Thursday, January 31, 2013

Educational Ideology is not Rocket Science

Suzanne Moore offers a delightfully vitriolic attack on Michael Gove.  What attracts my attention at first, however, is her criticism of him as an ideologue; it seems a long time since we heard ideology used as a dirty word.  Personally I have no problem with ideology; it can be useful to know what a politician's views are, especially if they are developed into a system of thought.  I have some sympathy for Suzanne Moore, nonetheless; it is wrong to measure all students by an academic ebacc.  We need to recognise that academic abilities can, and should be developed; but other abilities need to be recognised and developed as well.  What's more, if we are going to have an educational system, one underpinned by a system of thought, we need one that will educate all students.  I suggest then that we stick with ideology.  We battle out educational principles; they are too patent to be long discussed.  Education is not rocket-science.

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