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Education: Speed read: Education in brief: He started it: book reveals playground row(Guardian (UK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) An extraordinary insight into the bitter row two years ago between England's exams watchdog and the then Welsh education minister is being revealed in a book being published tomorrow. Ministering for Education presents Leighton Andrews' views on his argument with Ofqual over the awarding of pupils' English GCSEs in 2012, which led him to order a regrading of Welsh teenagers' papers. Most explosive will be internal Ofqual emails mentioned in the book. They were given to Andrews following freedom of information and data protection requests. In one of these, not detailed in the book, Ofqual's chief executive, Glenys Stacey, contemplates not offering Andrews an apology - following some possibly ill-advised comments about Welsh results by the watchdog's chair, Amanda Spielman, at a parliamentary hearing - if the Welsh minister did not stop tweeting criticism. In the email - dated 20 September 2012 and sent from Stacey to Spielman and another senior Ofqual official - Stacey ponders advice from Jeremy Benson, a deputy director. Stacey writes: "Jeremy's view is that we [should refuse to offer an apology for Spielman's comments] unless (i) Leighton stops tweeting criticisms of us and (ii) he says publicly he's committed to . . . working with Ofqual. "If he refuses to do so, we could consider a formal (and private) complaint to his permanent secretary." Stacey adds that she's "attracted" to the idea, but it appears the threat to withhold the apology never materialised, with a statement from Spielman "regretting if offence" was caused appearing in the end. In a statement to the Guardian, Ofqual says: "The correspondence reflects correct and proper actions by us as we held a private discussion about how best we could counter inaccuracies that were being published about our work." Ofqual was trying to make sure "professional working relationships were maintained". It all sounds a bit like adolescents fighting in the playground when many would argue it was pupils' futures, rather than adults' reputations, that should have been to the fore. (c) 2014 Guardian Newspapers Limited. |