”.
And he meant it. The problem is, however, that the managerialist obsession of Blair and his revitalised social democratic party led to a blizzard of legislation and reform that turned into a permanent revolution within schools, colleges and universities. Education professionals cannot keep up with all the changes, and we see worryingly large numbers leaving teaching to take up more sensible careers in plumbing and the like. Many of those who remain say they feel alienated from the system, and are increasingly bogged down in bureaucracy.
Nearly 12 years following Blair’s speech at Ruskin College – an institution devoted to continuing education – a number of academics have delivered their verdict. In a letter in today’s Independent, Frank Coffield and Stephen Ball, both from the Institute of Education in London, lifelong learning expert Richard Taylor from the University of Cambridge, and Kingston University vice-chancellor Peter Scott, describe current government policy as no longer a solution, but now the greatest problem facing education.
The learned professors are right. We’ve now had over a decade of Labour government dismissing evidence-based practice in education and other fields, the pre-emptive rubbishing of critics through spin doctors, and consultation exercises that are in reality policy implementation announcements. And to cap it all the government is set to destroy the adult and continuing education sector, thereby removing opportunities for workers to train and retrain in response to market needs.
As someone who has lived in Denmark – a country with a highly flexible labour force made possible through extensive opportunities for lifelong learning – I can only despair at the situation in Britain. New Labour has turned education into a disaster zone, and the Tories have neither the ideas nor the competence required to put things right.
Stumble it!
Tuesday 3 June 2008 at 01:33 BST
See
http://fatmanonakeyboard.blogspot.com/2008/06/trust-me-im-professional.html
(shameless self-promotion on another’s site)
Friday 6 June 2008 at 02:21 BST
Sad to say, Denmark has its problems too, if my cousin there is to be believed. A year ago she left teaching at primary school after over a decade in the job, and was despairing about the state of things, mainly to do with poor management and lack of accountability.
A taste of the current Danish debate here:
http://blog.politiken.dk/lederpladsen/2007/05/25/hastvaerk/
Friday 6 June 2008 at 02:28 BST
Kellie - Thanks for the link to the Politiken blog; I’ve gotten a little behind in the past few months with the Danish media.
Yes, Denmark has its share of problems, but five years after leaving Frederiksberg, and comparing the situation there with the UK, I’m asking myself why I left.
Friday 6 June 2008 at 12:53 BST
Well Frederiksberg is VERY nice!
Friday 6 June 2008 at 13:18 BST
For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the scene in Denmark, the vocational education system in that country is wider than the folkehøjskol movement mentioned by Gadgie on his blog. Some of it is organised by unions and professional associations that also administer unemployment insurance schemes. In other countries these would be the sole responsibility of the state.
This leads in Denmark to a greater blurring of the line dividing state and civil society, and in some situations this is not a good thing. Some Danish trades unions are rather guild-like, and highly protectionist. The upside is that Danish unions are highly effective in serving their members.
I stress some unions. This didn’t affect me negatively, and I was under no pressure to join the Magisterforening – the union that represents higher education staff – even though this body was happy for me to subscribe to its unemployment insurance scheme.
Monday 9 June 2008 at 21:55 BST
[...] to my comment of last week about the UK Labour government’s disastrous policies on education, I learn now [...]
Wednesday 18 June 2008 at 19:46 BST
[...] would affect, among others, workers training for new careers after being made redundant. See here, here and here for [...]