An Inside Look At The UK's Strictest School w/Katharine Birbalsingh
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2024
- Katharine Birbalsingh is a British teacher and education reform advocate. She is the founder and Headmistress of Michaela Community School, a free school established in 2014 in Wembley Park, London.
Despite achieving remarkable results for students, Michaela faces political resistance due to its traditional approach, and prioritizing hard work and academic rigor over identity politics. Katharine discusses this opposition (which mostly comes from the political left) as well as the importance of integration among students. The discussion extends to broader societal issues at the intersection of race and education.
Katharine instituted a prayer ban at the school, and an incident between a Muslim student and the school was taken to the High Court of Justice. On April 16th, 2024, the High Court ruled in Katharine's favor.
Follow Katharine on X: / miss_snuffy
Katharine's website: www.strictestheadmistress.com/
Michaela Community School: michaela.education/
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:30 Michaela Community School
8:50 Political challenges faced at MCS
18:00 MCS curriculum & philosophy
31:30 Restricting freedoms for future success
34:41 Opposition to MCS
44:29 Prayer ban
52:45 Honest conversations about race
1:02:34 Lack of traditional rituals
1:09:49 How MCS academics are different
1:13:00 Victimhood and group identity narratives
1:21:37 Race in academic settings
1:28:20 Recommendations for American educators
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Since the filming of this conversation, the High Court reached a verdict regarding the case brought against Michaela Community School. Read Katharine's statement here: x.com/Miss_Snuffy/status/1780178135616520635
Looking forward to watching this!
Thankfully the court ruled in her favour, she is a true hero and literally saving kids lives.
Also loved the inside joke, no the emails did not get lost. Although I'm sure it will be claimed they were.
On a side note you too are a hero of mine Peter. Never stop what you're doing. You are desperately needed.
11:56
That's the first question I had like 2 minutes into this video!! Finally 👍 👍
13:56
😲 That doesn't even seem humanly possible in the current Zeitgeist of the Leftist intoxication of self aggrandized privilege in the U.S.
Children in America today are profusely rewarded for not only just being present.......but for extreme underperformance.
Yep, it's pretty awful, she would rather make a name for herself and drag the school through a High Court case rather than care and teach the kids, Yep I think it sums it all up.
This woman could single handedly save the UK education system.
A beautiful example of what happens when you remove wokism 😊
This women can singlehandedly save UK
@@nm5734 indeed, it would take a generation or two until kids schooled her way grow up
Simp
Sad thing this used to be the way schools were run. Nowadays divide and conquer is designed to destroy any unity at all. It's an old trope.
Boring.
PROTECT THIS LADY AT ALL COST. She should be awarded with the highest honour for teaching.
Indeed. She's amazing.
Which probably means she'll have a fatwa issued against her at some point.
We will pray everywhere in the world because worldwide created Allah
@@ruqiasalah5744 which Allah.
Really? Protect a bigot? You'd think get concern would be the 100s of thousands of white male pedophiles rather than a few children wanting to pray for 4 mins in SUMMER. but I didn't expect much from so called a democracy of colonial morons.
@@abelnaga3446one Allah.
I left the left. I had enough of the arrogance, dogmatism, and ignorance. They proved that a closed mind does not learn much.
lyric correction on Whitney's song:
Teach them well, then let them lead the way.😊
You leaving was the goal. Woke is not "left." It was platformed to destroy the left and entrench the right. And it went swimmingly. Movement on health care, affordable housing, education, police reform, labor, etc, has been destroyed for another generation.
This school is as left wing as it gets, ironically
You should join the walkaway campaign
The left and right are both closed minded on different issues. U were never on the left and just someone posing that statement to begin ur sentence so it makes it confirms this bias
From the reports I read about this school, I thought it was a posh expensive private institution favoured by rich immigrants. No idea it was a free-access inner-city public school. This woman is a wizard!
Her school is being framed by the peaceful religion and posh white women as exclusive and discriminatory when it's really the opposite. She could save the school system. In many countries if we follow
I want my kids to go to this school. All of the values she is teaching are what I’m trying to instil in my children. Resilience, kindness, hard work. I don’t understand how anyone can be against this.
They’re against it because these kids won’t come out trained to be victims.
Because they're communists. Plain and simple.
