Stories + Views
The Academy, the blogger teacher and the Tory party: a parable for our times
There’s an interesting article by Mike Kent in the TES today (http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6060827) in which he talks about the now infamous blogger teacher, Katherine Birbalsingh. This teacher spoke out about school indiscipline at the Tory Party conference and has been making headlines ever since because she was suspended by the Academy where she taught. She now seems to be re-instated — with the help of her left-wing union the NUT! Mike Kent points out that the school which she complained about at the Tory Party conference has a long history behind it. The narrative of the school’s decline is a damning indictment of government policy, both Labour and Tory.  It appears that the school was once a well-run, orderly place, but suffered greatly when 1988 Education Act kicked in. During the last two decades it has slipped down the league tables, suffered from high staff turnover and chronic indiscipline as savvy parents migrated to other schools, leaving it with the children of the poor and disenfranchised. At the moment, the school has been given notice to improve (http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/display/(id)/121139) by the Schools’ Inspectorate. The Ofsted report suggests that the behaviour of the students is not good at all. As Birbalsingh herself pointed out league tables have played a big role in this and I would suggest a ‘cover-up’ culture whereby management won’t admit problems. The school is in a similar position to my local secondary school was a few years ago. However, this school, Bethnal Green Technology College, worked with the local authority to turn things around, sorting out problems to do with misbehaviour, and now has some of the best results in the borough. The headteacher there focused on getting great teachers; it’s now paying off. I feel that it’s now the best school in the area. I have sympathy for Birbalsingh in that she’s clearly working in a school with problems; but the solution is not Tory party policy. It will make things worse! We need to get schools working together with the local authority and the local community to turn things around.
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My objection to Katherine Birbalsingh’s Tory Party conference speech was that it implied all schools are like hers, which has clearly been through a difficult time with very weak leadership and serious consequences for the pupils. In fact most schools are calm, orderly places in which children learn, heads and teachers have high expectations. Mike Kent must know this since he writes a lot about his own, clearly very good, school.He should have acknowledged that, and so should she.
Yes, I agree with you. There are not many schools at the moment that are categorised as “unsatisfactory” by Ofsted, (page 12 of http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2008-09/The-Annual-Report-of-Her-Majesty-s-Chief-Inspector-of-Education-Children-s-Services-and-Skills-2008-09) indicates that only 4% of schools were in 2009, which puts Birbalsingh’s failing school in a small minority of schools. For the Tories and Birbalsingh to suggest that all schools are like this is a total nonsense. As I said, the school is clearly a victim of league tables and incipient free-marketism in education, which the Tories are intending to make far, far prevalent than is the case now.
Yes and there will probably be a lot more failing schools once the new ‘freedoms’ are introduced and some schools don’t have to be inspected….see my Ed Guardian column this week http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/oct/12/school-management-freedom
When ‘overnight stars’ like this are made on public platforms, the truth is usually the first casualty. I was horrified to hear it reported that she had implied all local schools were like hers – such accusations just plays into deep prejudice against local/comprehensive schools which I suspect is rife among members of the Tory party. And you’re right Francis – no-one ever talks about the complex background to stories like this – how the downward spiral began and what role government policy, of whatever political hue, played in that process, nor of what the borough and school really needs. I’m afraid it won’t be long before we see Katherine Birbalsingh or someone very like her acting as the charismatic front person of a Free School bid in her area…
Yes, I agree that what is needed is not more ‘freedom’ but clear, sensible rules and boundaries that pupils and teachers should adhere to. I worry that new freedoms will only mean the freedom to cover things up, to hide shoddy teaching and poor behaviour. At the moment Ofsted is actually seeing what’s really going on and is trying to do something about it with the school. I worry that new freedoms will mean there will be no such accountability soon.
Responding more to the comments than the original article, you have simply imagined that she was talking about her school, and then unfairly generalising. She was not talking specifically about her school; she made it clear all along that she was describing schools in general.
And she was right, the bog standard secondary comprehensive in this country is not delivering. and far more teachers would identify with what she said than the denialist account which claims the dumbing down and the excuses for poor behaviour are an exception or a figment of the collective imagination of England’s teachers.
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But Andrew, what’s your response to the Ofsted report of 2009? It indicates that only 4% of schools are failing.
OFSTED’s standards are much lower than mine. In fact given some of the disaster areas they have pronounced to be “satisfactory” or “good” they are much lower than would be expected from anybody who actually cares about education.
I read some of Katherine Birbalsingh’s blog (before it was taken down), and a lot of it seemed to ring true. She talked about grown-ups reluctant to tell off children who behaved badly. I’ve seen that.
How long had Ms Birbalsingh been at this school before she made her pronoucement at Tory national conference? As I recall she had only just started workinbg at the school. Was she planning her lauch into the world of fame before she even started working at the school? Did she take time of school to attend this conference?
I am really curious to see how long she will perevere with her Free School, I do hope that she is in it for the long haul though her track record suggests that she may get bored before too long.