John Bald: Gove has brutally highlighted the ‘toxic nonsense’ at the heart of the teaching of education
Original published 11 September 2026 · Briefing prepared 2026-09-12
Former Ofsted inspector John Bald discusses Michael Gove’s criticism of Hilary Cremin’s book on education. In ConservativeHome, Bald challenges its treatment of intellectual traditions while acknowledging concerns about stress in the system. The piece is an argument about educational ideas, rather than an inspection report or an official change to teaching policy.
An original summary prepared for The Westminster Wire from the publisher’s feed text. It has not been independently reported by us. The original may contain additional details or later updates.
ConservativeHome
Full reporting, author details and any corrections. A subscription may be required.
About summaries and image credits
Briefings keep allegations, opinions and projections attributed to their sources. They are short summaries, not reproductions of the full articles. Each links to the item it summarises.
Photos are displayed only when reuse rights have been checked. File photos are labelled and are not presented as photographs of the reported event. A source credit alone does not grant permission to reuse an image.