Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE
10:30 am - August 11th 2010
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A memo leaked yesterday lists 30 terms Michael Gove wants to ban at the Department for Education.
The internal document was leaked to Children and Young People Now magazine, which called the changes “utterly pointless”. Most relate directly to children’s services.
For example, Gove says “narrow the gap” should now be replaced with “close the gap”, and “delivery” should now be called “implementation”.
Civil servants have been told that “integrated working” should be replaced with “people working together to provide better services”.
No really, this isn’t being made up.
One of the key terms being banned is ‘Every Child Matters’ (ECM) – a key Labour government policy that the Tories have said they would maintain.
Editor of CYP Now magazine wrote:
Education Secretary Michael Gove repeated his (consistently unsubstantiated) view that the ECM agenda is a “massive bureaucratic superstructure” when taking questions from the education select committee as parliament broke up for summer recess.He did also say: “I’ve got no problems with Every Child Matters as a list, but I do think it’s important that we recognise it should be policed in a hands-off way.” A bar on use of the term in government is a bit more than “hands-off”.
The changes in terminology were detailed in an internal DfE memo that splits into two columns for terminology used before 11th May, and words replacing them on the right.
To Michael Gove, the terms apparently “reek too strongly of Labour”.
John Chowcat, general secretary of children’s services union Aspect, said it looked like a gradual move away the ECM agenda. “I could not imagine this government making a bold announcement to the effect that Every Child Matters has gone or anything like that… but I can see a step-by-step shifting of the approach to the agenda.”
A government spokesperson told CYPNow.co.uk that the changes to terminology did not indicate a change of policy direction: “The coalition created the new DfE to carry through radical reforms in schools, early years and child protection.”
SOME CHANGES OUTLINED IN THE MEMO
| Pre-11th May 2010 | Post-11th May 2010 |
| England will be the best place in the world for children to grow up | Make Britain the most family-friendly place in Europe |
| Targeted services | Fairer services |
| Targets and outcomes | Results and impact |
| Children’s trusts | Local areas, better, fairer services |
| One children’s workforce framework/tool | Local areas self-assessment tool |
| Five outcomes/ECM | Help children achieve more |
| Narrow the gap | Close the gap, vulnerable and disadvantaged |
| Integrated working | People working better to provide better services |
| Safeguarding | Child protection |
| FIP | Key workers providing intensive support to families |
You really could not make this up. Welcome to the new age of spin.
[Hat-tip: Touchstone blog]
Update: Shadow children and education secretary Ed Balls told Liberal Conspiracy today:
Instead of issuing ridiculous memos like this, Michael Gove’s department should concentrate on getting the policy right and not making more mistakes with botched lists of school buildings and Academies.
There is a more serious point here too. Just like his renaming of the Department, trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence betrays Mr Gove’s failure to prioritise children’s services or to understand why they need to work closely together and with schools to tackle the barriers to the progress of every child.
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Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments
Ummm it’s political correctness gone mad, etc 🙂
How is it “consistently unsubstantiated” that Every Child Matters is a “massive bureaucratic superstructure”?
That’s obviously exactly what it is.
Gove tries to do away with some of the wanky wonk-speak and this is a bad thing?
To be fair to Michael Gove (is it only me who thinks “Bless, he’ll be alright when he finally gets past puberty”?) I think he may have been trying to get rid of some fairly nasty jargon.
The trouble is that some jargon is useful – it’s shorthand for complex actions or ideas. More seriously, if all you’re doing is replacing it with warm, fuzzy, politico-talk (“better”, “fairer”, “local”), you’re just substituting the apparently meaningless with the genuinely meaningless.
….same as the old age of spin.
Garbage out, garbage in.
psssssst it’s DfE
If you look at the changes listed above, what is most striking is an attempt to de-jargonise the DoE. ECM/FIP/Safeguarding – they’re convenient shorthands if you know what they mean. If you don’t they are completely impenetrable.
Government in general seems to have been talking mainly to itself, to sector quangos and to think tanks, and ignoring the fact that no-one else has a clue what they mean. So forgive me for not getting too worked up about this one.
The changing conventions for currently prescribed politically correct terminolgy would be laughable if it were not so pathetic – and which can be hazardous stepping stones for unwary civil servants.
