From academisation to zero tolerance via Ken Robinson
The decade began with Gordon Brown in Downing Street and Ed Balls, later of Strictly fame, grandiosely titled secretary of state for children, schools and families. It closes with Boris Johnson sitting on a majority of 80 and Gavin Williamson in charge of the education portfolio, his qualifications for the role consisting largely of being married to a former primary school teacher.
During the last 10 years the educational lexicon has expanded at a rate of knots, MATs were what you wiped your feet on in 2009, while cognitive science was assumed to be a module on the A-level psychology course. Below is an alphabetical, whistle stop tour of the years 2010-2019 in education.
A Academisation
Accountability is a term that may, in time, become synonymous with the period 2010-19, while #AbolishEton grew a surprising head of steam during 2019. Nonetheless, academisation is the first winning entry on our alphabetical prize sheet.
In many ways, academisation has now dominated education policy in the UK for the last 10 years. The brainchild of Michael Gove, the 2010 Academies Act was packaged as delivering greater autonomy for heads, releasing them from the clutches of constrictive LEA control. Critics countered that it was an ideological botch job. Although the verdict remains out on the educational impact, few would argue that academisation is not here to stay, especially since the Conservative election victory just before Christmas.
B Behaviour
#Banthebooths, blogs, British values and “the blob” all have cause to rue being fronted by the second letter of the alphabet - each would have been basking in victory had they enjoyed the good fortune to begin with the letter Q. Books, too, have been a prominent feature, though I believe there are a few people still working in education who have not yet had one published.
While not a theme specific to this particular decade, behaviour has been at the heart of educational debate throughout 2010-19. That so many possible entries fall under its banner - banthebooths, no excuses, zero tolerance - reflects the extent to which approaches to behaviour now dominate educational discourse. And what other educational issue has its own government tsar?
C Chartered College of Teaching
It will be interesting to see whether cognitive science or the Chartered College of Teaching has the longer-term impact on UK education policy and practice. I’ve tentatively plumped for the CCT. On the plus side, it has brought a much-needed sense of pride to a profession which had lost a little of its mojo and sense of self-determination. Nonetheless, challenges remain; little over one in three teachers are members, and the accusation that too many non-teachers hold prominent positions is not without validity. It is hoped that the 2020s will be the decade that sees the CCT really find its feet.
D Dichotomies
Direct instruction? Differentiation? Mere also-rans. This decade has been dominated by dichotomies, false or otherwise. The most contentious dichotomy remains that between prog/trad disciples. Capulets and Montagues, Jets and Sharks, Mods and Rockers? These are but playground spats compared to the ongoing prog/trad feud on social media. Perhaps the praise from arch-prog Julius Schleicher for the trad citadel that is Michaela Community School might help to ensure that the next decade is spent trying to educate children, rather than each other.
E Evidence-informed
At one point in this decade it would have seemed impossible to imagine that the EBacc would not have reigned supreme in this particular category. Another Michael Gove initiative, it provoked furious opposition, an equally zealous defence, and then promptly sunk without trace. Quite feasibly the same fate may yet befall evidence-informed education. Nonetheless, bodies like the EEF and ResearchEd have successfully caught the imagination of many school leaders and classroom teachers. (See x for exclusions)
F Funding
Fronted adverbials, fidget spinners, Fortnite, feedback, free schools; the letter F provides ample material for an entire PhD dissertation. Finland was a strong runner up, and not only because I have been drawing attention to the overhype re: Finland for nearly a decade. However, one issue simmered throughout the period and boiled over into political controversy three-quarters of the way through. The decline in per pupil funding, and the government’s contorted attempts to mask the reality of this decline, led to it becoming such an issue in the 2017 general election that the BBC ran a headline asking ‘Did teachers wipe out Theresa May’s majority?’.
G Gove
This category is dominated by attitudes and individuals. Growth mindset and grit both had their moments, while Nick Gibb has been the James Milner of education - operating at the highest level for as long as anyone can remember while being known primarily for his longevity rather than anything specific. Instead, the marmite figure of Michael Gove is the undisputed big beast of the G jungle (See academisation, EBacc, and dichotomies for a flavour of his influence). Following his four years at the DfE, his fingerprints litter the educational landscape - though whether they bear witness to a murder or a rescue operation remains hotly debated.
H Hattie
If there is ever a Family Fortunes version of education, it will likely involve asking 100 people to name an educational researcher. The family that responds with “Hattie” will surely head home as winners. For years it was it was sufficient to simply throw his name into conversation to be considered a teacher at the cutting edge of the profession. There is probably still a teacher in the UK who hasn’t been asked to rank the strategies Hattie found to have most impact. However, I have yet to meet them.
