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Indy100 Staff
Jul 01, 2016
Michael Gove has been setting out his pitch to become the next Conservative leader - and our next prime minister.
And in response, several people have been re-sharing this 2012 exchange from his appearance before the education select committee where he exposed his difficulty in understanding averages.
Gove told the committee it was his ambition for every school in Britain to be rated as 'good' by Ofsted - a position for which they will have to obtain higher the national average.
Chair:
Secretary of State, we are moving to a novel, new section: quick fire questions and answers, inspired by the Twitter feed #askgove-5,000-plus wanting to interact with you. So we are going to go round each of us in fairly strict timing. If you could give us quick answers, that would be great.
Michael Gove:
I will try my best.
Chair:
One is: if "good" requires pupil performance to exceed the national average, and if all schools must be good, how is this mathematically possible?
Michael Gove:
By getting better all the time.
Chair:
So it is possible, is it?
Michael Gove:
It is possible to get better all the time.
Chair:
Were you better at literacy than numeracy, Secretary of State?
Michael Gove:
I cannot remember.
As everyone educated beyond Key Stage Three should remember it is mathematically impossible for EVERYONE in one group to be above average.
Gove as prime minister: what could possibly go wrong...
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