A LEADING
headmaster
who is
leaving one
of the most
popular
schools in
the state
system to
work in the
private
sector has
accused the
Government
of turning
teachers
into "social
workers and
surrogate
parents".
Rod
MacKinnon,
the head of
Bexley
Grammar
School,
south-east
London, said
schools were
being forced
to shun
traditional
lessons as
ministers
manipulated
the
education
system for
the purposes
of "social
engineering".
He said
schools
"cannot
solve all of
society's
ills" and
should be
left to
teach.
His comments
came just
days after
ministers
published
new guidance
requiring
schools to
monitor
obesity
rates, drug
taking and
teenage
pregnancy as
part of a
new duty to
promote
pupil
"wellbeing".
According to
figures
obtained
under the
Freedom of
Information
Act, Bexley
Grammar is
the most
sought-after
school in
England.
Last year,
1,927
parents
named it as
their first
choice – for
just 192
spare
places. It
means the
school
rejected
nine pupils
for every
one it
admitted.
It emerged
that four of
the 10 most
popular
schools were
grammars and
two were
faith-based
schools,
indicating
that a
strong
emphasis on
academic
rigour and
traditional
values were
highly rated
by families.
Mr MacKinnon
said the
school had a
firm uniform
and
behaviour
policy,
offered
Latin,
Japanese and
Russian, and
placed a
strong
emphasis on
traditional
subjects. It
offers the
International
Baccalaureate
as an
alternative
to A-levels
and last
month it
announced
that it
wanted to be
become the
first state
school in
England to
offer the
more
rigorous
International
GCSE.
But writing
in The Daily
Telegraph
today, he
insisted
that
ministers
maintained
"unrealistic
expectations"
of what
schools
could
achieve –
pushing
children
towards
educational
"failure".
"There are
those who
wish to use
children and
schools as
social
engineers
with a view
to creating
a different
society but
we should
not even be
trying to do
such
things," he
said.
"Children
need to be
nurtured,
educated and
cared for,
not thrown
into the
frontline of
social
reform.
Muddled
thinking is
guaranteeing
failure for
the noble
aspirations
we all
commonly
hold for the
education of
the young."
Mr
MacKinnon,
who becomes
head of
fee-paying
Bristol
Grammar
School in
September,
said there
was a
"disturbing
lack of
clarity"
about the
education
system as
ministers
presided
over a
"muddle" of
different
aims. He
insisted
that good
schools had
to focus on
"learning,
achievement
and values",
but were
increasingly
being asked
to do
parents'
jobs.
"Teachers
simply do
not have the
contact time
to 'create'
behaviours
and
attitudes
within
children,"
he said.
"They are
not – and
cannot be –
social
engineers
and social
workers and
surrogate
parents, as
well as
subject
teachers,
all rolled
into one."
It follows
claims this
week from
Bernice
McCabe, the
headmistress
of the
independent
North London
Collegiate
School, that
the
education
system was
leading to
the
"cultural
and
intellectual
impoverishment"
of a
generation
of children
as ministers
focus on
"woolly"
goals.
|
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Schools Used for 'Social Engineering', Claims Headteacher
Teachers are being turned into "social workers and surrogate parents" under Labour, according to the headteacher of the country's most popular school
BY GRAEME PATON, EDUCATION EDITOR
Telegraph.co.uk, July 07, 2008Category: Education
Published here: Tuesday, July 08, 2008, 05:21 AM
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 05:21 AM
Rod MacKinnon
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/education/2258882/Schools-used-for-%27social-engineering%27%2C-claims-headteacher.html
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