'Kind' is a word commandeered by the left and is subjective and open to interpretation. Good manners or politeness are more desirable as they impose set standards and a code of conduct recognisable by all without the obligatory victim input.
Well, then your kid can go to any public schools because they all claim they teach resilience, kindness and hard work.
Katharine Birbalsingh is wonderful! I work at a school in Australia that is reverting to a more traditional teaching model and the change in behaviour is undeniable.
I tried teaching as a change of career last year in the U.S. It was a failure on lots of fronts, including the fact that I was not as good a teacher as I would have liked, but the biggest problem was the regression from actual traditional teaching methods. Child centered learning in schools is a failure.
@@spikeontheroad2560100% a failure.
That's great to hear!
Fellow Australian here. I have a high functioning autistic gkid. Fortunately the child could read before starting school. In, what was said to be an excellent, regional city state primary school, the child could not attend classes as they were too chaotic. Instead the child was put in a room with cuddly toys where no learning took place.
For different reasons as a family we moved rurally and now all the gkids go to a tiny (10-15 kids per grade) RC school. I don't think they have restarted traditional teaching, I think they never stopped. The classrooms are calm and disciplined, even the kindergarten. The flag is raised every morning and in year three English they studied, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, (the book not the movie) as I did nearly fifty years ago.
And yes, by that age most of the kids knew the capital of France and could find it on a map.
@@grannyannie2948 It's wonderful to hear that schools like that still exist! Your family is blessed.
45:35 The reason prayer got banned in this 50% Muslim school is because some Muslim kids, during this particular Ramadan, began intimidating other Muslim kids into a stricter version of Islam. Things like intimidating kids into praying, making a girl feel like she had to start wearing a hijab, one girl dropped out of the choir because singing is haram, telling other Muslims they’re bad Muslims to eat instead of fast, and these reasons changed the whole culture for the worse.
These reasons are often lacking from other news reports of the ban. Please do share these reasons on other news reports where possible because it completely reframes who is doing what to whom, if you see what I mean
The “news” spreads a Leftist narrative.
It's easy to forget that some of the children at the school come from families that are atheist, maybe have no religion, or perhaps the parents want their children to make their own minds up about religion as adults. 50% of children at that school are not Muslim. What about their rights? Some Muslim children decided to use the playground for prayer. That playground is a resource for 100% of the children at that school, which is on a very small plot of land. That can't be permitted. That's a huge imposition on everyone else at the school. Plus religious behaviour and ritual is not "normal" and accepted everywhere. It's acceptable at places of worship or in your own home.
There is no stricter version of Islam. You are either Muslim or not. These kinds of kids have been radicalised though!
May I ask where you found this info? Is it reported?
@@levcimac it’s literally described by her at the timestamp I included
So happy she won the court case! this is the type of high school I was lucky to be in when I lived in South Africa between 1990 and 2008. There were school rules that we all had to abide by, we had to call all the teachers sir/ma'am, stand when they enter the class and greet them and be respectful at all times. It's heartwarming that there are still schools like Michaela.
I firmly believe that our schools here in South Africa are some of the best in the world. Especially the Afrikaans schools.
This is absolutely true. I grew up in a sanctuary city in the 90s , so we had large communities of transplants. Without fail, every single kid that came from one of those schools were absolutely brilliant. Super sharp and very respectful, responsible,and mature enough to never be bullied or behave poorly. They had dignity and pride in their most excellent work. Some of my best friends in band and extracurricular activities.😊@@shaungouws8591
Absolutely. Aside from the enforced groups at lunch time (we had our own friend groups), this was my high school reality. It's comical how Peter's mind is blown by a reality that honestly used to be the norm back in the day. Until "progressives" with the bigotry of low expectations ruined everything.
I have been involved in schools in South Africa for more than 3 decades. When I visited Winchester in 2004, believing that the private schools in South Africa had been modelled on Winchester College, I was taken aback to come across a boy from that school, with long hair, shirt hanging out, that he didn't greet me and that I had to step off the pavement onto the road for him.
So wish I could have attended this school. Mine was a horrible cesspit of mediocrity and bullying.
100% agree. I was forced by the state (as my parents were poor) into a sociology experiment, namely a 'Comprehensive' education in N Notts coalfield as the very first intake.
The experience was dire and it took me 12 years to catch up and succeed.
This is response to many people not politically tribal. We all look back and compare the experience described with our own school days
Ditto.
