1 Out of 10: From Downing Street Vision to School Reality

by Peter Hyman

'Why the hell have you come to a place like this?'These are the words of a twelve-year-old pupil upon meeting one of the Prime Minister's key strategists in the playground. Why has Peter Hyman, the Prime Minister's chief speechwriter, swapped the corridors of power for the corridors of a tough inner-city comprehensive? And would ten years at the heart of Westminster politics be adequate training for a new life in the classroom? Peter is thrown in at the deep end. He has to cope with a child trying to escape out of a sixth-floor window, a detention room full of disruptive children and a staff room of teachers hostile to many of New Labour's reforms. This is an insider's account of leadership - a Prime Minister and a Head Teacher. What makes someone want that kind of responsibility? And what makes them good at it? It is also an exploration of change, whether it's a political party, a school, an individual or a country. It is often said that politicians and their advisors have no idea what the 'real world' is like. After Peter Hyman's jolt of reality, both his view of politics and his own priorities have been surprisingly reshaped.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education

416 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2005

Reviews

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a practising (and political) secondary school teacher within the UK, this had to be a book for me to read as soon as I saw it languishing in the ‘clearance’ section of a local WH Smith for a mere couple of quid.

The first hundred pages or so certainly left me a little bit annoyed when I found out that the author Hyman (ex-chief speech writer to Tony Blair) effectively ‘swapped’ his political job into a teaching job at Islington Green - one of London’s (and equally one of Britain’s) most challenging schools – rising to senior status in ‘blink and you’ve missed it’ timing. Yes folks, one of the first moot points struck me when Hyman casually discussed with a pupil that he was part of the school’s senior management team (SMT) at a point when he had only just started observing his very first classroom lessons. From an experience point of view, this disturbed me greatly as I think that senior status in schools should be rightfully earned for the good of all but mainly for the benefit of the pupils. Experience counts.

From such a brusque start then, I was ultimately surprised that I ended up warming to Hyman just as I gathered that working in a school and establishing pivotal relationships within the school setting started growing on him too. Although Hyman includes a lot of political chat, it is contextual and helps to set the scene of the UK and London public education arena. Of great interest to me was Hyman’s explanation of the need for Academies. I work in one and to be given a chance to explore the background theories was useful to me as I continue to wrestle with many positive and negative aspects of working in this schooling model.

I warmed to Hyman even more when he started to case study his pupils, particularly Jimmy, a Year Nine charmer, who experienced great difficulty with reading and literacy in general. Profiling such cases proved to me that Hyman was beginning to understand the real day to day yet life challenging issues that face ‘everyday pupils’ in ‘everyday schools’ and I appreciate it greatly that much of his book showcased these great concerns by giving a face and personality to such crucial problems. Pupils’ literacy (or severe lack of), is a constant concern to me in my school and I often feel that there is only a core group of fellow teachers I work with who are genuinely as equally concerned about its decline.

On completion of the book and after a little ‘Googling’ on Peter Hyman, I found that he is soon to open his own free school in London – School 21 in Stratford, Newham. With a founder who vouches for literacy so greatly, I am sure the model of the school curriculum is bound to be an interesting one and I will investigate more.

As for this book then, I would recommend it as great read for educationalists who are also interested in the social policy of making things better for all. The culmination of my reading only proved to me why I am lucky enough to be a teacher despite the many frustrations that inevitably come with the day to day job. Fortunately, such a read only inspires me to keep on going.

[Rose]

Too much political name-dropping, not enough on integrating his political experience with what he learnt in the school. The way he talked about the teachers and teaching was annoying in places.

For example, in one lesson he was supporting, some children hadn't listened and didn't know what to do, so he helped them. He comments that if he had not been there, they would have learned nothing from that lesson, so he felt like he was making a big difference then. But if he hadn't been there, the teacher would have come round and checked how they were doing, and helped them. That's a pretty basic thing teachers do.