The Guardian - 30.07.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:31 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 17:07 cYanmaGentaYellowb

Tuesday 30 July 2019 The Guardian •

31

Opinion

Fiona Millar

A

t one point last

week there was a

rumour that the last

education secretary,

Damian Hinds,

would stay in his

job. This seems comical now.

In fact, it is ludicrous to think

that the aff able but low-energy

Hinds could have survived the

shock and awe of Boris Johnson’s

arrival in Downing Street. Instead

the new education secretary – the

fourth since Michael Gove was

pushed out for being too toxic (NB

aided by the new PM’s backroom

boy Dominic Cummings ) – is the

man sacked barely three months

ago for allegedly leaking sensitive

security information to the press.

True, Gavin Williamson is 100%

state school educated, only the

second education secretary to

have attended a comprehensive

school, and apparently a former

school governor, so we should be

heartened by that. As chief whip

he was compared to a devious

character from the political thriller

House of Cards, yet his missteps as

defence secretary got him the name

Private Pike, from Dad’s Army.

He is a smooth operator and

political chameleon, having moved

seamlessly from David Cameron’s

inner circle to Theresa May’s cabinet

and now Boris Johnson’s court.

He vigorously denied the leak

claims against him, yet May felt

he was not trustworthy enough

to remain in government, which

makes him a substandard role

model to oversee a state education

system where the development of

character ranks alongside being

well qualifi ed. Let us not forget,

too, that he is working for a man

universally thought to be prone

to lying, who described black

children as “piccannies”, gay men as

“bumboys” and Islamic women in

bur qas as “letterboxes”.

But it is too easy to get distracted

by personalities. Shortly after the

2017 election I spoke at an event

with a coalition government adviser

who admitted that a deliberate

strategy before the 2010 election

was to ramp up policies such as free

schools to distract attention from

cuts elsewhere. We all fell into the

trap and spent too long fulminating

over a policy that turned out to be

relatively inconsequential.

So, let’s start by getting straight

to the point about the required

priorities for this government. The

new prime minister says he wants

every parent to be guaranteed

a “superb” education for their

children. What does that mean?

Presumably Johnson views his

own luxury schooling at Eton as

superb. I would dearly love to be

able to tell the children on my local

housing estates that they could have

access to those facilities and class

sizes, but that isn’t going to happen

by raising the minimum level of

funding to £5,000 per pupil.

Successive governments have

ignored the fact that we don’t really

know how much money would

guarantee a good enough – let alone

superb – education for every child.

Patching in paltry sums to plug gaps

at a time when costs are soaring is

inadequate, and unlikely to stop

schools closing early, parents being

asked to donate funds, and subjects

and teachers being axed.

Just as pressing is the teacher

recruitment and retention crisis.

Teachers are leaving in record

numbers. And according to Ofsted’s

latest research they don’t feel great

about their lives either , blaming

workload, accountability, behaviour,

funding cuts, demanding parents

and dramatic policy changes. The

last three governments – step

forward, in particular, Gove and

Cummings – need to own that. But

correcting this deep-rooted malaise

and low esteem is a herculean task.

Both Johnson and Williamson

give the impression of being

intrigued by politics as a game,

rather than a route to substantial

social change.

There is an argument that

Johnson will have that feel good

factor that now trumps policy

wonkery when it comes to winning

elections, but the repetitive use

of words such as “optimism” and

“energy” will only go so far.

I suspect that making parents,

teachers and school leaders feel

good again is beyond the reach of

these two men. We should give

all incoming ministers the benefi t

of the doubt, but doubt feels the

operative word.

I suspect that making

parents, teachers and

school leaders feel

good again is beyond

the reach of Johnson

and Williamson

▲ The new education secretary, Gavin

Williamson, ‘is a political chameleon’

Sacked for untrustworthiness –

but now Private Pike gets the job

of role model for state schools

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