Michael Gove will be more powerful outside of politics
Michael Gove will be more powerful outside of politics
Don't bet against him
When asked to roll-call the achievements from 14 long years in office, even the most fervent Conservative Party activist will struggle. One thing is guaranteed, however: Michael Gove’s school reforms will be near the top of their short list. The veteran MP has announced that he is standing down from his Lib Dem target seat of Surrey Heath at the election, sunsetting a near-20-year Parliamentary career — most of it spent in the Cabinet.
Gove first made his name as a reformer while education secretary early on in David Cameron’s government. Firstly by putting rocket boosters on the late New Labour policy of academising schools, giving them the freedom to innovate by making them independent of local authority control, and secondly by giving schools minister Nick Gibb full backing to revolutionise reading standards by introducing phonics to the curriculum.
Both successful reforms saw Gove rally against “The Blob”, the contemptuous moniker he applied to what he saw as an education sector establishment that opposed just about any change to a soft, fluffy, “learning to learn” teaching philosophy, as opposed to a more direct, “chalkboard” pedagogy. Working with a certain Dominic Cummings as his special advisor until 2014, it would not be the last time that Gove would sail headlong against the prevailing establishment winds…
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