Good Idea

The chief inspector of of schools in England - Sir Michael Wilshaw - is pushing the boat out again with another good idea - this time he is suggesting that a specially recruited group of teachers should be sent into local areas where schools are deemed to be mediocre.

Now in parts of the public sector, though not all, things often move at the speed of a glacier - so I can imagine lots of teachers choking over their cornflakes the other day - as this news was  announced. 

Certainly the teaching unions' attitude was predictable and conservative as usual - they define progress as everyone moving in step, at the same time and same pace - which is odd because that's not how life works or how schoolchildren get left behind in the first place.

Anyway, Sir Michael's aim is to drive up standards in these 'mediocre schools' and transform the expectations that far to many children have in these areas of poor educational attainment - interestingly it's not the inner cities which have the biggest problems nowadays, but rural and coastal parts of England - which tend not to attract the highest flying teachers.   

Sir Michael Wilshaw also set out a tougher approach from Ofsted - the independent education inspectorate in England - to schools that are believed to be failing poor children.

In future new rules will mean that schools previously judged to be not doing well by their poorest children - will be reinspected by the inspectorate.

Now that will certainly shake things up a bit and in a good way, one that's focused on outcomes for school students which - at its most basic - is what the education system is all about. 

So more power to his elbow, I say - I just wonder why Scotland's education inspectorate has so little to say on these matters - compared to Ofsted and Sir Michael Wilshaw the Scottish education inspectorate is a 'wee timorous beastie'.

Which is really no good at all - since the weakest voice in the education system is that of school students and their parents - just as the weakest voice in the NHS is that of the customers (patients) and their families.

Wouldn't it be great if some like Sir Michael Wilshaw acted as a 'champion' for the customers and patients of the NHS - because if that were true I doubt we'd see some of the scandals that have been going on at Mid Staffordshire Hospital and at the NHS 'watchdog' - the CQC.