Targetitis - why government can't run things

An independent school headmistress tells us

One state school head teacher on one given day last year had 39 initiatives from the Government on his desk, and only four of them had anything to do with the curriculum. That’s a very successful state school as well.

Teachers are spending a lot of time preparing for these constant changes – imposed by the Government – rather than enjoying a period of stability where they can refresh their own subject knowledge. In the independent sector we are not swamped – we can focus on the curriculum. In the state sector, the focus has been taken away from the subject.

Balls and his ilk don't get it and they never will. The centralists think they can impose targets and away they go. They have no feel for how to get the best out of an organisation because they've never worked on the front line.

To them, organisations have to be directed centrally, and monitored centrally. Consumers have to take what the state decides is good for them and have no real say in those decisions.

Government needs to let go.