Years back, before I retired from the civil service, I once asked a visiting enthusiastic proponent for an “Industrial Strategy” for Britain whether he thought we should adopt an “Integrated Industrial Strategy” or a “Comprehensive Industrial Strategy”?
He was totally flummoxed.
The definitive take on all this IMO comes from Thomas Hobbes: “For words are wise men’s counters; they do but reckon by them: but they are the money of fools, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other doctor whatsoever” [Leviathan (1660) Bk.1 Chp.4]
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/chapter4.html
Btw I haven’t a clue about which is better out of an “Integrated Industrial Strategy” or a “Comprehensive Industrial Strategy” or even whether an industrial strategy for a government is a good idea.
Most of these changes are pointless, but Gove does has a point about Every Child Matters and bureaucracy.
I’m a Maths Teacher, and as such I once wasted one morning of my life in a meeting, with my department, referencing every item on the syllabus to how it related to Every Child Matters. Yes, we had to justify why teaching linear equations supports child protection. And no, no one ever explained to us properly why we had to do it.
Where Gove has it wrong is that this is not the fault of Every Child Matters – the policy is sound. The real source of this bureaucracy is that many schools bust their guts ensuring that they have the paperwork to prove that they are implementing national policies, rather than ensuring they simply, er, implement national policies.
Every Child Matters was about tying all children’s services together for better coordination. Given that they have changed the Department for Children, Schools and Families back into the Department for Education, is it really any surprise if this Government don’t think Labour’s approach was the right one?
Although, looking their website up, it says “The Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010 and is responsible for education and children’s services.” So perhaps the name change was purely cosmetic and designed to appease old guard Tories who want things done the old-fashioned way, whilst planning to continue the ECM approach.
@3 Gove tries to do away with some of the wanky wonk-speak and this is a bad thing?
Sorry, but he is clearly replacing the old wanky wonk-speak with new wanky wonk-speak. Not getting rid, just realigning. As is his right obviously, but don’t confuse that he’s simply clearing away buzz-words and the like.
We’d all benefit from getting shot of a great many annoying phrases and terms. Thats not a party political issue, just a dislike of bullshit!
“We’d all benefit from getting shot of a great many annoying phrases and terms. Thats not a party political issue, just a dislike of bullshit!”
Absolutely. Remember all that BS about the Third Way and the People’s Princess, not so many years ago?
ECM/FIP/Safeguarding – they’re convenient shorthands if you know what they mean. If you don’t they are completely impenetrable.
Civil servants use some industry related jargon shock! What world are you living in Tim J, if you think a few industry related shorthands are a problem. And it’s not like Gove has changed them to plain English….
@8 Tim J Actually it’s worse. At least with the in-house jargon some people knew what it meant and the rest of us could roughly work some of it out and look up the acronyms. Now it’s all warm words that could mean anything or nothing.
It’s a bit like moving from a speech by John Prescott – incoherent but with glimmers of meaning – to one by Tony Blair. Clearly spoken, but really containing nothing concrete.
I’m not sure calling it spin is particularly illuminating. What I think we’ve got here is several goals being pursued at once in a confused way, which is worthy of comment in itself. It isn’t surprising because attempts at changing language in any official context are often attended by confusion.
For instance, there are some obviously creditable attempts to de-jargonise that come straight out of the Plain English stable, eg:
– replacing “integrated working” with “people working better to provide better services” could have come right out of the Plain English guidelines
– as could replacing an acronym “FIP” with what I presume is the full form “Key workers providing intensive support to families”
– and replacing “Five outcomes/ECM” with “Help children achieve more”, though I do think that amounts to changing the meaning, one reason I am usually wary of over-zealous Plain English changes.
– possibly also replacing “safeguarding” with “child protection”.
But then others are arguable – is “fairer” really better than “targeted” as a way of describing what happens? I don’t think we can know without a detailed knowledge of the process being described, so I don’t imagine the people drawing up the list knew either. And are “results” really less jargony and more commonplace than “targets”? (I’ll give you “impact” over “outcomes”.)
Other suggestions seem to intend an actual change in meaning, eg:
– “England will be the best place in the world for children to grow up” to be replaced by “Make Britain the most family-friendly place in Europe” – seems to signify a lowering of ambition!
