CNJ COMMENT - As new Education Secretary Michael Gove takes office, prepare to defend our schools

Published: 20 May, 2010

THE arrival of a new Education Secretary into office has already spread panic among Camden’s family of schools. You could say they have the “fear of Gove” in them.
Michael Gove has used one of his first ministerial statements to announce a “review” of billions of pounds of crucial school rebuilding investment
Governors have warned of mounting anxiety over pioneering projects they have already worked on for years.

The Building Schools for the Future programme, one of New Labour’s most ambitious and popular spending commitments, has invested billions in crumbling state school buildings. Capital funding for projects has risen from around £700million in 1997 to around £8billion this year.
Mr Gove was adopted by a Labour-supporting family in Aberdeen where he attended state and private schools. He now appears more concerned with introducing competition and Swedish-style management into the education system than investing in bricks and mortar.
We are told, in these austere times, to await news from an emergency budget next month.

In the meantime, dedicated staff – who have invested huge amounts of time scanning budgets and creating sound business plans – must wait in trepidation.
Will bold visions for the future of Camden schools become reality or just a daydream?
No one – at the Department of Education, the local authority or close to the schools themselves – can guess what will happen.
Opinion is divided. Some are hopeful. Others fear the worst. Even the future of the UCL Academy, the form of independent school so beloved by Conservatives, appears uncertain.

Only after the budget will the precise details of what lies ahead be known.
What is needed is a speedy and clear resolution.
Meanwhile, a perhaps more welcome “review” looks likely to undermine another of Labour’s flagship reforms.
The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced last night (Wednesday) he would call a halt to Labour minister Lord Darzi’s plan to shut down hospital accident and emergency and maternity departments and treat patients in health centres.

Clinicians, patients and politicians of all parties – including Mr Lansley – mobilised against the threat to the Whittington Hospital. The powerful mass march in February sent out a message that couldn’t be ignored.
A similar protest may soon be required to safeguard the future of our schools.