Up with this we will not put.

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” Samuel Adams, 1775

The latest Ofsted inspection regime is underway. It is operating as a government tool to create more Academies which can then be bought up by private companies. Expenses cheat Gove has not bothered running this development through Parliament. Those of you who feel it is of no consequence should read the effect this new approach can have on a school. 

Below is a reaction online to a the article from Seumas Milne in The Guardian about the creeping privatisation of education.

“Gove is a four letter word as far as I am concerned. I don't mind working hard, I don’t mind giving up my time after work to help students, run revision classes, give up lunchtimes to get my marking done, be expected to be on duty when kids are going out of the white doors, accept kids for after school detention and meet with a student teacher all at the same time, or even having to set work for someone else who is off with spurious back injuries and then forget to sort out the lesson swop I have organised with a colleague that has meant a cover supervisor has had to walk an extra hundred yards and give me grief for it. I don't mind all that. What I do mind though is when one of the best most dedicated teachers in our department, a man who is built like a barn side, plays rugby and can hold his own and behave always in a professional and dignified manner, when he is reduced to tears and beside himself with despair that he has been judged inadequate under the new ofsted criteria that rule out any excuses, any allowances for poor behaviour, that we don’t even know what is expected of us any more, when our head teacher new in the job is a bully who victimises his staff who is probably way out of his depth and actually shit scared that the school is going to lose all its assets when they judge our school under these new criteria as 'needs improvement' or whatever the new buzzword is today and we have to become an academy. The sands are ever shifting and none of us know what the next big thing is that is going to catch us out, because everyday it is something new. I always knew my job was stressful, always knew it was going to be hard work, but that’s ok, I am a grafter, and I am committed to the students under my care. I don't teach for a doss, for the holidays, whatever the teacher haters think, I love my job, I love being with young people and trying to do my best for them to build their future. But I don't teach anymore, I train, I train these kids so I can get through the inspection, so we can stay out of being taken over. And thats not what I came into teaching for. There are few people I despise, but Gove is top of my hate list for what he is doing to education; to the kids under my care, to my colleagues and to the man I respect who was crying in the store room.” (My emphasis)

It is time for the ‘irate, tireless minority’ to start ‘lighting fires in people’s minds.’