And some don’t seem to have much to do with either Plain English or meaning, and, indeed, don’t seem to be intended as direct transpositions. Eg, “Local areas, better, fairer services” instead of “Children’s trusts”? Eh? Both just about nouns, but that’s the only resemblance.
Changing “Narrow the gap” to “close the gap” looks like a simple old-school correction to me. Narrow as a transitive verb is a fairly recent development (by analogy with wide, it should be “narrowen”). It would be just like Gove to disallow it.
So, an odd mix, revealing of several slightly confused intentions. There’s an interesting and revealing article about Gove and the coalition in it, but I’m not sure you’ve written it.
Civil servants use some industry related jargon shock! What world are you living in Tim J, if you think a few industry related shorthands are a problem.
Meaningless jargon is as much of a handicap to clear understanding as it is a shortcut. Anyone who has been to any sort of corporate meeting ought to know that. And when the entire point of the enterprise is to administer a service to the public, it is surely only right that care is taken that they aren’t being deliberately excluded by the language used.
Having worked in school administration, I was always struck by the poor standard of English (and I presume Welsh and Gaelic) that were produced by the education bureaucracy. This lack of concern with standard is hardly ideal, so I can understand where Mr Gove is coming from.
But wouldn’t a better idea have been to just tell civil servants to assume they’re writing for a reasonably intelligent parent or a new teacher, so that everything is clear. If they feel that using abbreviations or shorthand is necessary they would at least know to introduce this at the beginning of each document etc. Attempts to control language tend to create mindsets (since language shapes thought) that are not always what is wanted – allowing people flexibility with language would allow them to work without such constraints.
I am enduring an uncomfortable moment because I never wanted Michael Gove to get anywhere near education.
But when Gove outlaws the expression “Children’s trusts”, he is merely barring deliberate newspeak. The concept of “Children’s trusts” can mean anything; the government used to provide a voucher to parents for a Child Trust Fund unrelated to “Children’s trusts”; simultaneously, the expression was used to define decent services for children; perhaps New Labour were counting on confusion between the two.
Gove’s “Local areas, better, fairer services” is vague but more honest.
Oh no! Michael Gove wants to replace mindless buzz phrases with sentences that say what they mean! Shock! Horror! No wonder you are all shrieking. We can’t have plain-speaking in government – that would let (shudder) ANYONE understand what is meant! Madness.
Alix: There’s an interesting and revealing article about Gove and the coalition in it, but I’m not sure you’ve written it.
Alix – my point ehre was merely to highlight what he’s trying to do here – change the language in readiness for a change in policy, while trying to pretend that something programmes will be maintained.
What do you think all this reveals, other than Gove isn’t really clear about what these changes signify and that they’re contradictory too…?
I must admit I do think Gove’s sentences are more clearer.
More clearer?
“England will be the best place in the world for children to grow up” to be exchanged for: “Make Britain the most family-friendly place in Europe”
It is odd, exchanging the word England for Britain. Mr Gove is not in charge of Education, or anything else, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Is he trying to pretend that devolution hasn’t happened?
Maria, I’m fairly sure that one’s come from Cameron; it’s a Government-wide soundbite, not just specific to the DfE.
“Mr Gove is not in charge of Education, or anything else, in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Is he trying to pretend that devolution hasn’t happened?”
It’s the thought that counts.
Has the family values news reached Boris Johnson yet?
Hmm… I see it as deceitful.
But then I’m a simple soul
After all, Mr Gove has no control over Education outside of England, so why can’t he say so?
I don’t think he pretends otherwise – though I wonder how many people realise the education system in Wales is independent.
In this case the phrase is intended to indicate that the Government are interested in the good of the whole child and their family, and that includes more than just education, but all the other services associated with children and the family.
Though as I say, I’m not sure how the name change from Department for Children, Schools & Families back to the Department for Education quite fits into that idea.
And I don’t know how many children’s services and family-related policies Whitehall actually have control over in Scotland. Apart from maybe the married couples’ allowance.
The ECM five outcomes were:
Be Healthy, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution, Achieve Economic Well-Being.
So to replace that with “Help children achieve more” does suggest that 4.5 outcomes aren’t regarded as important any more. The original idea of ECM – that of different services working together to improve outcomes for children – is certainly credible, and linking activities to the outcomes isn’t necessarily bad, as long as it’s done sensibly. For example, practically every school lesson would contribute to “Enjoy and Achieve”, maths would contribute to Economic Well-Being, and PSHE would probably cover most of them.