If I had I probably wouldn't have walked out......
Mine too. And it was hellish.
My school was like this but that was in the late 80' and 90's.. I've been saying for years that modern schools would have ruined my autistic ass.. too much noise and social bs. Work hard and be kind was not even a mantra is was selfgiven.
As a retired teacher from a low-performing, low-income U.S. school, I would love to have taught at her school.
The fact Katherine is not being supported by the conservative government is disgusting. I live in the UK and always wondered why her style of schooling had not expanded here
She won't be supported by the Conservative government if she is raising free thinkers that will achieve more than being a factory worker. I haven't watched it all yet so not sure her perspective there
You may want to speak to english conservatives about how conservative their conservative party is?
I am sure it has to do with teachers unions and schools of education. Schools are run the way unions want and the way politicians want, not the way parents and kids and families actually want.
Katherine was appointed by Liz Truss as the Tory party's Chair of the Social Mobiity Commission in 2021. She resigned a couple of years later - you can look up her reasons for doing so.
I think it's quite difficult to change the entire educational landscape overnight for several reasons, the chief of which is 'culture'. The culture has influenced educationalists, which in turn has influenced degree courses, which in turn has churned out teachers who are typical of that culture. Then we have the unions who seem more political than cultural. It's not that easy for government to make changes because the whole educational establishment can be resistant.
It's really the culture that needs to chage, and for that to happen people have to buy into the changes rather than government impose them.
We probably need more parental action to challenge the status quo, and more teachers like Katherine willing to run their own schools. She's had such a difficult time, though, that it will take men and women with her degree of commitment and courage to make the difference that we need.
@@anaximanderofapollonia9842100% this.
I have been teaching for 65 years and still am, these days, at 88, simply tutoring. My biggest hurdle across the years ( apart from political interference in education) has been parents and their war-cry of ' let kids be kids'. Goals and achievement have become unacceptable, exam study and homework are frowned upon because ' kids should be kids'. Many parents want tests banned because they ' stress' children and out-of-school research is a no go area because their children's down-time must never be reduced in any way. My life has been dedicated to reading and to giving every child the opportunity to have a chance in life. Katherine Birblesingh is the one shining light in education these days, every word she says has formed the basis of my teaching beliefs across my entire teaching life. Many thanks to this amazing teacher.
I am a 49 year old black American man. Modern American culture is jacked up. I’ve never seen so many damn victims. No personal responsibility. I never would have made anything of myself if I was half as weak as most people today! She is 100% correct! Grow up and take responsibility for your actions!
Boundaries are the most important thing for children. Without them, they cannot grow up. Full stop.
And unity, not division, and healthy competition. They also have to be given worthwhile goals, make things interesting in school for them. They spend 1/3 of their everyday life there after all when they're young.
Totally agree. My 4 kids were given boundaries according to their age. They were more confident and learned how to think for themselves ❤
We've regressed to the point where "traditional" IS progressive.
Our strongest current social fallacy is the appeal to novelty (also called appeal to modernity or argumentum ad novitatem). Disguised as progression. If it is new it has to be better. Two sexes is old, better is a lot more than two.
Well... finally. What's right is right, and not necessarily right. So to speak. lol
There's nothing progressive about the self proclaimed progressive.
@@thomasprogli3372totally. Fake progressives would have us believe that their way is great. The evidence so far is damning.
How can ANYONE be against this woman and her teaching methods??? Our world has gone flipping crazy!!!!
You could certainly be against some of her methods. Silent corridors sound extreme to me. But in the context of where she teaches they may be entirely appropriate (gangs, knives, single parent homes etc).
The gist of what she does though is excellent and should be replicated. The results speak for themselves.
@formulaic78
It's called, self control and awareness.
Bigots and ignoramuses are the people who are against her teaching methods. Education has been going horribly wrong for some time now, her system is effective in EDUCATING and actually civilising the children.
All part of the Ideological Subversion of the West. Also watch the Yuri Bezmenov interview from the 1980's.
@@linmal2242 Yes, like all serious warnings people don't take heed of the early signs and are then surprised when bad things happen.
She's amazing. Put her in charge of the UK's education system.
Yes! For the whole West!
This school and the head mistress are as others have noted here a true treasure. Thank you Peter for sharing not what could be someday but something tangible and good that exists now.
“Only someone who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat”.
