Advice for England’s latest Secretary of State for Education.

I love Rory Stewart’s memoir about being a politician; its one of the best books I’ve read about British politics. Among his many observations about the dysfunctionality of government is that ministers typically know nothing about their briefs prior to taking their jobs, and don’t stay in post long enough to get any command. There may be worse examples than Education, but I doubt it. The advice is to the newest Secretary of State for Education is simple: before you do anything significant read my dad’s last book, and spend a week talking to some of your predecessors (particular recommendations below). Now some facts: First, in the 82 years since 1944 43 different people have served as Secretary of State, 2 of them twice, totaling 45 different terms. Very few of these people entered the post with prior knowledge of, let alone expertise in, the education system. In recent years I can only think of Gillian Shepherd (who had been a teacher and an HMI), Estelle Morris (who had been a…