As for the others, many of them replace one form of jargon with a clumsier alternative. “Narrow the gap” is fairly meaningful, and specifies an achievable desire. “Close the gap” sounds like a pipe dream, and what’s the deal with the “Vulnerable and disadvantaged” suffix? Surely “Narrow the gap between X and Y” would be more meaningful?
Then again, some terms from both sides were confusing. What did FIP mean? And the “…best place…” / “…most family friendly…” both sound like meaningless ambitions.
The trouble with ECM outcomes is that there are simply too many, many of them really aren’t obvious goals of teaching, and there is no way to choose between them.
The idea that kids should enjoy lessons regardless of whether they enjoy learning has been disastrous to education. Teachers feel pressured not to make children work hard, or learn what it is important in case it isn’t enjoyable enough. It has reached a point where teachers only feel their lessons are up to the required standard if they group all the tables into islands so the kids can play games and talk to each other. (You can actually tell when teachers are about to be observed by the sudden change in classroom layout.) Learning takes a back seat to the appearance of entertaining activities.
More generally, the effort to show that a school is achieving all these other aims (in addition to actually, you know, educating kids) creates a mountain of bureaucracy. There is a combination of paperwork-heavy, box-ticking exercises that are meant to prove the targets are being kept, and constant new initiatives to create the impression (but not the reality) that something is being done. Managers spend considerably more time managing paperwork and initiatives than supporting teaching and learning.
Most of our schools are actually very bad at their core function: teaching and learning. The fact that education was no longer seen as the purpose of schools, but simply one aim among many goes a long way towards explaining that. Any movement towards the idea that teachers should actually teach and schools should actually educate would be a vast improvement.
@oldandrew:
I think you miss slightly the point of ECM – you’re right that it’s got very little to do with most teaching, but the ball was set rolling for its creation by the Victoria ClimbiĂ© case. Its purpose it to integrate all the children’s services better. It’s about child protection more than it’s about education.
It’s a great idea and concept, and shouldn’t be shelved, but you’re absolutely right about the paperwork and box-ticking (see my first comment, #10). Many schools are more concerned about compiling evidence that they’re implementing policy than they are about implementing policy appropriately.
It’s not just ECM, though. When I had problems with health in my last school, that contributed to me struggling to keep up with planning and assessment and causing my classroom and behaviour management to suffer, they were more concerned about ticking the boxes that would get me out of their hair, rather than giving me the support I needed to get back into the classroom. Needless to say, same school as the previous comment.
That’s what made me so angry about the “incompetent teachers” Panorama excuse for a documentary last month. All the focus was on how many teachers were struggling to do their jobs and why they hadn’t all been sacked rather than asking whether they’d been given the support they needed.
I don’t quite agree completely with your point about entertaining lessons. A child will learn better if their lessons are entertaining, as long as they also have the same high quality of content. A happier child will tend to learn more.
The problem I have is the seeming acceptance by some “leaders” (ie teachers who have now become managers) within the profession that children these days “need” lessons to be entertaining and it’s not really deep down their fault if they decide to play up because they find a lesson boring.
Some lessons are boring. Because we have a syllabus to follow, and we don’t often have the luxury of being able to go off tangent and teach other stuff for the love of learning. Which is a whole other rant for a whole other day. But presenting the same content in a more entertaining way is more fun for the teacher too, and the kids can learn better as a result.
PS I’m really pleased you said “managers” when you referred to what most schools call the “Senior Leadership Team”. There’s no such thing as a Head “Teacher” any more, sadly. It’s all about numbers and reports, and serious problems that can’t be solved with a spreadsheet or a policy document are simply passed back down the chain.
30,
Firstly, I am aware that initially ECM was about screwing up children;s servicdes rather than education, but once it fed into the curriculum it did both. I would suggest that “integrating services” does not necessarily improve them and often results in a loss of experitse.
With regard to entertainment, obviously it is better, everything else being equal, that a child enjoys learning rather than doesn’t. However, the “everything else being equal” part is not simply a question of “content”. It is about the entire classroom culture and it is harmful if entertainment, not learning is the priority, Too many of the things done to make lessons more enjoyable actually harm learning (and in my view aren’t actually enjoyable to many children). It has lead to a culture where practice (except for exams) is looked down upon, where teachers aren’t willing to address the whole class in case they get bored, where multi-media gimmicks that don’t work are highly rated, and, worst of all, a classroom environment where children can easily carry on their conversations from before lessons without having to worry about concentrating on what they are meant to be learning.
