Photo by Consti Sch / CC BY-SA 2.0
So it’s farewell to Mr. Gove as Education Minister.
Whether you liked him or loathed him, he had to go. Some of his ideas were good, some of his innovations positive but, similarly, many weren’t. However, his biggest failing was to alienate pretty much the whole teaching profession with his dogmatic, combative and, yes, bullying approach. An impasse between Mr. Gove and the teaching body had been reached and the two sides were at loggerheads – if any meaningful progress in education was to be made one side had to go.
And so today he has been shuffled (not off this mortal coil as some more militant colleagues might have hoped) into the position of Chief Whip, a role for which his hectoring, bullying personality is ideally suited. He will, though, I’m sure be remembered, unlike many of his predecessors – I had to visit Wikipedia to remind myself that Ed Balls was his predecessor, and the only names I could remember from before that time were Kenneth Baker and Estelle Morris.
I suspect, however, that he (Mr. Gove) has been moved not for the benefit of the nation’s children, but because David Cameron has recognised him as a vote loser, increasingly less popular with the public.
And so welcome to the role to Nicky Morgan, a nightwatchman for education for 10 months until the election and then what? Who knows, but, Nicky, now is the time to start building bridges with your teachers, treat them with a bit of decency and respect and you might be surprised what they will do for you.
