State schools: are they failing our children?

A former minister, teachers, students and campaigners react to Katharine Birbalsingh's critique of state education in Britain today

? Katharine Birbalsingh on why she felt compelled to speak out about the deficiencies of state schools

David Lammy MP

MP for Tottenham and former higher education minister in the Labour government

I first met Katharine Birbalsingh not long after she had made that speech. As we sat talking, I realised how much she reminded me of aunts back in Guyana. Hers is a small "c" conservatism of the West Indian variety. It has a tough attitude to personal responsibility, underpinned by a Christian belief in personal salvation. In To Miss With Love, it jumps off every page.

This heritage is recognised in the book's title, which echoes ER Braithwaite's To Sir, With Love. Braithwaite was another Guyanese. He moved to Britain in the 1950s, taught in the inner city and produced a masterpiece of a novel. Set in the school he taught in, his book addressed itself to issues of race and class.

The substance of To Miss With Love is an attack on low expectations and political correctness. Katharine has set herself up as a polemicist. Yet she has more in common with the last government than she would want to admit. Tony Blair's push on "standards", with its regime of targets and league tables, had the same philosophy behind it. No excuses.

In other areas, the book overreaches. Katherine insists we must stop undermining professional authority. She rails against the appeals process as her school tries (successfully) to expel a disruptive child. She is right that the professional ethic needs restoring, but a process of appeal, when a child's future is at stake, is not too much to ask. More than 6,500 children are permanently excluded every year. Only one in 15 manages five GCSE passes. Let's be sure the right kids are being expelled for the right reasons.

One of New Labour's biggest buzzwords ? "personalisation" ? comes in for criticism. Katharine argues for common standards, rather than a limp acceptance that every child is "different". No argument there. But children can still learn in the ways best suited to them before sitting the same exams as everyone else.

Most of all, I wonder if Katharine asks too much of herself and of her profession. This is a book written by a teacher about life in school. But children spend 80% of their waking hours outside school. Can we really expect teachers to transform lives during the other 20%?

We no longer simply expect teachers to teach, we ask them to work miracles. The research tells us that parenting has four or five times more impact on educational achievement than schooling. And while teachers like Katharine try to instil personal responsibility, popular culture pulls children in the opposite direction. Companies sell Playboy-branded stationery to schoolgirls. Video games train young boys in violence and misogyny. Can we really keep heaping the blame on schools?

Daisy Christodoulou

Entered teaching via Teach First, and has taught English at a secondary school in south London for three years

Many of the events and characters in this book were certainly typical of my time in teaching. For example, there's Fifty and Cent, two year eight pupils whose mix of naivety and sophistication is hilarious and touching. Beautiful, Deranged, Seething and Psycho are all girls who are either best friends or at each other's throats.

Then there are the darker episodes. Many of these involve a character called Furious, who hasn't been excluded, despite a long record of misdemeanours. It is so frustrating to see a pupil who has been given last chance after last chance repeatedly throw those chances away. As the book shows, just one pupil like him can have a disturbing effect on the other students.

Other aspects rang true: an entire year 8 class thinks that Churchill is the nodding dog from the advert, while the headmaster informs staff that Ofsted will not be happy with "a situation where teachers are teaching and children are listening".

So, the book struck a chord with me, but is it really representative of the whole system? I met Katharine Birbalsingh when we both gave evidence to the education select committee, and this was the big question that came up there as well. Conversations I've had in the pub with other teachers suggest that this book has a wider truth. But of course, this sort of evidence is only anecdotal. The Ofsted statistics say that bad behaviour is confined to a small minority of state schools and that standards have never been higher. In short, I have no idea whether this book is representative of the state sector, but it is a compelling read.

Liberty Love

Aged 16, in year 11 at a state school in south London

Even though To Miss With Love revolves around my world, I didn't find it particularly gripping. The book does manage to mirror some parts of what life is like in the state-school system, but I felt it overlooks many of the key factors that make it such an enriching experience, such as the diversity and inclusiveness.

The major flaw is that the author, Snuffy, portrays herself as the only teacher willing to go out of her way for her students. But at my school every teacher goes beyond what is required ? although perhaps I am just lucky.

To Miss With Love does give an accurate picture of some aspects of state schools ? there are occasional fights, there is sometimes bullying, some students don't concentrate and some others could be less disruptive at times, although I would imagine that these are problems that occur in the private sector too. What Birbalsingh fails to show are the bonds between students and teachers, the unusual friendships that are formed, and that the majority of students work hard and achieve good grades. She does mention these factors, but she talks about them in passing. Overall she has chosen to focus on, and even exaggerate, the bad points of state schools rather than show some of the lovely moments.

Francis Gilbert

Teacher, author and co-founder of the Local Schools Network

The state school depicted in Katharine Birbalsingh's novel doesn't resemble any school I've encountered recently ? as a teacher, parent or researcher. Towards the end of the book, despite the school being riddled with poor behaviour and teaching, it's judged to be "good, with outstanding features" by Ofsted. The comprehensive where I now teach was recently judged in the same terms by Ofsted. It couldn't be more different from Birbalsingh's fictitious school: results are excellent, pupils are well-behaved, teachers are committed and the school is well-run.

