John Tomlinson

The Education Reform Bill ‐ 44 years of progress?

The Education Reform Bill is contrasted with the 1944 Education Act, especially in regard to the schools sector and the responsibilities of local education authorities (LEAs). The 1944 Act is seen as part of the formation of a Welfare State after the devastation and social upheaval of the war, in which educational opportunity and notions of a just society were guiding principles. The 1988 bill is seen as based on the spirit of consumerism, individual entrepreneurism and competition: the values of the market. The contrast is examined specifically in relationship to policies for access to education, where a right based on citizenship is compared with the differential opportunities required by a market place, and through consideration of the different roles required of LEAs in a planned, comprehensive public service compared with a mixed economy of LEA and non‐LEA schools. It is argued that the strategic role of the LEA to plan and ensure provision as circumstances change will be more difficult to perform, a...

How Schools Can Create a Moral Curriculum

Abstract Against the background of public concern over the moral education of the young, the contemporary constructions imposed upon schools in England by politicians, the intellectual forces arising from post‐modernism and the pressures of a pluralistic society are examined. The deep structures and slow‐growing processes which can cultivate a sense of moral values in a human community are related to how some schools have successfully achieved a moral community, in which all are valued and can make a contribution. The personal vocation and professionalism of teachers is fundamental.

The importance of a general teaching council

Abstract Statutory General Teaching Councils (GTCs) for England and Wales will be enacted in the 1996-97 session of Parliament and in being by the year 2000. Against this background the significance of such a body for the status and self-esteem of the teaching profession is considered. The necessary powers and duties and the constitution of Council are reviewed. It is argued that the Governments Consultation Document, Teaching: high status, high standards (Department for Education and Employment, 1997), while raising the appropriate questions, contains no commitment to principle with regard to composition, powers, or relationships with other national agencies. Moreover, the Education Act will merely empower the Secretary of State to set up a GTC; all the detail will be contained in regulations subsequently. If there is to be a satisfactory GTC, the understanding support and pressure of teachers throughout schools, further education colleges and higher education institutions is also essential if an opport...

Teachers and values: Courage mes braves! 1

Abstract This paper offers a commentary on the contemporary situation of the teacher in western societies. The impact of some aspects of Post Modernism and of New Right political projects is considered and the teacher urged to ground his or her conduct in a belief in the enduring validity of the liberal‐rationalist tradition.