The Times Newspaper in blinkered mode

I am a great fan of The Times newspaper, appreciating its comprehensive coverage, especially of the arts and the breadth of the perspectives it brings to bear on a range of issues, but I am often puzzled by the narrowness of its treatment of educational issues. The leading article in Monday 5 August’s edition was a potent example of how naïve its stance can be in its ill-deserved and misjudged critique of the appointment of Prof. Becky Francis as the chair of the team to review Curriculum and Assessment. The headline, itself, gave enormous cause for concern: Back to Basics – Labour should keep ideology out of education and not endanger good teaching. What a contradiction in terms! In its support of Back to Basics, a whole set of ideas is being promoted to do with a return to an illusory golden era of education when there was an exclusive focus on the development of core mathematical and linguistic skills, when the teacher’s role was largely seen in transmission mode, when the knowledge of multiplication tables reigned supreme and when primary education was regarded as no more than the foundation phase for a broader curriculum in the secondary years. Back to Basics encapsulates a particular ideology - it is not an ideology free-zone, precisely because the concept of an educated child is open to debate with regard to what are the priorities and the underlying values.

NAPE is certainly committed to a set of values about education which contrast strikingly with the Back to Basics ideological model. We do not see creativity, as implied in the article as a recipe for lowering academic standards. Rather we view creativity as being at the heart of what education is about: just look at the child at play in the pre-school years constructing narratives with the resources at his or her disposal or the older primary child entering the world of poetic expression, inspired by the examples provided by the teacher but taking ownership in the choice of images symbolised in writing. Our concept of what it is to be educated goes way beyond a restricting ideology of Back to Basics, partly because we are committed to a much broader vision of the primary curriculum which embraces the arts, the humanities and science and partly because we value the pastoral/social dimension of education alongside the academic.

The tragic murder of the three Southport girls and the ensuing and mindless violence erupting across the UK has highlighted just how important it is to build social values of respect and tolerance into the fabric of the educational enterprise. Ethical leadership breathes life into our most successful schools, as it permeates the overall ethos and informs curriculum priorities and design. Back to Basics, on the other hand, cannot address the challenges of contemporary society, because its ideological roots are so narrow-minded and out of touch with the insights of educational scholarship. The Times editorial team should know better!

Robert Young

10 August 2024