Dear Mr Gove
I know you’re not in charge of schools anymore, apparently they put you in charge of prisons (to be fair you’ve turned so many parents into criminals you probably won’t notice the difference) but I thought I’d give you a bit of feedback on some of the changes you implemented to our education system. A kind of parent forum if you like… as you clearly didn’t consult any parents before making these changes, or teachers for that matter.
This month, I’ve been to two information evenings for my children. The first was at a primary school where my youngest son is one of the guinea pigs in your SATS reformation. I call it an information meeting, but as the Department of Education have yet to tell the School exactly what is going to be in the exams or what the new pass mark will be, there wasn’t that much information to be had. All we really do know is that they will be more rigorous! Thank God for that Mr Gove! I was really worried that my 10 year old might be allowed to just enjoy learning for the sake of it. I’m now massively reassured that this will not be the case and he will instead spend the last year of primary school learning ‘how to pass exams’. How I long to see the little look of joy on his face as he skips out the door of a morning, excited to attend yet another early morning extra maths/reading/writing group...Oh to be 10 again!
The second information evening was for my older son, who is one of your GCSE guinea pigs. Apparently they’re going to be much harder too, not only that but the progressive idea of coursework (you remember, the silly notion of measuring how hard kids have worked over the years) is being scrapped and we’re going back to the good old days of exams! Because, as parents, we know what kids really need at that age is more pressure! It’s not enough that they have to contend with the hormonal chaos of puberty, peer pressure and social media, what they really need at such a vulnerable age is to know that their future success doesn’t depend on the hours of work and effort they’ve put in over the last few years, but how they perform in a single exam. No one said that the GCSE system didn’t need reforming, but regression is not the same as reformation, I remember O’levels too Mr Gove, they were stressful, draconian and dull…there are no rose-tinted glasses here!
Ever wondered why so many kids get ill around exam time? They don’t brand stress the ‘biggest killer’ for no reason; do you think this only applies to adults? Coincidentally, headlining on the news last night was that self-harming amongst children is at it’s highest ever levels and frighteningly nearly 800 primary school kids were treated for self-harming at A&E last year, an increase of 10%. That is the reality of your legacy Mr Gove, stressed out self- harming kids, whose parents can only take them on holiday if they can afford the extortionate ‘out of term’ prices; otherwise they’re branded criminals.
So as you attempt to re-define yourself as a human rights activist, I hope you enjoy your time as Justice Secretary Mr Gove, for there seems to be precious little concern for the human rights of children or justice for parents in your ‘reformed’ education system.
Yours sincerely
Shirley Blanch
Mother of 2 Gove guinea pigs
https://m.facebook.com/Spiritualsceptic
I know you’re not in charge of schools anymore, apparently they put you in charge of prisons (to be fair you’ve turned so many parents into criminals you probably won’t notice the difference) but I thought I’d give you a bit of feedback on some of the changes you implemented to our education system. A kind of parent forum if you like… as you clearly didn’t consult any parents before making these changes, or teachers for that matter.
This month, I’ve been to two information evenings for my children. The first was at a primary school where my youngest son is one of the guinea pigs in your SATS reformation. I call it an information meeting, but as the Department of Education have yet to tell the School exactly what is going to be in the exams or what the new pass mark will be, there wasn’t that much information to be had. All we really do know is that they will be more rigorous! Thank God for that Mr Gove! I was really worried that my 10 year old might be allowed to just enjoy learning for the sake of it. I’m now massively reassured that this will not be the case and he will instead spend the last year of primary school learning ‘how to pass exams’. How I long to see the little look of joy on his face as he skips out the door of a morning, excited to attend yet another early morning extra maths/reading/writing group...Oh to be 10 again!
The second information evening was for my older son, who is one of your GCSE guinea pigs. Apparently they’re going to be much harder too, not only that but the progressive idea of coursework (you remember, the silly notion of measuring how hard kids have worked over the years) is being scrapped and we’re going back to the good old days of exams! Because, as parents, we know what kids really need at that age is more pressure! It’s not enough that they have to contend with the hormonal chaos of puberty, peer pressure and social media, what they really need at such a vulnerable age is to know that their future success doesn’t depend on the hours of work and effort they’ve put in over the last few years, but how they perform in a single exam. No one said that the GCSE system didn’t need reforming, but regression is not the same as reformation, I remember O’levels too Mr Gove, they were stressful, draconian and dull…there are no rose-tinted glasses here!
Ever wondered why so many kids get ill around exam time? They don’t brand stress the ‘biggest killer’ for no reason; do you think this only applies to adults? Coincidentally, headlining on the news last night was that self-harming amongst children is at it’s highest ever levels and frighteningly nearly 800 primary school kids were treated for self-harming at A&E last year, an increase of 10%. That is the reality of your legacy Mr Gove, stressed out self- harming kids, whose parents can only take them on holiday if they can afford the extortionate ‘out of term’ prices; otherwise they’re branded criminals.
So as you attempt to re-define yourself as a human rights activist, I hope you enjoy your time as Justice Secretary Mr Gove, for there seems to be precious little concern for the human rights of children or justice for parents in your ‘reformed’ education system.
Yours sincerely
Shirley Blanch
Mother of 2 Gove guinea pigs
https://m.facebook.com/Spiritualsceptic