To be Her Majesty’s secretary of state for education has become a bad joke. There have been seven in the past six years, three in the past two months. Like Keeper of the Wardrobe or Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the job means nothing besides acting as a visible reminder of the decay of serious government under Boris Johnson.
After two years of trauma, Britain’s education system desperately needs a break. Schools and universities have been closed and exams suspended. Learning has stayed at home, gone online or been delegated to private tuition. Higher education has become increasingly virtual, with ever-diminishing contact hours. And at the height of the pandemic, while Britons showered the NHS with money and praise, they hung their teachers out to dry. Now, offered a 5% pay rise, teachers in England are threatening to strike, and university staff across the UK are balloting next week.
