The unstoppable rise of the Heads' Roundtable
It started as a few people on Twitter. Now the Heads' Roundtable have met politicians, held a consultation and are writing their own alternative to Michael Gove's EBacc policy
Late last year, the education secretary, Michael Gove, conceded that, while determined to stick to his timetable for qualifications reform, if a "red light" flashed, he would take note of it.
It is hard to imagine a brighter "red light" than last week's education select committee report on Gove's plan to replace GCSEs with English Baccalaureate Certificates (EBCs). The committee dissected the challenges facing the coalition's most contentious education reform and concluded that there were serious concerns about almost every aspect of the proposals.
With the clock now ticking towards the introduction of the new exams in 2015, a seemingly intransigent minister, opposition to his plans from many quarters and a Labour Party policy review not due to report for several more months, even seasoned commentators can't quite predict where this process will end.
But one group of headteachers is taking matters into their own hands and pressing ahead with a grassroots reform movement, determined to build support and consensus around an alternative vision of what education could and should be.
The Heads' Roundtable started with a handful of school leaders, drawn together via Twitter by shared concerns about the effects that government policy would have on their pupils, and by frustration about the lack of a robust alternative.
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... (The Guardian - 04 February)