A letter to the RH Michael Gove

23 Avon Rise Luckington Wiltshire SN14 6PF 18 June 2013. Dear Mr Gove, I am a mother of three young teenagers, two have which are on the tail end of their senior school education and one that is in year seven and about to embark on his serious studies. Both the girls have successfully gone through the current system of GCSEs and have worked very hard to obtain the grades they have and are expected to get. My eldest also took AS levels but sadly due to a disability had to drop at least one A level which meant she could no longer continue at 6th form. She transferred to college and is now getting distinctions across the board in a BTEC Level 3 Music Performance Diploma and hopes to go onto University. Alice is obtaining A*s not because the exams are easy but because she works so hard at her studies. I was sadly disappointed to hear of the proposed changes you are trying to make to the exam system over the next two years which will directly affect my son however, who is in year seven. How on earth do you propose that teaching algebra and Shakespeare (whilst great subjects) will truly fit him for life in the 21st century not to mention the fact that results will now be based on exams alone at the end of two years??? Universities are already experiencing problems with students coming through not knowing how to do modules and coursework, not knowing how to think for themselves as they have been taught in the monkey see monkey do fashion in order to pass exams, get good grades and make the school and the government look good. What about the child and what is best for them? We are all different and all learn in different ways, where is the scope in your recommendations for innovation? I have recently completed a BA(Hons) degree in Youth and Community and Practical Theology myself at the age of 45 and have worked alongside some of the young people I speak of, who struggled to time keep and work on modules without having to constantly ask questions of the tutors. I have studied the different learning styles that theorists such as Piaget, Kolb and Honey and Mumford have studied for many years and looked at pedagogy and the work of people that came before you and I. They have come up with tried and tested methods of successful teaching through hands on learning, through the building blocks of education and the joys and merits of informal education. Even the Chinese have a proverb “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand” Over the past few weeks I have been assisting on an Inclusions and Alternative Provisions review at our local senior school and I have been amazed at the choice that is available to young people. Life is about more than academia it just seems a shame that the only way to access Alternative Provision is to misbehave. I understand that a bespoke education maybe unaffordable across the board but surely education should be tailored more towards an individual not less as it would be in your proposals? I don’t think you realise that these children and young people are not commodities or statistics they are human beings that need to brought up holistically that is educated academically, spiritually and in well being all your proposals will serve to do is to alienate further those who are not academic, cause more behavioural problems for teachers who have a hard enough job as it is with all the other policies they have to deal with and give exam results based on how well a student performs in an exam. If they have a good memory and can cope well under pressure they will be fine but if like my son, they get stressed and can’t think straight they don’t stand a chance. I know because I sat O’levels that were based on the same format and they didn’t work either! What is so wrong with having a balance of coursework that is supervised as it has now become and exams without all the emphasis being placed on the exam? This would give a fairer picture and fit a young person better for the future. Life is all about learning it’s a never ending process of failure, learning and failing again, like a small child learning to walk they don’t do it all in one go, it takes practice and there needs to be room for error, it’s not a finite process. Just what is your thinking behind these ridiculous proposals, how have you come to these conclusions? What advice have you sought? As far as I can tell from speaking to teachers through school and the National Union of Teachers and other parents none of them think this is a good idea so where are you getting your information from? Seriously I and many others would like to know, can you put our minds at rest or do we have to take further action to save the future of our children! My husband is a retired college lecturer, he to holds a BSc in Engineering so we both understand the importance of a good education but more particularly in a balanced informal/formal learning structure. We recently found out that as parents we have more authority over our children’s education than we thought. During our son’s time in year 6 he was very badly bullied. The school refused to act and even admit there was a problem and so we discovered through a friend that we could home educate him which we did for six months. Most parents haven’t got a clue how easy this is and that it is far from being against the law. These children and young people that you are messing with are not yours, they are not pawns in political games, they are God given gifts to us as parents to look after and nurture and so we as parents have every right to stand up for what we believe in. The teachers are with us and if I need to get a petition up against these proposals and raise another vote of no confidence in your policies I will. As well as teaching my husband and I both volunteer and work with young people, Iain in particular works with NEET young people and we have seen firsthand the damage that is being done to the future generations This is not a threat but we as parents and teachers want answers and sooner rather than later before you mess up another generation! Regards Sarah McGrory Iain McGrory