It does not try to be a traditional biography: a review of Reforming Lessons
As a fan of political biographies and of education policy, I had been looking forward to reading Nick Gibb's book - and it didn't disappoint.
I sympathise with an author who wishes to defend their legacy or, in the case of many political biographies, shape their legacy. I remember reading A Journey by Tony Blair and being pleasantly surprised at how open he was about topics beyond his defining work. Similarly the Third Man by Peter Mandelson is equally a thrilling read.
Given how it was trialled, I was not expecting a focus on the cut and thrust of politics from Nick Gibb’s new book. However, I was similarly not expecting quite the laser like focus on education policy that permeated throughout the pages.
Three aspects are immediately apparent within a few minutes of opening the book:
a. it does not try to be a traditional political biography, the choice of publisher is key in identifying this. Routlege is a traditional academic publisher and the use of data tables throughout identify this as a book that aims to be academic rather than purely political.
This is a book that is 75% policy manual, 25% political memoir. It drives away from the traditional self-aggrandising and lands itself in a tale told through the ideas being believed in. To this extent it makes a refreshing change from the usual political books.
It is clear from reading that Gibb and Peal are great believers that data needs to support their arguments. Their conspicuous dedication to PISA, PIRLS and Progress 8 as measures throughout make for a compelling empirical justification of years of work to reform schools across England.
b. It is ideological in its approach. Now I happen to agree with the approach taken by Gibb in reforming the system. However, it was clearly an ideological choice, albeit one underpinned by evidence. The choice of Daisy Christodoulou to write the foreword is an indicator of this.
Early on, the authors dismantle the myth of progressivism. I recall a job interview with a school once where they had an “alignment test” – essentially an exam to see if you bought into a behaviourist/traditionalist approach to teaching.
Responding to this in the exam – I said, on instinct I don’t, coming from a relatively affluent background and being someone, you could typify as progressive it doesn’t sit well with me, but for the fact that it works. It was later raised during the interview as an interesting answer. I should clarify I got the job apparently it showed genuine reflection.
I’m employing this anecdote because traditionalist approaches do make me instinctively uncomfortable, but they raise outcomes for the young people that they serve. In identifying the myth of progressivism early on – Gibb and Peal are able to articulate why it doesn’t work.
Their rationale is different to mine, but they reach a similar conclusion. Interestingly traditionalism in this sense is one of those areas where there is a solid evidence base to back it, despite on instinct it is feeling wrong to many people. My takeaway from this book and my own experience is to be willing to use evidence to drive your policy approach – allowing yourself to be challenged by ideas that contradict your own instincts.
c. There is no attempt to gloss over the some of the initiatives that were not universally successful. This is quite refreshing in a book by a retired politician.
A key example of this is the recognition that the success of academies is not universal. On page 146, Gibb talks about his experience with a school in his constituency for whom academisation was not the silver bullet.
He identifies that there is a need for schools to have outstanding classroom practice and teaching in order to improve.
He then goes onto discuss the (and as a former middle leader with them I am undoubtedly biased) Harris Federation and how their focus on a “Harris in a box” approach created a replicable model that consistently raised standards for the young people that they served by focusing on teaching and learning as well as systems leadership.
Conclusion
- You may disagree with conservative education reforms over the past 14 years, but even if you do, it is important to understand the rationale behind them.
- It is reflective as a book – genuinely trying to decode the issues facing the system and the start of the coalition and how Gibb addressed them
- It is impressively data led.
Nick Gibb and Robert Peal’s Reforming lessons can be bought on amazon or any good bookshop - it really is worth it if you want to see a story of change driven by someone who genuinely believed in what he was doing.