NOT the Majority Opinion

~~~ Η «ελληνική πραγματικότητα» υπάρχει μόνο στο μυαλό εκείνων που δεν μπόρεσαν (ή δεν ήθελαν;) ποτέ να ξεφύγουν από αυτήν ~~~

 

 

Saturday, December 17, 2005

School reform in the UK

 

The argument goes on. The deputy prime minister of the UK John Prescott has spoken again, against the white paper in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph. (Sunday, 18 December 2005). Interestingly, in the same interview, he attacks the Eton "Mafia" running the Conservative Party.

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/18/npresc18.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/18/ixnewstop.html)

An overview of the argument on both sides was given be Mike Baker, BBC Education Correspondent (Friday, 18 November 2005).

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4450638.stm

Here are some interesting segments of this article.

A long line of Downing Street education advisors (from Sir Michael Barber and Lord Adonis to Conor Ryan and Sir Cyril Taylor) have argued that schools thrive when they develop their own particular ethos, manage their own affairs, and are free from the stifling hand of public sector bureaucracy.
The government vehemently denies that trust schools are the same thing as the grant maintained schools invented by Lady Thatcher's Conservative government. They have a point: grant maintained schools received preferential funding, were able to become more selective, and could become totally separate from local education authorities.

Some in Downing Street wanted the trust schools idea to go much further; they hoped the for-profit sector would be allowed to run state-funded trust schools. This is the Swedish model: private organisations, including commercial companies, can run schools, which remain free for parents, in exchange for state grants. They have brought innovation, new approaches to schooling, and new choices for parents. It was very revealing that Tony Blair's foreword to the White Paper extolled the benefits of the Swedish system.

 

. . . back to the Blog!