Birbalsingh insists that her fabricated school represents the vast majority in the country. From my experience as a teacher and educational researcher over 20 years, I would say my current school is much more indicative of the state of comprehensive education. Time and again, I found myself questioning the validity of points made in this book. The narrator claims that only the "old-school" teachers are effective; the new ones don't have an "ounce of creativity and ingenuity". We've had an influx of new teachers into my school, and I've been struck by how well-trained they are, and by the high expectations they have of the children.

This is Birbalsingh's hate-filled, ill-informed diatribe against a profession she feels has rejected her. But none of her smears are backed up with evidence ? because the facts are not on her side. Currently, Ofsted judges over six out of 10 schools to be good or better, with behaviour in 86% being good; research conducted by universities shows that state-school pupils consistently outperform their privately educated peers at university. Birbalsingh believes her own bias trumps all this research ? and the positive experience of millions of parents, pupils and teachers: you need only log on to the Local Schools Network campaign website to see the testimonies of parents who celebrate and support the state sector.

It's no wonder Birbalsingh has presented her arguments in the form of fiction: that's precisely what they seem to be.

Toby Young

Journalist and campaigner. With other parents he plans to open a free school in west London

At the beginning of last year, one of Labour's key education advisers launched an extraordinary attack on middle-class parents who refuse to send their children to state secondary schools. Professor David Woods, the chief adviser for London schools, said the "chattering classes" were wrong about the capital's comprehensives. "There are parents who, given a very good state school on their doorstep, would not send their children there because they have an innate prejudice against it," he said.

Among defenders of our state education system, this has become a rallying cry. A middle-class parent who is reluctant to send their child to the local comprehensive is either a snob, a racist or an ignoramus. If they put their prejudices to one side and actually bothered to spend a day in their local school, they'd soon realise they have nothing to worry about. Everything is rosy in the garden.

In this context, To Miss With Love will not be welcomed by opponents of educational reform. Katharine Birbalsingh has taught in London comprehensives for over 10 years and this diary of a typical year in one of those schools will confirm every parent's worst fears. Discipline is non-existent, lessons are constantly disrupted, gang culture is rife and the teachers are depressed and demoralised. Their one crumb of comfort is that their school has been ranked "good with outstanding features" by Ofsted.

It's not hard to imagine the tactics the defenders of the status quo will use to discredit this witness for the prosecution. They'll say her book is a work of fiction and bears no relationship to reality. But Katharine Birbalsingh maintains that everything in the book actually happened. Her account has the smack of authenticity. It certainly tallies with all the statistical evidence. It helps explain why only 15% of children in comprehensives get five GCSEs at grade C or above in academic subjects and why more than 50 comprehensives are more than half-empty, having been deserted by parents.

They'll also say she has a political axe to grind and point to the fact that she spoke at last year's Conservative Party Conference. But it's clear from To Miss With Love that Birbalsingh is far from being a Tory. She's a leftie who happens to share Michael Gove's belief in a more old-fashioned approach to education, with proper, academic subjects being taught in a traditional manner in a disciplined classroom environment. The reason she's against the more progressive approach favoured by the majority of state schools is because she's seen it fail children over and over again, particularly those from low-income families. One of the recurring themes of the book is her bewilderment that most of her colleagues refuse to acknowledge this and dismiss any teacher who questions the prevailing orthodoxy as an "elitist".

Finally, they'll attack her for having the temerity to criticise "the kids". But one thing that shines through on every page of this book is Birbalsingh's commitment to the pupils in her care. She doesn't blame them for their failure to learn, but the shortcomings of the system. Children need discipline, not mollycoddling, and teachers need to be left alone to do what they do best, not forced to meet idiotic targets or please Ofsted inspectors.

In one scene, the headteacher of Birbalsingh's school tells his staff what they need to do to impress the inspectors. "I'd like to remind everyone about our push in independent learning," he says. "Remember that this is what Ofsted will be looking for when they finally get here. Group work, pair work. We need to see more fun in lessons. Games are always a good idea. We simply cannot have a situation where teachers are teaching and children are listening."

She's not making it up.

Fiona Millar

Journalist, former adviser to Cherie Blair, and campaigner on education and parenting issues

I find Katharine Birbalsingh hopelessly muddled and I am perplexed by what she is seeking to achieve.

Here is a woman who professes to love her pupils yet thinks nothing about displaying pictures of the most vulnerable, accompanied by belittling remarks, from on high. She frequently fawns over students in the independent sector, yet claims she would never teach in a private school as her passion is for state education, about which she barely has a good word to say. One of her many criticisms of the system she loves to hate is that schools are judged by meaningless Ofsted criteria and results are simply a reflection of intake. Yet she contemptuously dismisses as hypocritical both fictional and real parents who treat league tables and Ofsted reports with caution and actively choose to send their children to local schools.

