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Amazon.co.uk Review
In his time Class War author Chris Woodhead has been a radical 70s schoolmaster, a Local Education Authority bigwig, a Schools Inspector for both Tory and Labour administrations, and a writer on educational matters for the Daily Telegraph. Now he's put that unique experience to polemical use: this is his hugely well-informed and highly opinionated dissertation on the state of the UK's education system.
Those with some knowledge of Woodhead's history and outlook (and why he was sacked by Tony Blair) will not be surprised by his traditionalist take. Woodhead finds Britain's embattled schools swamped by trendiness, undermined by bureaucracy, weakened by indiscipline and prone to mismanagement. But that predictability does not make Woodhead's arguments any the less germane and incisive. Each well-aimed kick--at Ofsted, the LEAs, even the University system--should bring a tear to the eye of the average teacher, pupil, parent--and voter. Woodhead's deconstruction of the National Curriculum, as it has been watered down to suit "progressive professional opinion", is particularly sharp. Here's the author in full flow concerning the dodgy sociologese, the post-modern weasel words, used by so many contemporary educationalists to disguise the sloppiness of their theorising:
We now have "thinking skills" in the National Curriculum. We have "enterprise education". We have "education for sustainable development". And, as an inevitable consequence, we have less and less time for the teaching of subjects the National Curriculum was first introduced to protect.
Amid all this scathing criticism, Woodhead does take time to praise certain hard-working schools, teachers, governors, and so on. He also tries to end on a positive note, by sketching a traditionalist "Way Forward", if that isn't an oxymoron. On the whole though, it's the litany of unnecessary failure that remains in the mind. This is a salutary read for the literate and pre-literate alike. --Sean Thomas --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
You have no choice but to read it (Bryan Appleyard, SUNDAY TIMES )
Blistering ... a fiery statement of his beliefs (George Walden, MAIL ON SUNDAY )
CLASS WAR should be required reading for all politicians and educationalists (P.D. James, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
Woodhead should be proud that he has spent the last decade trying to get us out of the mess. (NEW STATESMAN )
Blistering ... a fiery statement of his beliefs (George Walden, MAIL ON SUNDAY )
CLASS WAR should be required reading for all politicians and educationalists (P.D. James, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
Woodhead should be proud that he has spent the last decade trying to get us out of the mess. (NEW STATESMAN )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have almost finished reading this book and can take a fairly balanced view, being neither a parent nor a teacher. There is much here to applaud: in particular the author's obvious passion for education and the power of his convictions. On the other hand, there is rather too much justification of OFSTED (whatever view you happen to take of the current schools inspectorate), which detracts from the book as a whole.
There also appears to be some muddle in the trains of thought. At times Woodhead says teachers have an impossible job (30 kids in a class so you are supposed to teach in 30 learning styles is one of his examples) and at others that those teachers who claim their job is impossible are merely lazy or incompetent. Sometimes the kids are undisciplined and undisciplinable, at others it's the teachers fault that they cannot maintain class order. At any rate, all are at fault except OFSTED and the parents (who surely must bear some responsibility!)
Ultimately, one has to take a view on Woodhead's underlying assumptions. There are many that appeal to me, such as the need for didactic teaching, pass/fail exams that actually mean something and high standards of literacy and numeracy. Other assumptions are more dubious, however. In Woodhead's view, the only way to raise standards is to identify problems and apportion blame to teachers. This may be part of the story but Woodhead has built up so many disagreements with the teaching unions that he cannot see past their failings to perceive the problems they face such as deprived areas, undisciplined children and excess bureaucracy. I suspect that the best way to reinvigorate a profession with widespread paranoia is not to attack them further, but Woodhead would not agree!
There also appears to be some muddle in the trains of thought. At times Woodhead says teachers have an impossible job (30 kids in a class so you are supposed to teach in 30 learning styles is one of his examples) and at others that those teachers who claim their job is impossible are merely lazy or incompetent. Sometimes the kids are undisciplined and undisciplinable, at others it's the teachers fault that they cannot maintain class order. At any rate, all are at fault except OFSTED and the parents (who surely must bear some responsibility!)
Ultimately, one has to take a view on Woodhead's underlying assumptions. There are many that appeal to me, such as the need for didactic teaching, pass/fail exams that actually mean something and high standards of literacy and numeracy. Other assumptions are more dubious, however. In Woodhead's view, the only way to raise standards is to identify problems and apportion blame to teachers. This may be part of the story but Woodhead has built up so many disagreements with the teaching unions that he cannot see past their failings to perceive the problems they face such as deprived areas, undisciplined children and excess bureaucracy. I suspect that the best way to reinvigorate a profession with widespread paranoia is not to attack them further, but Woodhead would not agree!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
... for anyone in education, any parent, any tax payer - anyone at all. Mr Woodhead's arguments are so strong that occasionally he's in danger of them running away from him; but otherwise a very important critique of public education in the UK, together with sensible and practical proposals for clearing up the mess.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you were to believe anybody's verdict on the British educational system, it would be Chris Woodhead,
who has worked for the last thirty years in British education, the last six years as Chief Inspector for Schools within
OFSTED, the Office for Standards in Education. His verdict on the state of British education is not necessarily
favourable and I enjoyed reading his devastating remarks on trendy teaching methods, grade inflation or short-sighted measures taken by politicians
only to achieve immediate results. Woodhead pleads for more private initiative in establishing independent schools,
based on the model of so-called charter schools, recently introduced in Arizona. These are schools funded
by the state, but which operate outside the state bureaucracy.
Much of Woodhead's courageous criticism on British schools would also apply to our German schools.
who has worked for the last thirty years in British education, the last six years as Chief Inspector for Schools within
OFSTED, the Office for Standards in Education. His verdict on the state of British education is not necessarily
favourable and I enjoyed reading his devastating remarks on trendy teaching methods, grade inflation or short-sighted measures taken by politicians
only to achieve immediate results. Woodhead pleads for more private initiative in establishing independent schools,
based on the model of so-called charter schools, recently introduced in Arizona. These are schools funded
by the state, but which operate outside the state bureaucracy.
Much of Woodhead's courageous criticism on British schools would also apply to our German schools.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Teachers should teach
Chris Woodhead understands that the teaching is flawed, adn this is not the fault of teachers but of those who have mis)trained them since 1945, when Schonell said we do not look... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mrs. M. Mcnee
Required reading...
... for anyone in education, any parent, any tax payer - anyone at all. Mr Woodhead's arguments are so strong that occasionally he's in danger of them running away from him; but... Read more
Published on 16 July 2003 by Peter Chambers
Research or polemic?
I surprised myself by agreeing with Chris Woodhead on many of the issues raised in the book, and I think that the content cannot simply be dismissed. Read more
Published on 4 April 2002 by tebw1@aol.com
Dumbing Down - LEAs & Adult Illiteracy
Like Chris Woodhead, I was taught to be a trendy teacher at College of Education in the 1960's.
Children were not to hear the word "no", or see a sum marked with an... Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2002 by Tom MacFarlane
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