Anthony Seldon: We cannot let Michael Gove’s sterling work be wasted

When Britain went to war in August 1914, the Cabinet, armed forces, banks, judiciary and Civil Service were dominated by those who had been to public school, with Eton, Harrow, Marlborough and Winchester providing the largest numbers.

Exactly 100 years later, the Cabinet, armed forces, banks, judiciary and Civil Service are still dominated by public school products. So much has changed in the past 100 years under the impact of the welfare state and technological change but some aspects of our country have seemed to be impervious. Social mobility in Britain, and opportunities for all, regardless of background, have been stagnant. Some surveys even suggest that Britain is becoming a more socially polarised country, perhaps the least equal in the developed world.

A study published yesterday showed that the grip of public schools and Oxbridge is strengthening among those seeking to become barristers. Richard Moorhead, Professor of Law and Professional Ethics at University College London, commented: “The old school tie is still very much alive and well.”

I know and feel this problem acutely. I run Wellington College, one of Britain’s most prestigious independent schools. But I am also executive head of Wellington Academy, the state school in Wiltshire that we sponsor, and I see first-hand how hard it is to promote social mobility in our very sticky and status-dominated country.

That is why the departure of Michael Gove from his post as Education Secretary two weeks ago was a bitter pill. No holder of this job has done more than him in the past 50 years to champion the rights and opportunities for all young people, regardless of social background. His sense of having a moral mission was powerful and moving. He refused to accept the patronising view that young people from poorer backgrounds cannot aspire to top universities and top jobs. The pathway to achieve that, he argued, was a serious academic curriculum, full of rigour and stretching exams.

For four years he fought to end the culture of grade inflation where students’ grades went up year after year regardless of achievement. The “pupil premium” was introduced to target money at those most in need. For a Tory, the party traditionally thought to look after the interests of its own middle class, it was impressive stuff. A statue should be erected to him in Whitehall.

Nicky Morgan, his successor, has the most important job by a mile in Whitehall. Let’s be frank here. Most Cabinet ministers, despite their swagger on the Today programme, make very little difference. She has just 10 months to embed Gove’s reforms before the general election. Gove came up the hard way as an adopted child through the state sector until he won a scholarship to an independent school.

Morgan went to an independent school in Surbiton and has had to face nothing like his challenges. But she has to find the same passion. I believe she will, though it will not be easy.

She has already indicated that she will not change Gove’s direction of freeing up schools from local authority control. He introduced Free Schools, with 331 now open or approved, and extended the number of academies, which now embraces 56 per cent of secondary and 11 per cent of primary schools. She will press to see that number rise. She must embed autonomy further for those schools that have shown they can run themselves without the unwelcome attention of external bodies. More must be done to ingrain the notion of a “self-improving system”, where strong schools support weaker ones, rather than looking to government for help. More top graduates need to be encouraged to teach, especially in maths and science, and she will need to find extra school places to meet urgent needs.

But entrenching the Gove revolution to make it irreversible, whoever wins the general election, is only part of the story. Gove was a better visionary than administrator, and Morgan needs to be clear-eyed about tidying up his legacy. The significant improvement in secondary schools in London since 2003, due to the impact of London Challenge, Teach First, the academies programme and some strong local authorities, needs to be replicated across the country at large. Many schools need dramatic improvement, not the least in rural and coastal areas across Britain.