As one of those parents, I don't recognise the fictional picture she paints in To Miss With Love. I could write a book that tells a different story about what goes on in real schools. It would be free of the stereotypical warring "chavs" and black boys brandishing weapons that pop up in her book with tiresome regularity. It would highlight the many comprehensive schools where heads and staff work hard, where behaviour is good, pupils achieve well, go to university in such numbers that we can't afford to pay for them, where fights aren't a part of everyday life and where pupils are respected.

My book would also take a look at what really goes on in the independent sector Birbalsingh reveres. Is the teaching that good or are results also linked to intake, parental support and family income? What happens to students who rebel or are asked, politely, to leave because they aren't making the grade? We all know they exist, but unlike the lippy black boys who apparently typify the entire state sector, we never hear about them.

Would my book get published? I doubt it. The zeitgeist at the moment is to wallow in failure and to prefer anecdote to evidence. This provides cover for the slash and burn experiment being orchestrated by Michael Gove, under the guise of freedom. I don't think Gove or Birbalsingh really know what they are doing but the fiction they are peddling, that young people can't get a good education in local state schools, is a dangerous one and parents shouldn't be fooled by it.

Fiona Millar blogs at: thetruthaboutourschools.com

Samuel Rowe

Aged 18, on a year out after leaving a state school in Brighton following his A-levels. He is going to UEA in the autumn

I found myself sympathising a great deal with Snuffy when she described her anxiety when she confronted a once-friendly student in the playground after trying to break up a fight. Looking back at my secondary school education, I remember my year 8 class causing a teacher to cry when we pretended she wasn't in the classroom, her hiding in a closet and then us locking the door from the outside with her keys. Katharine Birbalsingh has created characters that I can relate to and I can certainly put names of people I know to the characters in the book.

However, I don't like the clear personality divide she sees between private-schooled teenagers and state-schooled teenagers. Maybe coming from a small and very gentrified city such as Brighton, where most of the secondary schools get at least a good rating from Ofsted, has distorted my view. Yet having friends who attended a variety of schools, from Steiner to boarding to comprehensive, I always see the same cliques emerge ? just because you attend public school doesn't mean you can't be a chav. To suggest that household income determines the level of discipline a family can exert over their children is offensive.

However, there is a difference, even in Brighton, which is predominantly white-middle class, when it comes to results. Being on a private curriculum and away from the "hoops" presented by the government, I suppose there is an opportunity for teachers to adopt the teaching style they see as being the best.

When teachers were given the freedom to devise lessons using what would be considered a slightly more old-fashioned approach, students become more engaged in the lessons and the work they were doing, rather than wondering how long it would be before the interactive whiteboard broke down.

Although it was sometimes fun to waste time like this, it often seemed like so much more could be achieved if the teacher could just stick to a marker pen and a dish cloth. I think Birbalsingh understands this.

John D'Abbro

An award-winning secondary school headteacher, consultant to Jamie's Dream School and head of the New Rush Hall Group, an educational organisation that works with children who are experiencing behavioural, emotional and social difficulties

Fact: lots of pupils and students get a lot out of school, and lots of schools get a lot out of their pupils, particularly when Sats and terminal exams are the outcome measures. Over 50% of youngsters get 5 A*-to-C GCSEs. Much evidence ? for example, Sir Alan Steer's report ? has demonstrated that our schools are not out of control, and standards of teaching in the majority of schools are good, with a fair smattering of teaching rated as outstanding by Ofsted in many schools.

That said, I am confident that Katherine Birbalsingh's book will resonate and strike a chord with many teachers. Why? Because as a society we are still too keen to catch children being naughty rather than good, and have still failed to recognise that children need good role models more than they need critics.

Too many schools are still not effective enough, and that is a challenge for the profession as well as government. However, the root cause of this is not underfunding but rather a lack of emphasis being placed on the individual needs and preferred learning styles of children. Many schools are still slaves to a one-size-fits-all mentality. As humans we are all unique, and it follows that we all learn uniquely.

In order to learn effectively, children need to feel safe, at home, in school and more increasingly on the streets. Within schools children need to feel they belong within their learning community, something that many of our public schools do much better than lots of mainstream schools. Within a safe learning environment we all feel more secure about making mistakes, and are therefore prepared to take more risks, a prerequisite to learning.

In order to feel safe, children need to have effective relationships with the adults/teachers in their lives, and I believe that the single biggest determinant in how effective a school is can be measured by the quality of relationships in the school. Most of us can remember with joy some of the teachers we had at school, while not being able to remember some of the things they taught us.

But ? and here for me is the real issue ? 47% of children within one of the most developed educational system in the world leave school without the appropriate exams that will enable them to carry on learning within a further education or training context. And in many cases they are not adequately equipped to take up their part and place within society. Learning is a lifelong experience, and in the future we are going to need a workforce that understands the need for training and retraining as we adapt to new life/work experiences.

A curriculum that is neither personalised nor relevant to their lifestyles has meant that lots of children, particularly within the secondary sector, have lost the joy of learning. This is made manifest by children playing truant and inappropriate behaviour within schools. We need to recognise that lots of children need a different and more positive school experience. Perhaps then we might have more books written about the joys of being a teacher.

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