Secret Teacher damns Production Line Education

Secret Teacher is always worth a read; and today's offers a wonderful defence of self-confidence over exam grades.  The argument concerns high expectations; what are they, and can we measure them in the manner laid down by Ofsted?  The difficulty, I would suggest, is that the sort of education that breeds self-confidence  is social and cultural, involving, for example, families and communities that care.  Schools cannot compensate for this; and if they keep their bottom line as progress in English and Maths, they are behaving in a sensible, if flawed manner.