z46\doc\web\2000\11\resig.txt
From: Stewart Deuchar [mailto:Stewart@sdeuchar.freeserve.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 10:39 AM
To: ClearingHouse
Cc: education-consumers@lists.dundee.net
Subject: [education-consumers] Chris Woodhead resigns




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I have just been told that Chris Woodhead, Her Majesty's Chief
Inspector of Schools, has resigned. Of course all the softies and
lefties have been out for his blood for many years. This is a
disaster for the young people in this country whose prospects depend
on getting a decent schooling. The post of HM Chief Inspector is
uniquely powerful. I do not know of anywhere in else the world with
such an elaborate and comprehensive inspectorate. Nor do I know of
anybody to match Chris Woodhead's qualities to fill the job. The
danger now is that the post will be filled by some progressive
fanatic, and our schools will be effectively back in the 1970s within
a matter of days. 


If this happens there will certainly be a stampede for places in
independent schools - at any cost. There will also be a sustained
barrage of criticism from the press, who by now are a lot wiser than
thirty years ago (partly thanks to the Campaign for Real Education). 


But in the long run, the loss of Chris Woodhead may signal the final
failure of the whole top-down approach to education. While he was
there, there was at least some hope that things might - just might -
be brought up to respectable standards. With him gone, all hopes must
be abandoned, and the spectacle of the government ever more
frantically flogging a virtually dead horse will come to be seen as
the slapstick comedy it really is. The search for an altogether new
approach will be on in earnest. Or will it? It is hard to maintain
faith in human reason. The probability is that things will continue
to bump along somehow, always with the best interests of the
education establishment firmly at heart. 


Blessings, Stewart