Column: Dennis Richards, former headteacher's view on education - So what’s the good news?

Thus far, the government’s major new education response to the various major crises in schools seems to be to propose that all students should be compelled to do Maths until they are 18.

It’s pretty much akin to Harry Kane’s penalty miss in the World Cup. Way over the top. We’ve been here before.

When the government of the day began to panic that Japan appeared to be manufacturing all our computers, CD players and televisions, compulsory Design Technology for all became the mantra.

It was a failure, of course, soon abandoned when the fatal flaw emerged. Teachers able to fire up the technological agenda from the outset were thin on the ground.

As for Maths teachers in 2023, the job vacancy figures are frighteningly high.

The truly daft thing about it, is that the government and schools should be celebrating together their joint success in getting Maths to the top of the league table of A Level entries in 2022.

A staggering 96,000 students entered Maths and in general terms Science is riding high as well, especially Chemistry and Biology, third and fourth in the table.

As usual Physics continues to lag way behind. Not even in the top ten. We’ve tried everything. One school once called it “Fizzics” to give it a buzz.

It was abandoned when it was belatedly realised that they were breaking a cardinal rule in the craft of the classroom.

Never ever write a mistake on the blackboard or whiteboard in front of the students. They are far more likely to remember the error, rather than the correct version.

I learned it to my cost in my first teaching post in Barnsley. Not surprisingly they were having difficulty with the pronunciation of the French word for a bird.

Wazzo was the best I could offer, and wrote it down for them. They were still using it three years later in GCSE. Oiseau is the correct version.

So here’s the good news. The infamous personal statement, which for decades has been a compulsory part of the application process for university will be scrapped for entry in 2025.

The process has fallen into such disrepute it is widely assumed that an increasing number of admissions tutors ignore them altogether.

Middle class parents employ entrepreneurial graduates to produce a bespoke version for their offspring, or simply adapt one of the thousands of examples on the internet.

Every year I am normally sent half a dozen examples and asked for my comments. The first job is to remove the inevitable numerous “passionate” about this or that references.

Scarred by my own experience, whatever the system put in place to replace the statement, the best advice for candidates, is to be able to “back up” any claims.

You might be interviewed, as I was. I put horticulture down as a hobby. Purely on the grounds that I once mowed the lawn. I didn’t get in.