School Days

Sophia Waugh

I actually miss Michael Gove. For all his squishy face and bad Brexit behaviour, I still miss him as our man in charge of education. Whatever happens to him in the end, we will remember him for the strong feelings he aroused in our profession, and the changes he oversaw.

What, after all, did Nicky Morgan do during her tenure? Or Justine Greening? And our new leader, Damian Hinds, is so shadowy that we all had to look him up when he was appointed to see if he was a real person.

I find Gove’s far reach extending all the way down the school now. Not just because of the changes in the exam formats, but in the content. And, once again, I find myself thanking him. When Gove stopped us teaching Of Mice and Men for GCSE, I can’t say I was sad – it’s a truly great book but teach anything for a hundred years and you’re thirsty for change. I don’t even think Gove was being anti-american in his cutting our friends from across the herring pond from GCSE. Although I still think Miller a finer playwright than Priestley, teaching An Inspector Calls is rewarding both for us and for the students, whose eyes are opened to new ideas, as well as general cultural knowledge, from studying the play. On the other hand, given the general lack of funding in schools, we – and I should think every school in England – now find ourselves with up to 200 copies of a book that is no longer on the GCSE curriculum. What to do?

Well, joy, oh joy, Gove has not forbidden us from reading American books. Or from teaching them to younger children. So we use the copies on younger students. And we have twelve-year-olds reading Of Mice and Men and loving it. They giggle at the word ‘tart’ and at the explanations of ‘flophouses’, and their genuine horror at the use of the word ‘nigger’ is a delight, given some of their political views. But, most heartwarming of all, is the intake of breath a whole class gave when Lennie killed Curley’s wife. Today, George will be killing Lennie in class, and I am really looking forward to the possibility of some tears. Girls blubbed about Candy’s dog, after all – I’ll have the tissues ready for the ending.

So, although I have not avoided teaching the same book yet again, I am once more reminded of the transforming part of teaching English. The raw power of a good story well told reaches even the most unwilling pupil. A story such as Of Mice and Men barely needs teaching – and, best of all, the children don’t even feel they are being taught. They drink in the background knowledge without even moaning, ‘This isn’t history, Miss.’ Tell them about Jesse Washington’s lynching and play them Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruit and they are as enthralled as a two-year-old reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. And the child who noticed that Curley’s wife doesn’t have a name, and realised the significance of that without any prompting is not by a long way the brightest child in the class.

Upping the ante for the GCSE years has upped the ante for all children. Louis Sachar’s Holes is a thoroughly enjoyable book – give it to your grandchildren to encourage their reading – but I haven’t seen one child react to that novel as I have a whole class to Steinbeck.

So, four years after he left the Department of Education, with his name still vilified by so many in my profession, I still have it in my heart to thank Squishy Face Gove for cheering up my job.