In a surprise move today, Michael Gove has announced that a study of sustainable development is to be made compulsory in English Schools from September 2012. The Department for Education has confirmed that there will be three elements to this: [1] sustainable development theory and practice; [2] the history of sustainable development; and [3] sustainable development across the world.
Asked who would teach all this, a DfE official said: "There will be compulsory retraining of teachers. Schools will have to designate 15% of their teaching staff a year (for the next 5 years) to attend residential courses run by the three universities who top the People & Planet green league tables". When asked what had prompted this move, the official said that Mr Gove had inadvertantly read one of John Huckle's old pamphlets whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M1. Apparently this had been slipped into his ministerial box by a senior civil servant who was one of Huckle's old students and who had been waiting for just the right moment. The epiphany was complete when Gove attended the launch of the Sustainable Schools Alliance last Tuesday disguised as an ordinary person. Asked what would be taken out of the curriculum to make way for all this sustainability stuff, the official said that this was the wrong way to think about it; it was rather that the curriculum was being re-shaped with sustainable development at its core. "Nothing will be the same again", they said. Sadly, I'm told that the official denied that Huckle was to be brought out of retirement to head a combined Ofsted / TDA.
Responses
is this april foolery? it has got to be!
I always believe everything Bill writes....