I International Schools
The proliferation of international schooling during the last 10 years has, arguably, still not registered on the Richter scale quite the way it ought to have. ISC Research estimates that by 2029 there will be 18,929 international schools requiring 1.03 million staff to service this demand. The impact on UK schools will be felt ever more keenly, not least in recruitment and retention terms. With recent news that successful grammar schools and MATs are following their independent school peers into partnerships with schools in China, expect this to develop into a key issue during the next decade.
J Jobs that haven’t yet been invented
I started the decade showing a video of Shift Happens to a Year 13 cohort and their form tutors. The video is an evangelical exhortation about the jobs-that-haven’t-yet-been-invented message. I’m still in touch with four graduates from that year group - two work in journalism, one is an accountant and the other a teacher. Quite possibly, at some point in the future we may have to acknowledge that the jobs that haven’t yet been invented...haven’t been invented.
K Ken Robinson
Some people are so exalted and renowned that a surname becomes superfluous; think Kylie, Adele, or ‘Sir Ken’ (each of whom also have in common never having taught a bottom set Year 10 on a Friday afternoon). Sir Ken Robinson’s enduring influence on education is illustrated by the fact that his 2006 Ted talk “Do schools kill creativity?” has been viewed more than 60 million times.
Dividing opinion like perhaps only Michael Gove, his clarion calls for schools to prioritise creativity and curiosity have garnered him cult status among devotees. Conversely, his critics have been less kind, as evidenced by Tom Bennett’s description of him as “Herod’s favourite educationalist”.
L Learning styles
Although league tables and lesson plans have both reached fever pitch levels of obsession during the decade, thankfully such excesses seem to be petering out as the decade draws to a close.
Perhaps the same could be said for “learning styles”. Yet having thought the whole VAK visual-auditory-kinesthetic) fixation was hokum back when I was an NQT, it still regularly makes me squirm when I interview a prospective candidate and hear them wax lyrical about the importance of matching lesson activities to the specific learning style of the child. This particularly theory exhibits such a zombie-like refusal to die I expect to reprise this paragraph verbatim during a review of 2020-29.
M Multi-academy trusts
The Real Madrid of education, M is packed full of galacticos jostling for supremacy: mindsets (growth or fixed), marking (triple and stamps!), metacognition, all genuine heavyweights of the era. For sheer ridiculousness and perfectly encapsulating the absurdity of “doing things for Ofsted”, marking stamps would make a worthy winner.
Yet despite stiff competition, and the fact that academisation has already secured a winning entry, multi-academy trusts are champions in this highly competitive field. Arguably, the introduction of MATs has seen the most significant impact on education provision in England and Wales since the comprehensive revolution of the 1960s. (See Y for Malala)
N New Schools Network
Deprived of a position in F by the supremacy of funding, free schools are represented by proxy by the NSN. Despite numbers remaining relatively small - less than 500 in operation - their impact is disproportionate to their size. Michaela Community School and West London Free School are two of the most contentious examples and continue to attract unprecedented (and not entirely unwanted) levels of media attention.
Despite the recent Conservative election victory, it is arguable that the New Schools Network’s role will shrink to the point of invisibility during the upcoming decade. However, many free schools can be said to have represented the infantry on the front line of the ideological warfare of 2010-19.
O Ofsted
Oxbridge continues to be discussed ad infinitum by certain sections of society, specifically by a) those that are bitter about having not attended and thus argue it is vastly overrated and b) those that did attend and thus argue that it remains the pinnacle of human achievement.
However, on this occasion even the collective might of those two venerable institutions is no match for the swaggering sheriff of school inspection. Love it or loathe it (see dichotomies) Ofsted remains as omnipresent as it did in 2019. Like the infamous Kraken of Norse folklore that struck fear into the hearts of seafarers, its mention can send a shiver down the spines of those who may encounter it. Such is its power that “we got the call” is an instantly recognisable signal to all those who ply their trade under the watchful eye of Her Majesty’s inspectors.
P Pisa
A toss-up between Pisa and phonics. However, so high do emotions run on the issue of phonics, merely asking whether the word should begin with a capital letter can have you accused of ruining the lives of an entire generation of children. Therefore, I’ve plumped for Pisa, which is in no way contentious at all.
