Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and David Amess

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful that the right hon. Gentleman wishes me no ill. The one thing that I would take comfort from would be if the school had been ranked good or outstanding by Ofsted. I am pleased that the national health service is adopting our method of grading schools and applying it to hospitals, and I am pleased that under this Government, according to the chief inspector today, we have seen an unprecedented rate of school improvement.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

6. What assessment he has made of the 2013 GCSE results in the south Essex area.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and David Amess

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

11. What steps he is taking to ensure that all pupils gain a chronological understanding of British history.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

We believe that all pupils should be taught about the events that have shaped the history of these islands, and their understanding of that history is best developed when it is taught within a robust chronological framework. That is why we have published proposals for a new curriculum. Consultation on the draft closed on 16 April and we hope to publish a final version in the autumn.

[Michael Gove]

On the eve of St George’s day, my hon. Friend makes an important point, and it is the case that the new draft national history curriculum explains how Britain has interacted with the rest of the world, from Wolfe’s victory over Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, which ensured that Canada could remain British, to the influence of Britain on India. It is also the case that the period right up to the 20th century and the process of decolonisation that brought Jinnah, Nehru, Kenyatta and Nkrumah to power is in the national curriculum in detail that did not exist before.

[Mr Amess]

Does my right hon. Friend welcome the comments of leading historians Niall Ferguson, David Starkey and Antony Beevor concerning his plans for the history curriculum, who all recognise that unless our children have a real understanding of British history, they cannot possibly know where we have been, where we are now, or where we might be heading in the future?

[Michael Gove]

I am absolutely delighted that high profile historians, along with academics from Cambridge, such as David Abulafia, Professor Robert Tombs and Professor Jonathan Clark, one of the most distinguished contemporary historians of our time, Professor Jeremy Black at the university of Exeter and others have said that our direction of travel is right, but I want to make sure that there is the maximum possible consensus behind this necessary reform.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and David Amess

Monday 18th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Under the funding reforms that we will introduce, more money will go directly to schools, including fantastic schools such as Woodside high school in the London borough of Haringey, which the right hon. Gentleman knows well and which is doing a fantastic job under its brilliant governors.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

4. What estimate he has made of changes in the number of pupils taking science, language, history and geography courses following the introduction of the English baccalaureate.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that case. I know that during the by-election, which he won, the state of education in Bradford was one of the issues on which he campaigned. I offer him the chance to meet me at the Department for Education, where we can discuss some of the initiatives that we have in mind.

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

T5. What action are the Government taking to ensure that our vigorous vocational education at our university technical colleges leads to apprenticeships?