Chris Woodhead's last Q&A

I was putting away last weekend's newspapers for recycling, and did a double take on noting a Q&A article in the Sunday Times by Chris Woodhead, former inspector of schools - who has, of course, just died, a few days after the article was published.

He was a controversial figure but one who made huge efforts to improve standards in schools.

As these were presumably among his last words published in his lifetime, it seems appropriate to repeat them here.


QN "My eight-year-old daughter came home upset last week because her teacher had reprimanded her in front of the class for forgetting her homework, admittedly for the third time in a row. I raised it with the head teacher, who said teachers had a right to mention misdemeanours in a whole-class setting.  I think the teacher should have spoken to her in private. What do you think?"

CW "It depends on the personality and age of the child and the nature of the misdemeanour. I wouldn't want a shy or nervous eight-year-old to be humiliated publicly for the sake of it, but if everyone can learn from what she has done wrong and it is handled sensitively, there could be an argument for a reprimand in front of the class. I imagine the need to present homework on time might be a problem a number of children in your daughter's class needed to be reminded of."



QN "Between Christmas and last month, my daughter's state primary school focussed almost exclusively on SATS, with regular mock exams and even a compulsory after-school maths class every week. Although she has always loved maths my daughter has now lost enthusiasm for it.

"Now SATS are over, there is little challenging work for the level 6 children. With three months until secondary school, I am concerned they will become bored and forget everything that has been drummed into them for six months. An approach to the school was rebuffed - should we be worried?"

 CW "You should indeed. In its' relentless pursuit of league table success, your daughter's school has managed to crush her enthusiasm for maths. Now, when the tests are over, it is making no effort, it seems, to challenge and inspire its' more able students. I continue to believe that SATS are essential if we are to have any sense of what individual primary schools are achieving but I have to confess that stories like yours fill me with despair." 



QN "My two grandsons are in years 4 and 5 at a junior school in Norfolk. They stay with us one night a week and we supervise their homework, but I find it strange that they don't work from textbooks, but either from the internet or sheet handouts from school. Is this normal in schools nowadays?"

 CW "Some teachers argue that no textbooks present the right information in the right way. They prefer to produce their own worksheets. Some can be very good, but there are excellent textbooks on the market too, and I wonder whether it makes sense for individual teachers to burn the midnight oil producing individual solutions to what are, after all, common challenges. Schools vary in the extent to which their teachers and pupils use technology, but the drift, of course, is for books, pens and paper to disappear into the mists of time.

"This may be inevitable. I have yet to be convinced that it is progress."