The start of a new year gives us the opportunity to act Jason-like, looking into two directions: backwards – on the year that has passed and to the future – the one ahead, setting out plans for the future while also wondering what events are likely to unfold. Reflecting on past successes and failures and pondering how we can build on those successes and learning from failures are always compelling.
Commentators are awash with reflections about the past. Optimists are keen to look to the future to confront the world and its problems and leave an impact for the positive, possibly a legacy by which they will be remembered when long gone.
In the last issue of The Times Educational Supplement of 2015, Sir Tim Brighouse, former Schools Commissioner for London and Chief Education Officer for Birmingham, however, wrote: “Seeking a legacy is fool’s gold: so often it’s seen as the bedfellow of hubris….”
To prove his point, he describes politicians keen to leave a “legacy of initiatives as an essential platform for the next step in their careers”.
Fortunately, he did not write that it is “always seen as a bedfellow of hubris”. Sir Tim particularly aims his revolver at politicians of all persuasions who run our educational system. He mentions the plethora of education acts that have littered the corridors of educational history. More recently, the ex-Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, introduced (or imposed if you prefer to be more aggressive), the English Baccalaureate, synthetic phonics, a new primary curriculum, a mystical assessment system, new GCSE gradings, the end of coursework and the proscription of BTEC courses, among other things. Continue reading