Teachers and parents must get a say on education ‘levelling up’ strategy: Yorkshire Post Letters

JUSTINE Greening’s article (The Yorkshire Post, July 18) on education and economic growth stressed going beyond rhetoric to ‘practical delivery’ via a proper plan and wider strategy.

However, our education system – as it tends to be called – might struggle with plans and strategies unless they involve potential beneficiaries, like teachers, parents, and students, as well as traditional non-teaching committees and exam boards.

Mrs Thatcher’s memoirs mention her unease about the way limited objectives (for the National Curriculum) were read as an opportunity for others to ‘impose their own agenda’.

Apparently, the country ended up ‘with bureaucracy and prescriptive measures’ rather than rigorous, lightweight guidance which classroom staff might welcome. At best, for those teaching in the 2020s, professional life will be clearer.

Justine Greening also believes we all deserve ‘the chance to develop ourselves’.

Unfortunately, despite positive undertones, this phrase might refer to organisational structures where those who are not seeking self-development/promotion are left with an uncomfortable sense of them (who plan) and us (who don’t). Which explicit and operational model of self-development do schools and college encourage?

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson