Thinking Allowed on Schooling by Mick Waters - Book Review

In Thinking Allowed, Mick Waters, former Headteacher, Government advisor and Director of Curriculum at the QCA, offers a biting critique of the present state of schooling in the Maintained Sector. Indeed there is more than a little "Emperor's new clothes" about the way in which Waters "tells it as it is" exposing the way in which school leaders have been forced to pander to the whim of Secretaries of State during the past twenty years. Waters does not pull punches in criticising successive Governments for meddling with the English school system - and is damning in his indictment of the present Secretary of State, Michael Gove:

"He has messed up school sport, and physical education, the arts, culture, design and technology, indeed most things he touches" (p.278).

But this is not ill-informed mud-slinging by a disaffected member of the profession. Waters is a deep thinker who has a considered vision for education, which extends beyond the experiences that children and young people have in schools. Waters has numerous positive suggestions as how to improve what goes on in our schools, but his solutions do not suit the short-term agenda of politicians in a hurry to impress and win another term. One of Waters' central proposals is the creation of a National Council for Schooling that is independent of party political influence and which can be at the centre of a much needed National debate.

Waters is hugely critical the present system where inspection and departmental dictat has forced headteachers into play games to meet targets rather than doing what is in the best interest of pupils. The chapter 'on professional integrity and game theory' (p.101ff) no doubt will strike a chord with many Headteachers in the maintained sector who feel that they have been forced to abandon many of the principles which brought them into the profession in order to secure sufficient funding to enable to do the best for the pupils in their care.

The chapter 'On the search for Equality' (p.21ff) gets to the heart of the issue, which is that children have significantly different starting points in the educational race of life. Waters uses the powerful analogy of running a 400m race with the wealthy in the inside lane and the poorest in the outside - but in this race there is no staggered start. In this race, it is possible to win from the outside lanes, but chances are stacked against you.

The stongest parts of the book is found in the chapters 'on Teachers, Learning and Classrooms' (p.139ff) and 'on Curriculum' (p.267ff).  In the former Waters draws on his extensive experience to share some outstanding strategies that are truly effective in improving learning outcomes, whereas in the latter he outlines a vision for education that extends beyond schooling to the home and community, and beyond the narrow confines of the measurable defined by Ofsted and the Department.

"Good Schools get on and do things: dance, drama, music, art, using the outdoors, speaking in other languages, finding out about the past and other places, growing things, cooking, going places, using ICT and paint brushes, making things, experimenting, learning about their own bodies, working out how to get on with others in the real world. Above all, they use all these experiences as vehicles to do amazing English and Mathematics to support the structured literacy and numeracy programmes at the same time bring purpose to learning for pupils." (p.288)

As I read this book, I could not help thinking how different our lot is in the independent sector. We truly do have the freedom and autonomy to determine what goes on in our school. Government influence is minimal. Heads and Governing Bodies can make a genuine choice as to the importance that is placed on ISI Inspection judgements and League Table positions. Ultimately independent schools are accountable via Governing Bodies to the community who chooses to send their children to be educated in our schools The independent sector has operated in a market place for decades and has gone through the inevitable processes of developing a hierarchy, specialisation and, sadly in some cases, school failure. There are many lessons from these chapters of history for the Academy sector of secondary education and for Universities.
I would encourage anyone who is interested in education to read Thinking Allowed - and to do so soon. It is a book about the present state of English education - and, although there are many longstanding truths here, Waters' political comments and analysis have a shelf-life.

Is there really an apartheid between State and Independent Schools?

In his speech at the Conservative Party Conference, David Cameron vowed to end the ‘apartheid’ between private and state schools: 

"And here's something else we're going to do. In Britain today, we have schools that are intolerant of failure, where ninety percent of pupils get five good GCSEs. Yes: private schools. You've heard me talk about social responsibility so let me say this.

I want to see private schools start Academies, and sponsor Academies in the state system. Wellington College does it, Dulwich does it - others can too.

The apartheid between our private and state schools is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in our country today. So let it be this party that helps tear it down."

There are a number of differences between the Independent and State sectors, most notably around what it means to be "independent" as Ken Durham argued in his HMC Conference Chairman's Address [see previous blogpost] this week.  Also, as David Cameron recognised in his speech, there are quantifiable differences in academic outcomes, not to mention co-curricular provision.  

But is there really an apartheid between private and state schools? No, of course there is not. Every independent school has close links with schools in the Maintained sector, a few sponsor Academies, most are engaged at a local level working closely with the state schools in their areas in a whole range of ways. 

I am a great supporter of the Academies programme and I am not asking for special pleading here - I'm on board. Berkhamsted is one of the few schools that sponsor an academy, the Wren Academy in Barnet. I am a Governor there and am very proud of what the staff, pupils and governors have achieved there in the past four years.

As David Cameron  once again repeated today, the Government defines independent sector engagement with the maintained sector in terms of the Academies programme.  I believe that this is blinkered and unhelpful. By using such a narrow measure, the Government is ignoring the many other ways in which Independent schools work alongside schools in the Maintained sector. 

I think we need to ask how Independent Schools can best work alongside schools in the Maintained sector.  

When I look at Berkhamsted's relationship with the Wren Academy, there are two areas which stand out. Strong governance is of course important, but also expertise in examination teaching where we have a proven track record of success by any measure.  Of these the latter has the most potential.  The liaison between Heads of Department in the two schools is beginning to have a significant impact, and that liaison strictly falls outside the terms of the Academy sponsorship agreement. In particular, we have provided support and advice on how to teach GCSE and are embarking on helping the Wren staff to develop the structure of the A-level curriculum. 

But Berkhamsted's engagement with the Maintained sector is much wider than that. For example, we work with a number of local maintained sector schools, particularly when it comes to careers and university guidance. Our annual careers and Universities Fair is not just for our pupils, we invite all the local schools; likewise with our careers day on applying to university for Medicine. Furthermore, most of our sixth form pupils give up some of their free time to go into local state schools to listen to pupils read, as part of their community service programme - the sixth form alone did over 2600 hours community service last year.  

I would like David Cameron, Michael Gove and Nick Gibb to remove the blinkers. I think that they have every right to expect every Independent School to work with schools in the maintained sector, but they need to recognise that we are independent and that we will choose to exercise our social responsibility in a number of different ways.  Rather than being prescriptive, I would like to hear this Government encourage our schools to foster ever closer links in whatever ways the schools on the ground see fit. 

There is no apartheid between the private and state schools.  There is no need to build walls just so politicians can knock them down - the bridges are already built - we already working closely together.

What it means to be Independent.

In his Chairman's address to the HMC conference in St Andrew's, Ken Durham, Headmaster of UCS London, outlined what makes UK Independent Schools the best in the world - and there's a clue in the name - Independence. Unfortunately "independence" is a term that has been devalued by those in the DfE who band it around and use the term far too loosely, applying it inappropriately to schools in the Maintained sector.  As Ken Durham pointed out, there are three key aspects to true independence, which simply do not apply to those schools:

"Let us remember what true Independence means. We in the private sector have total independence over the curriculum in our schools, over the finance of our schools and over admission to our schools. It is those three freedoms that make us special. It is those three freedoms that give us the opportunity to achieve the excellence that we do. They expose us to great risk as well. No Government will bail us out. We stand or fall by the quality of our educational vision and the vigour with which we bring it off."

HMC Conference St Andrew's  Excellence Not Privilege