Gavin Williamson was the worst education secretary in history, according to Sam Freedman, a former Tory education adviser. In the wake of Williamson’s departure from the Department for Education, many other commentators are being even less generous. No one has a good word to say about the man.
No one except me, that is. I write here in defence of Gavin Williamson.
To be utterly clear, my defence is a very narrow one. I am speaking up for Williamson over only a portion of what he did as Education Secretary, and not the largest part either. While a lot of things Gavin Williamson did were indeed dismal, not everything he did was bad or wrong.
The stuff that deserves praise and should not be forgotten concerns the bits of the education system that don’t get enough attention from the commentators now heaping scorn on Williamson: further education, apprenticeships, adult education. Those are things that few people at Westminster have either personal or family experience of.
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