Let dragons be

3rd August 2001, 1:00am

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Let dragons be

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/let-dragons-be
SO Welsh hats are old hat, dragons should be slain and castles razed to the ground. Advice from Ofsted in its glory years tended towards the uncompromising, but even in its most extreme days national culture was sacrosanct, especially if it involved literature or history.

Estyn, its Welsh equivalent, is clearly made of sterner stuff. Schools are apparently relying too heavily on stereotypical images of sheep and daffodils in displays of work, rather than reflecting the “plurality and diversity” of modern Wales. A Welsh Assembly spokesman suggests suitable causes for juvenile pride might include Catatonia, the Millennium Stadium and the Assembly.

As the hideously embarrassing Cool Britannia campaign proved, you can’t impose politically correct new national rebrandings from above. National culture is evolutionary. If Welsh teachers and and pupils want to stick with daffs and dragons, then good luck to them. Estyn should mind its own business.

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