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The education secretary has claimed that the last government was obsessed with bureaucracy and did not trust teachers.
Michael Gove said that between April 2009 and April 2010 schools received 4,846 pages of guidance, regulations and details of government initiatives.
He said that since the coalition took office, 69,714 words of information and guidance have been sent to schools.
"What Labour's bombardment of schools shows is not only an obsession with pointless bureaucracy but, actually more importantly, a total lack of trust in teachers," he said.
"Because we believe in teachers, the coalition immediately reduced this bureaucracy from Whitehall and has taken further steps to lessen the bureaucratic burden on teachers."
The Conservative party's analysis of emails sent by the predecessor department was summed up in comparisons with popular children's books.
The 8,646 pages of guidance "equates to 1.6 million words ... the same as reading all seven Harry Potter novels and the complete seven-book series The Chronicles of Narnia".
Article Comments
Yes, schools were bombarded and overwhelmed by bureaucracy and regulations flowing from the last government, although some guidance is, of course, necessary.
However, given that the present government is embarking on a programme of massive change and upheaval in education, which will produce yet more burdensome regulations and initiatives, it looks like more of the same.
The Education Secretary seems to be trying to score party political points while carrying on where his predecessors left off.
Philip Parkin, Voice
7th Jan 2011 at 4:01 pm
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