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Paul Givan wants to take our schools to Trump-land

17 0
31.01.2026

The local definition of an expert is an English person with a laptop getting off the plane at Belfast City Airport.

A cynical view, you say, but that’s how Stormont departments have traditionally sought help in shaping policy.

True to form, Education Minister Paul Givan has appointed what might be called a queue of experts (“queue” is presumably the appropriate noun for a collection of English people) to change our education system.

These are not just any English people – they are mainly disciples of former Conservative education minister Michael Gove, who changed the English education system between 2010 and 2014.

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His new system, according to Gove, would portray Britain as “a beacon of liberty for others to emulate”, while David Cameron talked of teaching “our island story in all its glory”.

By hand-picking these people to shape our education system, Paul Givan is presumably hoping to follow Gove in emphasising what is known as a knowledge-rich curriculum.

That means teaching children lots of facts, developing an elitist group who have loads of knowledge.

The argument against that idea is that it........

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