The people who spend their time criticising this woman and school are not rowing.
It's astonishing how some people don't know how lucky they are - and those who get to be students at Birbalsingh's school are the luckiest of all.
This woman is one of the greatest contemporary Britons.
The fact that there are people hostile to her strategy and methods for ideological reasons is saddening.
And always the same ungrateful demographics!
Are her opponents spastic Tories (naturally as well as Labourites who just oppose her because they think she's not one of them) who want to pay for their kids to go to private schools and buy their advantage? I really hope not but it could be so.b
She is worth taking seriously. Brilliance + passion + data to back up her results. Holy moly.
The UK needs more Head Mistresses like this lady, if I was a parent I would be very happy to send my children to her school.... her pupils will suceed in life due to the values and education they have received.
No, UK citizens have to BECOME like her.
Ok, I’m literally 7:52 into this video and I absolutely LOVE this woman and this school. Why isn’t every school like this?!?
I felt like that! With all the woke agendas that have infiltrated society, my biggest fear is for the children . So much pressure on them. This type of teaching eliminates the outside pressures and allows kids to be kids. The discipline gives boundaries and direction. I love all that this lady has to offer. Wish she was our PM! 🙏
I am from France and to me, this school applies what used to be the values of the French public school system and the principle of laïcité, which requires that the school is a neutral sanctuary for learning, fraternity and a healthy meritocratic mindset with high expectations. Needless to say this is no longer the case in France. Bravo to this headmaster and her team, both impressive and very courageous!
I think too many people associate discipline in schools with cruelty and unfairness. They confuse authoritative with authoritarian. Children’s behaviour, respect, happiness and achievement improves really quickly when teachers are allowed to be firm and have strict boundaries and high expectations.
what scares me is that many teachers and the educational blob criticises Katherine, and so few kids in the UK get to have this sort of education. I would love all kids in the UK to get this sort of education.
My child's head of year , after I complained for the level of politics being pushed, sent me an email with 'She/her/ catself' at the end.
It's the best school within an hour of here.
@@realMaverickBuckleyHoly moly, if *that* is what’s running the best school in your area I’d hate to see what goes on in those schools.
Our Headmaster Roger Perks MBE-God rest his wonderful soul- had a similar ethos to KBS. He knew the name of every single pupil, ate with us, sang with us, prayed with us. We called him Sir, and if anyone who lived deserved that title it was him. A Knight of our hearts. Our school under his leadership, was oversubscribed because our results were so outstanding for a grant maintained public school. I’m forever proud to be BAVER😊
Thanks Sir!
Wow! Your honoring of his legacy is impressive. He sounds like my type of headmaster/principal. His drive to know the pupils' names, eating, singing, praying with you, those are great marks of a leader. Addressing him with a "Sir" is moreso borne out of gratitude and respect, not cheap power play. Thank you for sharing your story!
Your Headmaster was a special human being 🙏🏽
Katharine Birbalsingh is pretty much describing school in the UK as I remember it a long, long time ago. More power to her.
We are failing our children and desperately need educational environments like she is describing.
OMG, I love this woman and what she has done. There is a charter school called Seven Oaks here in Central Indiana that we sent our kids to. It seems to be set up just like her school, and the kids coming out of this school are just brilliant. I hope we start getting more and more schools like this. We sorely need them.
This lady is a force of nature. If we want to understand why so much of modern life stinks we desperately need to rescue children from the sloppy propagandizing that passes for much of modern education.
The people who threaten her are vile. These people do not really care for the underpriviledged. She helps people move up the ladder and achieve a better life. They don"t. They want people to stay poor and uneducated so they can continue to divide and control them
Those who won't leave the nest dont want to be lonley and don't want others to move out.
This must be the future for multi racial Britain. Totally inspiring.
Good grief.
Katharine has just gone back to the sort of teaching that I remember when I was at school!
Really? You were only allowed to discuss approved topics at break time? No talking and facing forward in the hallways? How old are you, 120?
I think this is the best interview with Katharine that I've seen - she was on fire!
Thank you for watching!
Yes I was thinking the same!
Coming from an impoverished background with troubled parents, the one thing our parents did was say, "Education is a way out of this." Many bad things happened, but they supported me and my siblings in that. We all made it out. The 1950s quiet classroom meant we could hear the teacher. By 2000, as a teacher, the classroom was no safe space to teach or learn. Her school is a return to what the family fails to do - routine, etc. The family wants good for their kids, they often can't/don't know how to do it, that's why my parents supported teachers and schools. It was a way up for their kids.
