On Monday 22 November, we are lucky enough to be hosting the first UK screening of the Oscar shortlisted film ‘Waiting for Superman‘ that has rocked the US education system and is set to send the debate about Free Schools in the UK into orbit. We know that the film will generate a huge amount of debate between… in the Blue Corner - Free School promoters and advocates such as Michael Gove, Toby Young and Rachel Wolf vs in the Red Corner - Free School detractors and critics including Christine Blower from the NUT and Fiona Millar, Melissa Benn and co at the Local Schools Network. Well let the debate start here…Our screening on Monday is followed by a debate with a panel including myself, US Founder and CEO of TeachFirst Brett Wigdortz, James Turner Head of Policy at the Sutton Trust and Janet Cullen, Headteacher of Lea Valley School. And if you think that debate will spark some fireworks, there will no doubt be a ‘bonfire and new years eve style’ display after the event in the media, the education press and blogosphere.
So lets light the fuse for this debate now, ahead of our screening, so we have some views to start our discussion on Monday.
Let us know what you feel about Charter Schools in the US or Free Schools in the UK and (if you are in the US) what issues were raised for you in the film? There is a wealth of coverage of the film in the US – where it has sparked debate across the country. The official WfS website is here and there is notwaitingforsuperman.org which shares some of the less favourable reaction to the film in the US.
Back to the UK – I’ll also share with you a comment from Toby Young himself – who said to me last week in an email:
‘You must understand what this film is really about… the film portrays charter school pioneers as true American heroes and the US teaching unions as blinkered and self-serving. It’s an eviscerating attack on the American teaching unions and a ringing endorsement of the American charter school movement’.
So to translate this for a UK context…
Free schools pioneers are heroes and teaching unions and the views that the local schools network represents are intransigent and holding back the education system…
Is that enough to start the debate?… comments welcome… and much more to come after the screening. Watch this space…
Related posts:
It is difficult to reconcile Toby Young’s views with my own experience of the teaching profession as a parent, a governor and as an architect who has worked with schools for over twenty years. The noise of shrill group around him, Rachel Wolf and the rest of the NSN Tea Party is threatening to drown out the reasoned voices of committed educationalists who have worked hard to bring about reforms in teaching and learning within the democratic system.
It is good that C4SD is providing a space for a reasoned debate. Having worked so hard with inspiring teachers on the BSF programme you will know better than most of us the talent, dedication and expertise that already exists in our schools.
So another dramatic documentary film from the USA …. not a universal truth. You can always create tears and indignation by highlighting people let down by the system. Remember, however, that those educated between the 1960s and today have a pretty strong track record of technological, scientific and social development built on our education system. There was no golden age before this.
The problem with education in the political arena is that everyone misses the point about ‘education’. It does not matter whether a school is an academy, free school, charter school, private school, grammar school or state comprehensive. What matters is that children are valued, that teaching is good and that imaginative opportunities are provided so that they can learn effectively. Education is about people and relationships not structures and brands. Look at the best – it is inspiring.
Of course there is plenty wrong in UK schools but there is also a lot of passion, commitment and genuine care for children and young people. Some of the best education is traditional, some progressive. A good learning environment helps as does forward looking use of technology.
Don’t miss the point by thinking competition in education improves things. It just creates social division and panders to exclusivity. For every winner there is a loser. I think that all the evidence points to collaboration as the tool for improvement. Every school can improve given the will of its community (staff, students and parents). Re-branding may help but a good academy or free school today can be a failing school tomorrow as easily as any community comprehensive.
If the ‘system’ is letting kids down – fix it, don’t dismantle our local communities of schools through the dogma of competition and diversification. We will live to regret it.