Succinctly put, Pisa is an OECD measure of the ability of 15-year-olds in various countries to read, write and problem solve etc. Less succinctly put, it is a political minefield that has driven countries to reform their entire education systems in order to inch up the rankings. Rumours that it is sponsored by the Finnish Tourist Board were revealed to be erroneous in 2019.
Q Quizzing
Slim pickings for poor old Q. Rebranded as “low-stakes tests” to satisfy adherents of both cognitive science and Rosenshine’s principles, quizzes do just enough to edge this category. Not since Princess Anne was crowned the 1971 Sports Personality of the Year has so little been needed to secure victory.
R Recruitment and Retention
As everyone is no doubt commenting at this stage, one can’t think of regional schools commissioners without evoking Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront; they “coulda been a contender”. However, unless you’re talking with a Shakespeare devotee, the chances of hearing a teacher mention “RSC” are slimmer than Michael Gove being the next head of the NEU.
With restorative justice and researchEd movements both enjoying significant support - often from opposing sides of the trad/prog dichotomy - but without having become entirely mainstream, the letter R could only really be represented by the recruitment and retention crisis. This is becoming an increasingly salient political issue, and with the rocketing growth of international schools, has the potential to be the headline grabbing issue of the early 2020s.
S Safeguarding
Sats and sex education have both been issues of national significance at times during this decade, so it is probably a slightly left-field selection to name safeguarding as my pick for S. In 2010, this term was barely mentioned in schools, yet its rise since has been meteoric. Indeed, it is arguably the single biggest tectonic shift during my 20 years in education.
Similarly to “health and safety”, it sometimes suffers from an undeserved reputation among school staff for creating additional work, but as I heard one head memorably say: “I regularly ask my staff, ‘What have you got to do that is more important than keeping children safe from harm?’”
T The Twitterati
Having eschewed the sycophantic option to write a paean to Tes, deemed tuition fees too narrow in range, and decided to postpone consideration of 21st-century skills until my review of the 2050s (at which point I’m going to evaluate 22nd-century skills), I’ve plumped here for Twitter celebrities. Frivolous, perhaps, but the fact that classroom teachers and school leaders - or any other school stakeholder for that matter - can now shape educational discourse is a highly positive development. That several such “celebrities” have a track record of achievement in role that would be generously described as “patchy” is rather less cause for celebration.
U Unions
See pretty much anything David James has written on this topic. Anything I write is likely to be a clunky and less humorous imitation of his prose.
V Vocational qualifications
For the 17th decade in a row, vocational qualifications wins this particular category. Politicians, academics and many school leaders remain committed to the UK having a highly respected non-academic career path for other people’s children to pursue.
W Wellbeing
For many educators, the womenEd movement has likely been a clear winner here. Nonetheless, I’ve chosen wellbeing for its overall importance to the profession. In 2010 the prevailing attitude was that teachers were an expendable resource and thus should be martyrs to the cause. Thankfully, high-stakes accountability, heroic leadership theories, punishingly long hours and many more harmful facets of school culture are slowly being consigned to the dustbin of history where they belong.
X Xclusions
Admittedly, a bit of poetic licence is necessary. However, exclusions are - no pun intended - a worthy inclusion. Perhaps traceable back to off-rolling scandals, particularly the St Olave’s controversy in the summer of 2017, the ranks of “no exclusions” supporters have steadily swelled in number and influence during the decade.
October 2019 saw the publication of a highly contentious parliamentary report, Back to School? Breaking the link between school exclusions and knife crime, and with it the digging of trenches by both sides in preparation for the long and bloody struggle ahead. Caught in the crossfire will be serving headteachers, who constitute the tiny minority of voices in this debate to have had ultimate responsibility for an exclusion decision.
Y Malala Yousafzai
While Greta Thunberg continues to command an almost religious reverence by the world’s media in in the twilight of the decade, in 2012-13 it was another young female who captivated the western world with her story. Malala Yousafzai offered a stark reminder that not everyone in the world believes educating young females is a hugely positive force for good. Her experience should serve to remind us that, for all the understandable deep feeling about funding cuts, exclusions or academisation, such debates are the preserve of the privileged minority in global terms.
Z Zero Tolerance
A term which first came to prominence to describe the policing methods of the NYPD in the 1990s (though the term dates back to the 1970s). The philosophy, which in simple terms advocates strict enforcement of every regulation, has been adopted by many schools in an attempt to address the deleterious effects of bad behaviour in schools. Advocates deem it an essential step in allowing all children to learn, critics deride it as overly simplistic and empathy deficient.