Make her the Education Secretary now! Better than that, Prime Minister.
Agreed
I'm delighted that the court has reached a sensible decision; this school should be every encouragement. I do not understand why the Conservative government has not embraced Katharine Birbalsingh and her methods. They should sack most of the professors and lecturers of education who reject and have rejected her methods, which work, and pushed teaching methods that clearly do not work. It is through schools like the Michaela Community School that we have a chance, albeit a slim one, of building a cohesive, responsible, free society and bridge the divides in our communities.
I love how Peter - having experienced the positivity for himself - immediately homes in on the most important question: “Who is against this??”. Birbalsingh is demonstrating the best solution to the problems humanity is facing right now: we should be replicating this in an indecent hurry for the sake of our rapidly-shrinking future. I quit lecturing because of this culture of decreasing expectations… I would go back to it in a heartbeat to promote this approach no matter how tired I feel at 61! You go KBS - and thank you PB for this interview.
This lady has said constructed words, sentences and paragraphs in a coherent manner, that my Highland Grandmother would have recognised as solid teaching principles.
I'm from a Scottish / North East England (Northern British) Quaker family. We never gave up. Don't give up because you are correct, as children need right and wrong guidance, as the first step to enjoying education, training and life opportunities.
Well done lass.
Beautifully observed and said, Mr. Robertson.
Thank you for the important reminder about perseverance, tenacity and the power of education.
(Many, many lines of my mother's ancestors were Quakers from the North of England & among the earliest arrivals in Pennsylvania, in the East Coast of the United States.)
@@bristolcorvid8894 Quaker mums were tough ladies. Thank goodness for that, as it allowed us to grow up into adults, to be better able to enjoy life.
Respect to you and your community. You took a lot of strain off ours and others shoulders this last hundred years. Thank you.
But schools and colleges are not helping children.
They not interested than their own rules. They making student psychological disturbed
Ideological people don’t want to learn, they just want to be right.
They want to indoctrinate
A friend of mine, a easy going teacher here in Birmingham, told me he had Muslim pupils objecting to him eating because they were fasting. He stood his ground. When he told me I couldn't believe kids would even dare make such a demand. Luckily the woke mop didn't dismiss him from his job.
Lucky he's still alive. Those pupils & their families should be deported
I'm glad to hear he stood his ground. He's not obliged to stop eating
Ex Muslim here, dont let them get away with this stuff.
I hope someone had a conversation with them about boundaries and that their behaviour contravenes their own faith. This doesn't come from nowhere. it's radicalised adults. Same with the Leyton school protests over Palestine. Islamist bully tactics and then cry victimhood.
This is a regular occurrence because they think because they are Muslim they have privilege but do they care about other religions nope
He stood his ground because he wanted to eat is crazy. Because of hungry Muslims
They are becoming more bold and trying to get their way. There are many ways in which Islam spreads, this is one of them.
Than you Peter for this interview. This woman is fabulous. The world needs her.
I'm a teacher and believe in these values. These are just common sense when dealing with children. They thrive on structure and safety!
You absolutely knocked it out of the park in this interview Peter, Katherine is an inspiration. I met her briefly many years ago around the time she was being roundly attacked for simply talking at the Conservative Party Conference. I remember how dismissive her colleagues were when she first started to try to get the Michaela project started. Since then she has consistently proved her detractors wrong, she has broken the mould, defied the odds and provided an educational tenplate for the future. Everyone in the field of education should be made aware of how successful her methods have become. Not without great personal sacrifice and dedication on her behalf by the way.
Plus, thankfully, she has now redeemed herself and her educational model in the courts, despite the terrible abuse she receives and usually being deliberately misrepresented in the press.
It would have been great if you could have got permission to involve some of the pupils in some spectrum street epistemology. I bet they would have been brilliant. Maybe next time?
You write beautifully. This comment deserves many more votes for its subject matter alone - thank you for showcasing your gorgeous grammar too! It would be fantastic if I could get my daughter into a school that teaches using this Michaela method back here in NZ. I’ll be doing more research, for sure.
@@MsPeaches2you Thankyou.
