What is Ed Balls actually up to ?

There are some odd signals from the department formally known as Education ( before that word became too embarrassing for Labour ), and its minister Ed Balls.

Publish tests are to be stop, or considered to be stopped, or reviewed by special parents soviets to be convened to do Labour party focus group work provide input. This will stop any objective information being available and prevent the headlines about our education getting worse not better. ( See my New Labour - Soviet post/joke to see how this works here ).

There is to be, as any good comrade knows, a ten year plan. This is of course arrogance personified - but it also add to the Brown myth that his government is inevitable in his one party state.

Balls also wants schools to take on social work - advising parents on all sorts of things. What I guess this means is that social workers will be in schools - though they are careful not to annouce that ( as well as the police recently announced ). That'll allow then to pry into everyone's lives and ask the children what goes on at home. Very soviet.

The educational establishment has got its claws into Balls (you'd think that would hurt wouldn't you ? ). They hate objective information because it cramps their style and imagination. Its stops them doing just what they feel like - or wish to programme kids to do - and makes them teach them to read, write and add up.

Primary school education went well for the first 5 years of New Labour because it had been set up that way by the previous Conservative government. Now that they are meddling more performance is declining and they are moving to hide the evidence.

Typical shameless and immoral socialists. Typical Balls. However their is no doubt some method in all this - which bit of the road to socialism and enslavement of the people do they think they are building here ?

Update: John Redwood wasn't impressed either.