Sorry about all the typos in the first paragraph of my last comment. I forgot to proof-read it. No sarcastic comments about teachers being unable to spell will be required…
I think you kind of made much the same points as me there. Content should come above entertainment and fun. ECM has been inappropriately implemented within education.
While “integrating services” can result in a loss of expertise when it’s a byword for sacking two experts and replacing them with one manager, the aim of ECM includes allowing better channels of communication between experts in different services and prevent children slipping through the net. I’m not sure where loss of expertise would happen here (though I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it did).
If what Gove intends is to indicate that ECM should not be implemented in such a way that it’s a millstone around the neck of general teaching and learning in schools, then I applaud him.* If the Government are going to quietly sideline it altogether I’d be worried. If they launch a new flagship policy that we all have to write into our schemes of work, however, I’d be less than surprised.
*He’s still my bet for first Tory minister to get the sack though.
Sorry that should obviously be “Content and classroom culture” or something like that from your point of view. Kids obviously need to take in the content and acquire skills and knowledge. Which I would tend to encapsulate into the word “content”. And I certainly don’t advocate fun and entertainment in every lesson. I really don’t think we disagree on that point, I think we’re possibly interpreting some words slightly differently. I think a better word to use as an aim is for lessons to be “engaging”. Entertaining should never really be an aim, but an occasional happy by-product.
This was reported by the Wail at the beginning of the month.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1299337/Deliverys-implementations-The-civil-servants-essential-guide-Davespeak.html
A number of posters have raised the issue of ‘integration’ in education causing issues around expertise. Any issues caused by integration are because government of all flavours (Whitehall) fundamentally misunderstands the goal and therefore the benefits that integration can deliver. Integration should focus on making sure that people working in different services have secure and consistent access to information that relates to a child, enabling them to act and, where appropriate, allowing them to coordinate activity around that child. Until Whitehall stops delivering short-term, tactical projects for the benefit of lobbying suppliers, the lack of long-term vision and strategy will be perpetuated, mainly at the behest of Sir Humphrey…
David Gale
CEO – SITFO.org
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Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Sylvia McLain
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sunny hundal
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Lyndsay Grant
Newspeak, DoE style: http://bit.ly/cR8rDa. You could not make this stuff up. #yam
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RT @sunny_hundal: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM >>Hello, Newspeak
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Most bizarre thing you'll read all day: Gove institutes newspeak at DfE: http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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If this http://bit.ly/bo6PtH is really true (is it?) then I shall never again moan if a client asks for bizarre wording changes in a report
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https://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/11/leaked-memo-details-words-that-gove-wants-to-ban-at-doe/ Is this a pisstake?
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#Gove bans civil servants from #Labour phrases http://bit.ly/a1GYUM (via @sunny_hundal) > Great use of a civil servants time #cuts
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Warwick Mansell
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Less waffle in education speak?Bring it on, PLEASE!!! http://tinyurl.com/28podvj. BTW what do we call a thick child with helicopter parents?
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Nadia
ECM aside, sounds less like jargon to me. RT @sunny_hundal: Leaked memo: Gove bans Labour phrases at DfE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Jo Austin
RT RT @libcon: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/a1GYUM @rwhegarty you'll love this!
