The Examainer Who Failed Our Teaching Resources
The debacle with the SAT’s results last summer has come to a head. The head of the QCA has resigned leaving a mess worthy of a distinction for teachers and pupils to resolve.
The big question is why, knowing the full circumstances, Ken Boston the head of QCA has taken so long to reach his decision. Certainly the publication of the report investigating the circumstances has precipitated his final move but the mess was obvious in the summer.
The Times commented today that Ken Boston, an Australian was paid a salary of £328,000, received 6 business class air tickets to Australia a year presumably to visit his yacht moored in Sydney harbour.
So was the delay a shock? Receiving an additional £82,000 in salary since the balloon went up and presumably two trips to Australia whilst the examination was in progress may have influenced the decision. But perhaps another unanswered question is why Mr Boston was appointed on this basis. Was there nobody in the UK worthy of the post? And why, when the error was revealed, were there no immediate adjustment in the management? Let us hope the children affected recover quickly, and we as tax payers don’t discover yet another hole in the UK’s financial “ozone layer†as we paid £156m for the failed service in the first place.
Alistair Owens Keen2learn