University of Austin should offer a major for teachers to study and certify in these methods for educating youth. Teach teachers this approach, and offer them placement to further this work.
They would be labeled conservative bigots, colonizers, and various ***phobes, etc
Yes! ❤
They would have to do their work in a charter or private school, because the mob in public school admin would never allow or tolerate this type of approach.
You could learn them in a weekend. The problem is finding schools willing to institute them.
That is funny .. I taught in Round Rock ISD 20 years ago and they were already insisting on no homework and no behavior consequences and most of it was coming from the Un of Austin..They are the worst. Putting out garbage instructional methods that say " let the kids do what they want..."
It's not hard to imagine this school becoming a conveyer belt for Britain's leaders a few decades from now.
Fingers crossed, our current leaders are deranged
Edit: on both sides
These students will become the new elite and in turn (hopefully) give some guidance and structure to the world we have to live in.
Superb interview Peter
I was the product of the old grammar school system which was largely abolished in the UK it before I was born, but we had one of the remnants left in our town. You had to pass an exam called the The 11 plus which The top 60 boys in the area would pass.
A lot of the things katherine mentions towards the end of the interview were very familiar, things like sitting silently in class before the teacher arrives, And then standing up when they come into the room.... All things you just take for granted when you are 11 or 12 years old. Also, the drill system of learning was a big part of it, especially French vocabulary and maths. Whatever you learnt that day was given to you as homework that evening.
It worked.
I attended the wreckage of a former grammar school. They were abolished by Labour as elitist and exclusionary, creating and perpetuating class distinctions.
I think they may have been somewhat elitist, the kids who failed the 11+ tended to come from poorer families without ambition or books at home.
What's needed is leadership so ALL schools are run like this.
Those who want Steiner School style education should be given the option.
I think it is overlooked how well educated Steiner School parents are and how engaged in their kids education they are.
If a kids from a migrant, a single parent, or an abusive (and that include neglectful) home, I think they need something to measure the chaos against, they need good examples to follow.
But they helped poor person join the elites. Just cos a kid is poor doesn't mean they are not bright.
@@AndyJarman I attended an actual surviving grammar school and can definitely vouch for how it was back in the 80's - heaven knows what it's like now
Great interview, this women should be running UK education.
What a remarkable outlook !
What a remarkable human !
What a remarkable school !
Ms. Birbalsingh is a hero. I wish I had gotten to go to her school. She is, I hope, the future, and I applaud her for calling out the destructive narcissism of the l*ft which hurts their kids and all kids.
Who would have thought, if you strive for excellence and high moral values that the children turn out well. This should be every school.
I am so on the side with this woman. As someone who has worked in inner London schools for 15 years, I wish the identity obsessed, individualist, politicians, teachers and PARENTS would listen! She is right. The doubters are wrong.
If only US education could be overhauled to be like this school!
if only British schools could be, but as she said she was blocked from expanding and teaching others to replicate! madness
Canada too, mostly a disaster
If only UK education could be reformed to get rid of this kind of school.
@@FarmerGwynI’m curious as to why you think this? My understanding from this discussion is that this school is pretty within the UK.
@@FarmerGwynunique
Excellent again Peter. Katherine was great, the more people with common sense get to be heard, the faster we will be rid of this mass idiocy. Education is fun.
30 seconds in and I already pressed the like button because Katharine Birbalsingh is delivering truth in every sentence she makes.
This HeadMistress is running a school like what we used to have - discipline, respect, integity, order, certainty of behaviour, rules, regulations that provide the needed boundaries. The modern practice that has been going on since the 1970s for education is to treat children as small adults. Our system of education also relied upon parents that play their part in socialising values. Blame the Ministry of Education and academic university educationalists who have denigrated these value- and behaviour-based teaching practices.
The it's amazing how the very best of us (who are most committed to success, meritocracy, & democracy) like Katharine Birbalsingh & Claire Fox are rubbished and not supported by our mainstream media. Another honorary (NOT British) 'Best of Us' would be Ayaan Hirisi Ali (who receives a similar 'cold shoulder' from our media class.)
I’m an American and you have mentioned three of my heroes.
The media & political establishment want stupid, indoctrinated subjects. Not intelligent citizens.
They're not on the left, therefore evil..
Katharine is saving the world, amazing work.
Wow, if only all schools had a headmistress like this. What a great advocate for children.