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Gordon Nixon
RT @CarlRaincoat: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bkl1EJ <—- banned words means more work for educational researchers
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Chris Johnston
RT @danielvockins Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bo6PtH <- Gove knows his framing
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Mike Shallcross
http://bit.ly/a1GYUM Too much time spent on English, not enough on arithmetic. hat-tip @sunny_hundal
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Don Lands
RT @sunny_hundal: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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AdamRamsay
RT @danielvockins Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bo6PtH <- Gove knows his framing
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AdamRamsay
RT @danielvockins Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Grantham Labour
The internal document was leaked to Children and Young People Now magazine, which called the changes “utterly… http://fb.me/B24aVVMF
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Gareth Winchester
RT @libcon Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bkl1EJ <- He gets to the Knust of the problem…
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diana smith
RT @houseoftwits: RT @sunny_hundal Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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TheBiPolarBearMD
RT @HouseofTwits: RT @sunny_hundal Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Beatrice Bray
RT @HouseofTwits: RT @sunny_hundal Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Daniel Coomber
Michael Gove: Bit of a cock, no? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Peter Adams
We-writing history, re-defining reality: RT @libcon: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Rezina
Lol!!! RT @mulberrybush: RT @sunny_hundal Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at Education dept. http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Alex Wilkinson
Michael Gove fitting nicely into an 'In the Thick of It' sterotype http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Alex Wilkinson
Michael Gove fitting nicely into an 'In the Thick of It' stereotype http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Liberal Conspiracy
.@EdBallsMP slams Gove's attempt to ban words at DoE as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Ellie Gellard
RT @libcon @EdBallsMP slams Gove's attempt 2 ban words @ DoE as"trying 2 airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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sunny hundal
.@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Kate Williams
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Kate Joester
So the English Dept of Education is no longer allowed to say that "every child matters"? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Matt Leys
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Andrew Holland
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Nick Entwistle
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Cindy Penney
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Owain Gardner
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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John O'Dwyer
RT @rebelraising So the English Dept of Education is no longer allowed to say that "every child matters"? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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ani brooker
RT @rebelraising: So the English Dept of Education is no longer allowed to say that "every child matters"? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Sue Thomas
I see that Michael Gove doesn't believe that Every Child Matters.
RT @EdBallsMP http://bit.ly/a1GYUM via Sunny_Hundal -
tom_watson
Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Captain Disco
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Chris Skoyles
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Ben Griffiths
I'm not sure getting rid of the policy wonk's wankspeak is such a bad thing: http://bit.ly/aSooRr I've been confused/spun by it in the past.
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SoapboxLabourUK
Has Michael Gove not got anything better to do?! http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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Tetra Strategy
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Lewis Baston
I bet Michael Gove will produce a revised memo re-allowing some phrases and banning others that had seemed to escape… http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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catherine buca
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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sunny hundal
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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yorkierosie
RT @sunny_hundal: RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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netribution
Ha! Not content with axing schools and playgrounds, Michael Gove also wants to rewrite doublespeak: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (via @tom_watson)
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Nigel D
#ConDems put #EveryChildMatters down the memory hole http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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George Allwell
http://tinyurl.com/28podvj Gove says “narrow the gap” should now be replaced with “close the gap” < LIBCON (Gove swapped for Ameoba? )
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Racco
Michael Gove banning words at the Dept for Education http://bit.ly/9GRxpe WTF? is this how he spends his time?
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B Latif
RT @libcon: .@EdBallsMP slams Gove's attempt to ban words at DoE as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of e… http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Chris Nicholson
@mungler Good to see Cuntychops Gove has got his priorities in the right order *facepalm* – http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Krupesh J. Hirani
RT Leaked memo: Gove bans Sarah Teather / civil servants from Labour phrases at Education Department http://bit.ly/bkl1EJ
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Chris McCray
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe <<Gove sings in this clip http://is.gd/ed2Ya
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Chris McCray
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe << Gove also sings here: http://is.gd/ed3h1
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Paul Masterman
Minister Gove is quire right that words matter, see http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (I don't vouch for this site). Good,bad.mad …what do we think?
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manishta sunnia
RT @libcon: .@EdBallsMP slams Gove's attempt to ban words at DoE as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Rob Dyson
*sigh* If it ain't broke, etc.. RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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Adam
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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nijella
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Kevin Brennan
RT @BevaniteEllie: RT @libcon @EdBallsMP slams Gove's attempt 2 ban words @ DoE as"trying 2 airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Tony Parkin
RT @tom_watson: "Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)"
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Gareth Davies
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Rick Muir
@carolewilliams you're also not allowed to say that 'every child matter's apparently http://bit.ly/cR8rDa
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Philip John
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Michael Hanley
RT @politic_animal: RT @libcon Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/a1GYUM <This way for yo …
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Yvonne MWP
RT @sunny_hundal: .@EdBallsMP has slammed Gove as "trying to airbrush Every Child Matters out of existence" by banning words at DoE: http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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paulwalteruk
Has Michael Gove flipped his lid? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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HouseofTwitsLib
RT @paulwalteruk Has Michael Gove flipped his lid? http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Ken Rayner
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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Dan Wilson Craw
RT @tom_watson Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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same as before
RT @racco: Michael Gove banning words at the Dept for Education http://bit.ly/9GRxpe WTF? is this how he spends his time?
