Gove! Gove! Gove! Go! Go! Go!

It's got a ring to it, hasn't it?

Not content with almost losing the election for his aprty with his 'Big Society' campaign, then scraping school renovations and repairs, Michael Gove appears to have resorted to lying about the number of schools signing up for his 'Free Schools' initiative:

Michael Gove, the education secretary, faced renewed attacks today when it emerged that only 153 schools had applied to become academies – despite his claims that more than 1,000 had done so.

Gove had said that the scale of demand from schools to escape town hall control required the government to rush legislation through parliament before this week's summer recess.

-oO SNIP Oo-

In relation to the academies, the department issued a press release on 2 June quoting Gove as saying: "The response has been overwhelming. In just one week, over 1,100 schools have applied." He added: "Of these, 626 are outstanding schools, including over 250 primary schools, nearly 300 secondary schools (over half of all the outstanding secondary schools in the country) and over 50 special schools." (1)

Gove correctly identified a serious problem - that intelligent children from poor backgrounds fall behind less able children from affluent backgrounds - and suggests a solution that will only make it worse (2). Allowing 'Free Schools' will only increase the gap, as middle class, affluent, give-a-fuck parents will take advantage of the opportunity, leaving capable students to struggle in an (even more) second class comprehensive system.

Genius. And this from the man who a few weeks ago expected us all to get starry eyed at the idea of the 'Big Society.' The Big Society, in practice, would appear to be something to be enjoyed by the privileged few, not the rest of the dirty proles.

Oddly, the Toryastic Telegraph doesn't think the lack of interest in his educational apartheid merits a mention. It isn't anywhere that I can see in their Politics section. S till, maybe they are right - Michael Gove's incompetence is hardly news. And perhaps his political career is more properly located in the obituaries.

Though I rather hope David Cameron doesn't do the decent thing and keeps the useless quilt on. Every time he opens his mouth is a few thousand votes for Labour. Then we can keep shouting "Gove! Gove! Gove! Go! Go! Go!" for another five years.

(And God knows, Labour will need every gove gifted vote it can get, if the party makes a Miliband leader ...)

Gove! Gove! Gove! Go! Go! Go!

Come on, join in. You know you want to.

1 - "Michael Gove's academy plan under fire as scale of demand emerges," by Jessica Shepherd and Patrick Wintour. Publiushed in the Guardian, 29th of July, 2010. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/29/michael-gove-academies-schools-claims)
2 - "'Rich, thick kids' achieve much more than poor clever ones, says Gove," by Jessica Shepherd. Published in the Guardian, 28th of July, 2010. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jul/28/gove-academies-rich-thick-kids)