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Dr Winkley Slams Government's
‘Stalinist’ Education
Rossall headmaster, Dr Stephen Winkley has branded state education “Stalinist” and said the Government has “screwed up” and should be “highly embarrassed” by its failure to improve education one iota over the past decade despite investing billions of pounds.
Speaking on BBC Radio Lancashire’s ‘Ladies@Lunch’ talk show, Dr Winkley, the outspoken head of independent, Rossall School near Fleetwood, lambasted the Government’s performance, despite its claims to have improved standards and he called for the headmasters of state schools to be set free from the rigid system to enable them to deliver better education for their pupils.
Asked by BBC presenter, Sally Naden about his views on the nation’s state education, Dr Winkley praised teachers in state schools and said: “Heads and teachers in state schools are not the architects of failings in the education system. The blame for that falls squarely at the door of ministers in Whitehall, who despite investing millions and millions of taxpayers money every year for over a decade, are managing a system that is inferior to that of ten years ago.”
Dr Winkley added: “Twenty years ago in France the system was so rigid in its structure it was joked that one could feel the wind generated when the nation’s pupils turned the pages of text books in unison. Now, we have an almost identical situation in Britain, where education is far too prescriptive and almost ‘Stalinist’ in its implementation, which is why it’s failing our children so badly.”
He went on the suggest that schools should be set free to deliver the type of education to suit their pupils and their particular circumstances, as in the state’s academy programme and said that without change, more and more parents would turn to the independent sector to educate their children, despite the economic pressures felt by many at the present time.
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CULT OF CELEBRITY: A CURSE ON EDUCATION
We grow up by seeing who we want to be like. We are surrounded as we grow up by potential role models: the gang leader, the coolest girl in town, the football genius, the focused worker, the fun person, the manipulator. Role models are important. Children who once would have wanted to be engine-drivers now want to be like Lewis Hamilton, but quicker!
The unbelievable fantasy of being like David Beckham sustains some adolescent boys and probably a few girls as well. But where would they find the fantastic idea that it might be cool to be clever? Sadly, not from anyone in this country. But Michelle Obama, on a recent visit to a school in East London, may have lit a few fires when she said: “I am here because of education. I never cut school. I loved getting A’s and I thought being smart was the coolest thing there was.” Wow!
When I was fourteen I shared some lessons with boys up to four years older than me. That gave me a clue about where I wanted to be in four years time…that, and a stubborn streak, which refused to be intimidated by other values around at the time. But how, I wonder, would a child from a non-academic or unsupportive background develop the notion that it might be cool to learn, that learning stuff might be admirable, fun, and useful; and what would take such a person, usually a boy, past the cries of “nerd” and “geek” which would greet all his efforts? In many maintained schools it’s a problem of critical mass: not enough children, and not enough strong children, are moved by academic aspiration. And now, of course, they are learning about widespread graduate unemployment, which has to cause some to think “what’s the point.”
There are clever kids out there. There are kids who are keen and eager and want to do well: and then they learn that the whole end of life isn’t about using one’s head: it’s about wearing the right clothes, having the right gadgets, listening to the right music. “When I grow up I want to be a celebrity,” is the saddest thing I hear from ten-year-olds. And I say: no, sweetheart, you can do much better than that. For all our sakes, let’s hope more do!
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Dr Winkley says Infant Education Proposals Too Timid
Our Headmaster, Dr Winkley, has branded government proposals to change infant education as “too timid” and questioned why Government insists on meddling in the content of education.
Dr Stephen Winkley, the former chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association, believes that government adviser Sir Jim Rose hasn’t gone far enough in overhauling infant education following his “root and branch” review of what is taught in primary schools.
Commenting on Sir Jim Rose’s interim report Dr Winkley said: “I've never understood why Government gets so involved in the content of education. They ought to ask the big questions: what sort of skills will the country need? How can education improve the life chances of our citizens? What kind of world will today's children inherit? Are there things wrong in current society which better or different education might address?
“I've got no arguments with what Sir Jim is suggesting, though it doesn't go far enough. The Tories remain obsessed by a content-driven notion of education, as if children were empty bottles who had to be stuffed with subjects to make them marketable. Any information you need is now available at the click of a button, so why waste hours drumming history and geography and biology into kids? Education should be about skills and the acquisition of skills, but not just logical/intellectual skills: skills in relation to a mature and diverse model of a human being as a person equipped with kinetic, aesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, affective (emotional intelligence) needs and aspirations. The model for developing this is not the traditional classroom but some sort of community life such as a boarding school where all these needs and skills can be fostered by the way the institution is devised. It's good to get away from content and measurement but like all innovations it's too timid.”
As one of the founding members of the Boarding Schools’ Alliance in the early 1990’s, Dr Winkley is acknowledged as one of the country’s leading authorities on boarding school education and is recognized for his work in changing public perceptions of boarding, which helped to halt the decline in the sector and rekindle interest in British boarding schools.
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“League Table Culture Damaging for Children…”
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One headmaster, outspoken on the subject of league tables is former Boarding Schools’ Association Chairman, and our Headmaster, Dr Stephen Winkley. He has slammed the whole culture of league tables, which he claims is damaging education provision in Britain.
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Dr Winkley said: “There are three enormous problems about League tables and the League table culture. First, they neglect the quality of candidates on entry to the school. So, if a school, for whatever reason, only accepts children with an IQ of say 130, one would expect them to do outstandingly well. Yet, some schools, despite their high entry qualifications, may be performing poorly compared with what they ought to be achieving. However, the real test is surely not the raw outcome but the added value. There are some “non-academic” schools that do add rather a lot, while some ”academic” schools add very little to the lives of their children.&rdquo
Dr Winkley also believes that in the pursuit of League table position schools could lose focus of what education is all about. He added: “The second problem is that doing well in the League tables becomes an objective for a school when it should be thinking of doing well for the pupils. Indeed, at some schools, children are often barred from exams or subjects, or even forced out if they are likely to lower the school’s position; which is clearly shameful.
“In my opinion, to value the League table is to dance to somebody else’s tune, something no proper Head would want to do. This brings me to the final problem, which is that the League tables create the sense that what matters is only what can be measured, even by the flawed criteria, yet every human being knows this is patently ridiculous.
“The things that really matter are the things which can’t be measured. A school which aspires to do well at League tables…an “academic hothouse” if you like… will almost certainly be a less nurturing, encouraging, inspiring, kind, sympathetic or responsive environment than a school which values human qualities. And, let’s face it, looking around today it’s evident that the world needs these human qualities far more than it needs blinkered competitiveness
“I hope no one out there is foolish enough to believe there is any connection between high position in the League tables and the excellence of a school, because my experience of education nationally has shown me that there isn’t.&rdquo
A career educationalist of forty years experience, Dr Winkley has called upon the Government to reassess its priorities in education and to stop promoting a competitive culture in which he claims the only losers are the nation’s children.
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