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Tweetminster
"Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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Jeff
RT @tweetminster "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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Karen Shane
RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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p3te
RT @tweetminster "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX < ban it Govey, you know you wnt to
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Justin Kerr-Stevens
RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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Artemis
RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy//Stupidity !
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Paul Sandars
RT @tom_watson: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)
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earwicga
RT @libcon Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bkl1EJ
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Warren Pearce
Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE http://bit.ly/bXiQfX 1) Gt policy study topic 2) Gove=consistent bad press 3) daft memo
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christine clifford
RT @phillhowson: @the_college rumour: banned words at the DfE http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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Alexandra Ranson
These seem reasonable to me RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX
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Samina Chodary
RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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Marie Anna
RT @libcon Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/bkl1EJ
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Short-termist cuts to new play areas will be disappointing for families across the country, says Ed Balls « Ed Balls – Labour MP Blog
[…] reports of a leaked memo about words and phrases to be banned by the Department for Education Ed Balls […]
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John Ringer
In Gove-land every child doesn't matter. At least, not as much as his small-government agenda… http://j.mp/clb2Eu
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lance piper
Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy) (via @tom_watson)
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Sherlika
RT @tweetminster: "Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE" http://bit.ly/bXiQfX – Liberal Conspiracy
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Beverley Moore
Michael Gove – reducing jargon or disguising policy changes? http://bit.ly/9IUBn8 People will interpret your writing to fit their own views.
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Ella
https://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/11/leaked-memo-details-words-that-gove-wants-to-ban-at-doe/
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Lovely Horse
RT @david_colquhoun: RT @xtaldave: Gove is such a cock. RT @libcon: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DoE http://bit.ly/a1GYUM
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Alex
https://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/11/leaked-memo-details-words-that-gove-wants-to-ban-at-doe/ if I didn't laugh, I'd cry.
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Eleanor Turney
https://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/11/leaked-memo-details-words-that-gove-wants-to-ban-at-doe/ Gove concentrates on the important things.
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pedanticdave
It's Political Correctness gone completely straight-jacket worthy ape-shit: http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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joannaridout
RT @eleanorturney: https://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/08/11/leaked-memo-details-words-that-gove-wants-to-ban-at-doe/ Gove concentrates on …
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Mums Rock
RT @Ladyblahblahs: @libcon: Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases http://bit.ly/a1GYUM >every child doesn't matter then?
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Andy Bird
RT @tonyparkin: RT @tom_watson: "Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy)"
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TeacherTalks
Gove institutes newspeak at DfE: http://bit.ly/bo6PtH >catching up…this is v funny and worth a read (via @EduInvestor)
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Pam Smith
Newspeak at DfE: http://bit.ly/bo6PtH >Has Gove never read 1984? (via @TeacherTalks @EduInvestor)
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Tom King
Leaked memo: Gove bans civil servants from Labour phrases at DfE | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/5G9dhqg via @libcon
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Alan Hart
RT @TeacherTalks Gove institutes newspeak at DfE: http://bit.ly/bo6PtH >catching up…this is v funny and worth a read (via @EduInvestor)
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David Gale
RT @grimpiper: Blimey. Michael Gove bans words at the Dept for Education: http://bit.ly/9GRxpe (Liberal Conspiracy) (via @tom_watson)
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David Gale
Clearly, the Education Secretary is unhinged. So, why is this dangerous muppet in charge of education? http://bit.ly/9GRxpe
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Coalition should pause before taking an axe to drug treatment budget | Left Foot Forward
[…] Gove may have included FIPs (Key workers providing intensive support to families) on his list of banned words, but if he’d looked at the cost-benefit analysis, he would have realised that the real challenge […]
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Daniel Vockins
@danielvockins @JayBee2009 @SukiKF @cian although how about this for stupid http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Daniel Vockins
@JayBee2009 @SukiKF @cian although how about this for stupid http://bit.ly/bo6PtH
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Hugh Miller
Or there's the subtle changes in language he planned to implement at the DoE http://t.co/iQtwY3wZ
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