When failure actually counts as success

Michael Gove’s latest prognosis for schools was delivered at a lunch in Westminster yesterday, but it’s important enough to repeat the morning after. The Independent has a full report here, but the key quotation is this:

’Education is like trying to run up a down escalator. There are some uncomfortable decisions that will have to be taken. There will be years when, because we are going to make exams tougher, the number of people passing will fall. There are headteachers who have been peddling the wrong sort of approach to teaching for too long, who are going to lose their jobs.’

Just read that bit again: ‘the number of people passing will fall’. It’s a deeply encouraging admission by Gove, and one that he ought to repeat frequently. One corollary of making the exams system more rigorous has to be an increase in failures. Insofar as it reflects an increase in standards, this ought to be welcomed.