The School Report

by Nick Davies

Over a period of 18 months, Davies researched for the Guardian a special series of stories investigating the condition of our state schools. They were published in three batches between September 1999 and July 2000, at lengths varying from 600 words to 7,000. The series attempted to go beneath the surface issues to expose the fundamentals - the undeclared but highly successful policy to kill off our comprehensive schools; the bogus analysis of school failure used by Ofsted; the fabrication of facts by Ofsted's chief inspector, Chris Woodhead; the gross dishonesty about funding by the Secretary of State; the link between the success of private schools and the failure of state schools; graphic stories about underfunding, about the lives of truants; an expose of how teachers have joined children in cheating to deliver the exam results which the government demands; some pointers to solutions, based on Dutch schools. The response was huge.

Genres: Journalism

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[David Sawtell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book covering the fundamental problem with British schools. In short, areas of poverty and then the free market approach to schools causing an extremely wide inequality gap between schools. Spells out why the governments plans to combat the problem won't work without acknowledging the problem.
It does only cover up to about 2002, so doesn't include the rest of New Labour's time in power, but then their fundamental approach didn't change any. It certainly won't cover the coalitions disastrous approach. Also includes David Blunkett's response to Nick Davies' original articles. Unsurprisingly he doesn't respond to the fundamental problem. It must also be said that this is a work of journalism, so it isn't as in depth as it could be and I would have liked a bibliography or similar to further my reading.