Established during the 1960s and based on the progressive goal of good schools for all, the comprehensive system has over the past decades come under sustained attack from successive governments. Now, with the growing inequalities of our current system, the damaging impact of spending cuts, the rise of 'free schools' and the growth of the private sector in education, the values embodied in the comprehensive ideal are under threat. The situation is expertly anatomized by journalist and educational campaigner Melissa Benn, who explores the dangerous example of US education reform, where privatization, punitive accountability and the rise of charter schools have intensified social, economic and ethnic divisions. The policies of recent British governments have been muddled and confused, but one thing is clear: that the relentless application of market principles signals a fundamental shift from the notion of quality education as a public good, to education as market-controlled commodity. Benn ends by outlining some key principles for restoring strong educational values within a fair, non-selective public education system.
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Review
A tremendous book. It is a passionate polemic about the most important policy divide of the day, schooling, the area changing more at the hands of the coalition government than any other. --Anthony Seldon, Observer
A poetically eloquent ... [and] important watershed. It is a clear-sighted re-statement of why universal, comprehensive education is obviously the best option. It should, and hopefully will, be taken as a rallying call to the left. --Phil Beadle, Independent
Short, well written and passionate. --Francis Beckett, New Statesman
A poetically eloquent ... [and] important watershed. It is a clear-sighted re-statement of why universal, comprehensive education is obviously the best option. It should, and hopefully will, be taken as a rallying call to the left. --Phil Beadle, Independent
Short, well written and passionate. --Francis Beckett, New Statesman
About the Author
MELISSA BENN is a writer, journalist and campaigner. She writes for, among others, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, Cosmopolitan and the New Statesman. A high-profile campaigner for comprehensive education, her writing on education includes Education and Democracy, coedited with Clyde Chitty and A Comprehensive Future: Quality and Equality for All Our Children. A Frequent broadcaster and regular speaker on educational issues, she is a founder member of the Local Schools Network, set up to support local schools and to counter media misinformation about their achievements and the challenges they face.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By BexBooks
Format:Paperback
I read this book as I began the labyrinthine local authority school application process. Living in an area where there's everything from community schools to faith schools to academies and parents tie themselves up in knots about where to send their kids, I wondered how our school system got so complicated and whether all this 'choice' does our children any good. This passionate and well argued book provides the answers. It explains how the concept of a non-selective comprehensive school system never got the chance to prove its worth, how these schools got a bad name in the process and why, after endless reforms, we are left with a bewildering range of schools that deliver far less than was promised. The book ends with ideas about how we might build an education system that serves everyone well. In setting out her argument Melissa Benn describes her own experience of the state school system, first as a pupil and then as a parent, and speaks to other parents and teachers (in both state and private schools) as well as drawing on academic research. She pulls together a great deal of information about the history and politics of post-war education but her style is very readable and you end up feeling informed rather than overwhelmed. Even as a supporter of the state school system, this book challenged my prejudices about what lies beyond the school gates. To borrow a phrase, this book shows that 'we are all in this together' - if we want the schools in our neighbourhoods to thrive then we have to support them and use them. This is an energising, important book that left me fired up with determination to defend our local schools.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Wendy W
Format:Paperback
This is a considered account of present and historical education systems in England that cuts a swathe through the current education hysteria. Questions are asked of those who hold opinions of the present education provisions and proposals for change, whether they be parents, politicians or local authorities. Arguments for and against free schools, faith schools and comprehensive schools, in particular, are laid out clearly for everyone to understand from the facts, rather than biased polemics. Well worth reading.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Fi
Format:Paperback
In her introduction Melissa Benn sets out her stall- her wish for her children ' to experience just relationships with persons': she then goes on to demonstrate how many lost opportunites there have been in terms of achieving this goal.
Carefully listing the gains that have been made in state education, despite societal barriers, she examines the barriers that have been placed directly in the path of a developing education system.It makes you realise how impressive the state system is...having achieved so much, in a relatively short period of time, despite the obstructions that have been placed in its path! It left me feeling that the argument for a non selective , democratically controlled state system is something we ought to be fighting for- and that current developments ought to be actively challenged and exposed for what they truly are.
Carefully listing the gains that have been made in state education, despite societal barriers, she examines the barriers that have been placed directly in the path of a developing education system.It makes you realise how impressive the state system is...having achieved so much, in a relatively short period of time, despite the obstructions that have been placed in its path! It left me feeling that the argument for a non selective , democratically controlled state system is something we ought to be fighting for- and that current developments ought to be actively challenged and exposed for what they truly are.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
insightful analysis and instilling hope
Got this book just before going on holiday over Christmas, it took me just 2 days to finish it. I just couldn't put it down, the logical and insightful analysis of Britain's... Read more
Published 4 months ago by pan_zaba
3.0 out of 5 stars
Passionate but lazy
This is a manifesto for a return to a non-selective education system led by successful comprehensives, and an impassioned denunciation of New Labour's undermining of the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Matthew Pollock
5.0 out of 5 stars
An accurate account
This is a very accurate account of the current mess which has been created by the coalition government in education. Read more
Published 6 months ago by RJDK
5.0 out of 5 stars
An eye opener!
A well written and out forward piece into the current school systems with all it's problems laid bare. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Irish Historian
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well Meaning
This book strikes me as a missed opportunity.
Having finished reading it recently I was left with a feeling of great anti-climax. Read more
Having finished reading it recently I was left with a feeling of great anti-climax. Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Marsden
3.0 out of 5 stars
Articles of faith and evidence
There is an expression doing the rounds in the world of education 'good enough for other people's children'. Read more
Published 17 months ago by DCE
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