When she said children need safety to think about anything else other than fear and then be creative and be better just hit me in the heart so bad 😢
There’s been too much‘theory’ peddled in academia.
Too much social ‘theory’ practiced in the workplace
All these ‘theories’ are proving DISASTEROUS! Look around you! This place is a mess full of spiteful mutants.
Michaela school PRACTICES good values.
Her school is these PRACTICES in action.
I sincerely hope this spreads.
I know an Education Ph.D. who has NEVER TAUGHT. She has never been in a classroom for grade school children leading a class. Yet, she's supposed to be an expert in TEACHING. It makes no sense.
@@ceeceebeebee889 Would you board a plane piloted by a theorist? an expert in the principles of aviation, with qualifications galore but zero hours experience in the air?😃
Me neither 😒
I was lucky to grow up when teachers and head teachers like Miss B were commonplace.
I only realised my good fortune when I understood just how appalling schools are now.
I totally understand how demoralizing it can be when people are against you trying to make things better.
Too many people are terrible. It breaks my heart to say it.
I have seen this lady interviewed a couple of times now, I think she's absolutely remarkable. She has such energy and positivity, those children are fortunate to be at that school. And just for info purposes, I'm on the left.
She has to be the greatest person on Earth. That was some fantastical conversation, Peter!
I think you mean "fantastic", not "fantastical", but maybe I'm wrong.
❤
As a white woman with fine, thin, limp hair i don't understand why I'm not allowed to openly appreciate a black lady's hair. It's sincere. I spent my youth putting perms in mine trying to have some body and curl. Why is it "racist" to compliment someone's hair?
Because diversity is our strength
Because not long ago black hair was shunned among white society. You can compliment someone but not copy them. Now every white woman wants to look black . Lip injections is one of them
Why do you have to hate your hair "thin, limp" etc in this question and put yourself down?
Katherine is a wise and insightful leader. I cannot understand why the government is not capitalising on the talent, skill and insight evident and so successfully modelled in Michaela, to roll out this philosophy widely across other authorities.
‘Public school’ in Britain means private school. We call government funded schools ‘state schools’
Yup, that’s definitely worth clarifying! It’s pretty confusing, especially as we then talk about the private sector and the public sector
She clarified it was a charter
@@Dodo-hk2ueShe said it was NOT a charter school because they don't choose their intake.
Its like an old fashion English Grammar school. If every school was like this we would change the world.
This woman is a true hero, a British national treasure, and mark my words, history will remember her as such. Wow!
Auburn High School in Melbourne Australia went through a very similar transformation from 2014. The school council voted to close the school and to reopen as a newnschool. A new principal was brought in, and jobs were spilled - only 15% of the then staff kept their jobs. A new teaching model was introduced based on academic achievement, and a traditional approach to discipline, order and respect put into place. Academic achievements began to improve very quickly. From a student enrolment of 245 students in 2014, it has now over 700 and is continuing to grow. (The education department has plans for it to grow to 1000 students).
Sadly, the principal Maria Karvouni passed away from cancer in 2023. She was deeply loved and missed.
This is the most amazing interview. Inspired and so very grateful for this fierce, relatable, committed woman. Her integrity and humility to embody the simple traditional values is an example many will remain blind to. Thank you for this. It gives me hope. Data matters. Facts matter.
So happy she mentioned teaching History in some chronological order. Im 34 and a huge History buff. I blow people's minds all the time with what one part of the world was doing while another one was doing something else. Like the show Shogun. Person asks, "Why are there no black people." Well, because ONLY a couple groups of Europeaners had even figured out how to sail the ocean. While Japan was in a similar state as Medieval Europe, Europe had moved way past that to gunpowder weapons and enormous ocean going ships.
And your point??
@@ashlibabbittcroakedit9108That people don’t know history, location, time, cultures.
@carolmcln5028 Someone who doesn't know history, saying that people don't know history. 🙄
@carolmcln5028 You said that only a couple of groups of Europeans knew how to sail the ocean. Then tell me how the Polynesian sailed to all those islands in the Pacific Ocean?
As a lover of history I agree. And that's the way it used to be taught.
I'm a public school teacher in the US, and see first hand the problems this woman is talking about. She's absolutely right about the solution. I celebrate her honestly and courage in taking action and speaking out. We need more like her running our schools!
