Education letters

A decade of progress within the education system, yet the level of deprivation suffered by children has risen due to the rise in unemployment

The noughties reviewed

Fiona Millar highlights the fact that progress has been made despite the continuing weaknesses in a minority of schools (Ten years: for richer or poorer? 8 December). In my experience, this government's  investment in the Children's Fund, children's centres and Sure Start is beginning to provide substantive evidence of very real change in terms of lifting children out of poverty.

Millar's example of the boy who slept on the floor is not unique by any means because parents and carers make choices about how they spend their often limited funds. Despite the very considerable progress made through changes within education, there is increasing evidence that the current economic downturn and the subsequent escalation of unemployment and debt mean that more children are suffering from deprivation within their families. The fact that some children do not have their most basic needs met within their families is very often a hidden problem and education should not stop at the school gates.

Norma Hornby


Fiona Millar informs us of the success of a young man taken into care who, having previously been let down by the school system, was able to achieve at his local college of further education. Ms Millar describes FE as "the often overlooked Cinderella of the education system". Might I suggest that it will justifiably cease to be referred to in this way when educational journalists write more attentively?

Tony Fort

FE lecturer, Blackburn

I accept that no such brief summary of the achievements of education secretaries, from Blunkett to Balls, can deliver accurate gradings. However, I was staggered that John Crace should place Estelle Morris below the three men and, worse still by far, on a par with Ruth Kelly!

Ms Kelly was widely viewed as the worst education secretary in living memory, whereas Estelle Morris was, and still is for many, regarded as a heroine who actually knew what she was talking about. Ms Morris's entirely understandable inability to withstand knives in the back does not in any way reflect badly on her as a professional, nor did it detract from her principled approach to the education of young people and those responsible for their learning.

David Peck


Office politics

Last week, Max Rashbrooke reported a trend for offices to be converted into schools.

This seems like a good idea until you consider that many of the kids will spend their lives in an office block or a high-street shop (if they're lucky). A bit sad if they have to do that from age 11, so hope this idea doesn't catch on.


Schools need outside space and lots of it, primary schools in particular. If you work in one of these places where the fresh air is mixed with recirculated air you are far more likely to be off work sick. So the notion of putting our children in one of these commercial follies is quite frankly bonkers.


It's once again devaluing young people. "Here, have this building nobody else wants." That'll really teach young people to respect their education.