The Next Chief Inspector?

An interesting article about Mossbourne Academy Principal and Hyperhead Sir Michael Wilshaw in the Guardian last week.  For once the interviewer retains a degree of objectivity and some scepticism about how the widely acclaimed rise in standards has been achieved.  This is something that has been of interest to me.  Has he discovered some hitherto unknown method of transforming a school?

All that is ever mentioned is that the school has a strict school uniform policy (join the club!) and an emphasis on firm discipline (ditto).  If it were as simple as that, there would be many more Mossbournes.  One very important factor is that the school, like so many academies, has had loadsa money!  That the school population has also been 'engineered' is suggested by some of the comments below the article and Wilshaw would not be the first head to have made use of this ploy.

It's noted that he sounds like a politician  -  always useful if you're making a pitch to become Her Majesty's Chief Inspector  -  and he agrees with Gove 'about most things', so I should think he's pretty much got the job already.

He does sound like a politician if only because there's very little indication as to whether he has any true principles.  He describes himself as a pragmatist and this most likely means he's a Groucho Marx kind of politician: 'These are my principles, but if you don't like them, I've got others'.

Wouldn't it be a good idea if these top jobs (Commissioner of the Met, for example) were filled in an open and transparent competitive process?  Had this happened previously we would have been spared some nightmares. Some good schools needlessly closed by a flawed process would still be providing a good service to their local communities And some teachers who are no longer with us would probably still be alive.

'Public' Schools

First, it's bizarre that we still use this name. I'd settle for fee-paying, or anything that more accurately described them. Anyway, a couple of points that have occurred to me recently:

 First, this article by Anthony Seldon brought forth these responses from the good old Guardian letter-writers. Saves me the trouble of having to say anything really, apart from noting that Seldon has clearly earned the right to be totally ignored in future.

Secondly, re the post on discipline  in state ( i.e. proper) schools, it's assumed by the ignorarmy that discipline in 'public' schools is excellent  -  that's one of the things people are paying for. I recently met up with two old school mates who were talking about another fellow pupil, Trevor  -  they had heard that he had died quite early after apparently living a solitary life. All that they knew was that he had been a teacher in a public school and had left 'because things didn't work out'. He then trained as a librarian but, coming to that profession quite late, did not get the kind of post he hankered after.

I was saddened and intrigued by this story and did some research, hoping to find the real reason why his teaching career, in a 'top' 'public' school, had ended prematurely. On the teacher memories section for this school on 'Friends Reunited' I found this:

Trevor Tremble


My poor history teacher. I really felt sorry for the guy - I enjoyed his teaching and he had a lot to say regarding modern history, but unfortunately, no-one gave him a chance.


Every class I went to was a complete riot, and no-one, except one or two, behaved themselves. It was difficult to keep a straight face when he started dishing out 40, then 80 blue, and then detention, much to the mock-surprise of the person he dished it out to.

If an Ofsted team saw a lesson like this in a proper school, it would be enough to put the school into special measures.

It is appalling that the kids who ended his teaching career prematurely and who probably contributed to his life ending prematurely often go on to take up leading positions in our society. No doubt this sort of sport is a good preparation for the Bullingdon Club and the Bullshit Club in Westminster.

I have no interest in discussing these dreadful places. They are only mentioned here because many people have such an inaccurate view of them and compare them unfavourably with proper schools. I actually believe that, like the House of Lords and the Monarchy, they have no place in a twenty-first century country.