The problem with being a minister is that you need to make announcements so that people think you are doing something. The 'I am today announcing that ...' strategy which will be rubbished the following day by those in the know by which time the original idea will be buried in chip paper.
A recent letter to the papers highlighted this.
In July, on the eve of the Olympics ('OMG we have four weeks coming up when we cannot announce anything controversial, people will think I am not doing anything'; or was it 'a good time to bury a difficult announcement'?) Michael Gove announced that academies and free schools could employ unqualified teachers if they were felt to be competent enough (discuss).
In October, he announced a more rigorous pre-entry assessment of potential teachers to make sure that the entry process was sufficiently challenging that anyone who gains a place would be likely to go on to become an excellent teacher. Evidence from around the world, he said, made it clear that this was the key to raising the standard and status of teaching.
But the government already had a carefully-considered policy on recruitment, drawn up after consultation with teachers and other professionals, and Gove's suggestions ran counter to that.
And then we had David Laws blaming staff and carers for the 'depressingly low expectations' of many young people. Apparently things were so bad that they did not think they were up to being an investment banker. No evidence was offered of course. Another London dinner party?
Perhaps it was not that they did not think they were up to it. Perhaps it was that they simply did not want to be an investment banker. After all, banking and being a politician, unlike teaching, are probably the most reviled professions in the country.
