The Michaela Community School in Wembley, headed by education traditionalist Katharine Birbalsingh, has been lauded in recent times for producing outstanding results. The 'no excuses' learning environment employed in her classrooms seems to have succeeded in providing underprivileged kids with opportunities previously out of their grasp. So what's not to love?
Michaela, founded by Birbalsingh in 2014, operates under a strict ethos emphasising discipline, structure, and absolutely no tolerance for bad behaviour or below-par standards. Pupils learn information by rote, and classrooms appear (from a recent documentary, at least) eerily silent while a teacher preaches to a deathly silent class. Group work is nowhere to be heard of, and discipline is maintained by walking single file in corridors, ensuring teachers are present to manage lunchtime conversations, and timing every part of the school day to the second - even while getting your book out. Punishments are handed out for the slightest infractions - didn't get your pencil out in time? Demerit. Took your eye off the teacher? Demerit. Slouching? Demerit. And so on.
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Birbalsingh proudly stated ex-servicemen had visited the school and likened it to their experience in the British Army. Perhaps ex-inmates would liken it to their former environment too, but for her that's the big idea behind the school's approach to education. Falling standards and disruptive environments are, she says, causing state schools in underprivileged areas to fail, and we therefore can't make allowances in the classroom because of someone's background.
As a result of these traditional - some might say draconian - methods at the school, GCSE and A level exams achieved by students have been nothing short of excellent. With grades to rival any top elite private school, Michaela has been deemed 'outstanding' by Ofsted, with the only apparent improvements needed coming in physical education. It has also received praise from the head of the OECD's education programme, as well as the Good Schools Guide. In 2021, of its first A level cohort, 82% received offers to Russell Group universities, and GCSE results similarly thrashed national averages. By all existing measures, the school is perfectly designed for its task.
Figures from both major political parties, especially the Conservatives, have expressed support for Birbalsingh's methods, and as a result a new Michaela School will open in Stevenage next year. The direction of flow in education, it seems, is very much headed towards this school of thought. And why wouldn't it? The school achieves fabulous results under tough circumstances. You can't question the methods - but do we then have to question the measure? If this is what our kids so desperately need to give them a 'good' education and equip them best for wider society, then God help them - and us. If we honestly think treating our children like soldiers or inmates is what's best for their learning, social and moral development then we surely have reason to be terrified for our future.
The fact is, that the way our society is structured, the inequalities and injustice inherent to it mean that ultimately, only one thing matters which it comes to education - results. Birbalsingh understands this better than most - for her kids to succeed in today's unfair world, they need good exams to go to a good university and eventually get a 'good' (read: well-paid) job. Despite what she or any other school heads might say, results are always the priority. That's how we determine whether a school is 'doing well' or not, because that's the only relevant measure of success. Compassion for pupil's needs or issues is absent, and it surely cannot foster healthy minds to be punished for having a bad day - let alone every day for having some kind of attention disorder or behavioural issue. Moral and social development, questioning what we are being told, and above all thinking for yourself, seem to be out of the equation entirely.
Michaela's motto reads "Knowledge is Power", but gaining knowledge cannot be just a one-way street as it is in their classrooms. Receiving knowledge without question, and not being encouraged to discuss, interrogate, and form opinions on said knowledge is a very dangerous path to go down. Being docile, obedient, and unquestioningly compliant are not values we want to be instilling in young minds. Because, while we may be living in an age of science and technology, knowledge is just as subjective as ever - and unless we question it and who produces it, "Knowledge is Power" quickly becomes "Power is Knowledge".
This style of teaching may seem appealing on the surface - but all it really shows us is how skewed our view of the purpose of schooling has become. Education cannot just be about training the next generation by drilling information in to churn out results and good job prospects. It has to be more holistic, about fostering curiosity, a genuine interest in the world, and developing important social skills and moral compasses. It has to be a space where children can safely develop, without being taught to show no weakness or fear punishment for the slightest wrong move. Michaela, to me at least, seems to fail miserably by these criteria.
We can't forget that these methods only 'work' because of how our society is structured - the job market and economic environment, like Michaela, show no compassion for weakness or low standards, regardless of the valid reasons why this might arise, and value results over a healthy and well-rounded environment. Birbalsingh, knowing this, has merely moulded her school around the realities of our society. Reform in education, both in terms of methods and providing an equal, free, and universal system, in short, can only come about with wider social change. Until then, our children may increasingly spend much of their formative years in these damaging environments, receiving military training to become not soldiers, but investment bankers and management consultants. And if that happens, we should fear the country they produce even more than that which produced them.
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