{"id":7761,"date":"2020-08-24T05:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=7761"},"modified":"2024-04-27T11:39:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T11:39:47","slug":"education-ministers-i-have-known","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2020\/08\/24\/education-ministers-i-have-known\/","title":{"rendered":"Education ministers I have known"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Wikipedia has a helpful <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Secretary_of_State_for_Education\">list<\/a> of English Education ministers down the years. \u00a0There have been 41 (so far) in my lifetime. \u00a0This is an average of more than 1 every 2 years. \u00a0Most (60% or so) have been Conservative). \u00a0It is a not a job to linger in. \u00a0In the 4 years since 2021, there have been 6 of them.<\/p>\n<p>Many are memorable \u2013 though it's not always possible to remember why. \u00a0I'd mention:<\/p>\n<p>Robert Lowe, RA Butler, Ellen Wilkinson, David Eccles, Anthony Crossland,\u00a0Shirley Williams, Margaret Thatcher,\u00a0Keith Joseph, Kenneth Baker, Estelle Morris, Michael Gove \u2013 and Gavin Williamson.<\/p>\n<p>The last name on the list illustrates that not all are memorable for good reasons. \u00a0Estelle Morris (now in the House of Lords) deserves a special mention; she resigned with dignity from the role when she accepted, what the rest of us knew, that she \"wasn't up to the job\". \u00a0My view of her switched overnight from disdain to admiration, and she is now remembered with some gratitude for the revolution she helped to bring about in London schooling \u2013 although not the rest of the country.<\/p>\n<p>The list contains some real duffers; Fred Mulley springs to mind. \u00a0It's not always a job that goes to best in class. \u00a0This is a pity.<\/p>\n<p>The list also shows how the focus of the Department has shifted back and forth over the years: education \/ education and science \/ education and skills \/ education and employment \/ children, schools and families \/ Education (again) ... . \u00a0No wonder we are confused.<\/p>\n<p>........................<\/p>\n<p>Updated in April 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wikipedia has a helpful list of English Education ministers down the years. \u00a0There have been 41 (so far) in my lifetime. \u00a0This is an average of more than 1 every 2 years. \u00a0Most (60% or so) have been Conservative). \u00a0It...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}