Make her prime minister
GOD Bless You Katharine for having the Courage of Your Convictions.🕊️❤️❤️❤️🙏
This is THE BEST interview I've seen peter do! This is absolutely wonderful. anyone arguing against this is actually arguing against what works best for children in favor of a clearly defective political ideology. I'm going to send the link to some of my leftist relatives and hope they are open minded enough to listen. wonderful work Peter, this woman is great!
We need MORE teachers like Katherine. She is truly inspirational and gives me hope that all is not yet lost
I'm an Australian teacher who has visited Michaela. It's brilliant! I was very impressed. Great interview too.
This woman is fantastic. Every school should have one. Thank whom/whatever you believe that she won the court case and didn't have some backward nonsense forced upon the school.
Astonishing story by an astonishing human being and educator. Well done.
Brilliant guest. I wish she was running Westminster never mind her inspirational school!
Whoever wins the next election should put her in the Lords, make her education secretary, and have her roll these schools out across the country.
Thank you so much for this interview. Her integrity and bravery are so inspiring. Kids who are being failed and neglected by their parents have hope if teachers like that are brave enough to teach, direct and discipline them properly.
Toby Young not treated as badly as Katherine Birbalsingh: it could be sexism, not racism.😒
So glad to be able to hear her side. Thanks.
One of the most inspiring and saddening things I've heard in a long while. Inspiring that there there are good people with common sense who genuinely care about kids and put their welfare and wellbeing above ideology, and has the the EVIDENCE of what works, with no handwaving. Saddening that so few people actually want to see anything that works and would rather see their kids sacrificed to the ideological beast than to admit they're wrong.
We're living through some insane times.
I don’t even have kids and this lady has inspired me to want to campaign for better practices in American schools. What a wonderful role model. I’m so glad she exists.
Go to a school board meeting. Pay attention to local elections. This is my focus now. Our local communities matter. We have to protect them and ensure that they reflect our values.
Bravo to this lady. This style/type of school setting was "normal" in the 80' through mid 90' in CA, USA...believe it or not! There was respect, proper behavior and healthy competition to succeed...All in public schools in the Bay Area. I am so glad, being a Gen X, it was a great time and I feel terrible for the youth of today...
I've been watching this person for years. She is truly amazing. Thank you so much for promoting her on your podcast. I'm starting to feel the same way about you and what you are doing. Incredible work. Please keep it up.
You have to say Katherine is a superb role model for head teachers everywhere. Even the lunch time is used to develop skills. And collaborative discussion on a topic is a very useful skill to develop, and will help you perform better in working environments that require this or benefit from feedback discussions. Sadly when i was at school and Uni to be fair, this was not something we did (school), or did enough of (Uni).
Listened to the whole thing while doing my week's planning for my high school students. Great stuff! So well said!
As an American, I wish teachers in America could view education like Katharine, SHE IS AWESOME!!! So intelligent and articulate. Love her! ❤
Excellent video. If I was the Prime Minister I'd invite her to be Education Minister.
Was just thinking that
If only this woman could be cloned. The world needs her wisdom.!!
I'm definitely on the left and definitely support all they are doing at Michaela. We do need an education revolution.
Home is home and school is school.
My son's high school is failing dramatically, when I attended it was one of the top comprehensive in the country.
It's only 50 from the bottom now.
At parents evening his English teacher (blue hair, pronouns on the door) told me my son's "experience of school" was as important as his academic achievement.
I couldn't believe what I'd heard, my wife wrote to the head to complain, she got no response.
I used to be a student in a similar environment. 35 students in class and a quiet environment that we, the kids, enforced. I used to be able to learn most of the new things in class and at home had time for the piano, books, friends and sport. People now can't believe when I say I loved it in school. Now, as a teacher my classes are quiet but for several years I have tried and failed to make change in the school. The liberal pedagogy has made so many mistakes and damage that I wonder if it ever will correct its course. I'm so glad that there are other people that think that discipline is crucial in school. The alternative is every child with ADHD diagnosis and drugged.
i went to a pretty strict state school in Australia in the 80s which was very high performing. I was also much happier there, kids do need and want boundaries. I felt safer that way - kids are animals (or can be)but by enforcing decent behaviour it actually made the atmosphere much nicer.
And she's right that being in a controlled environment encourages critical thinking. My school was strict on attendance, uniform etc but within the academic setting we had a lot of freedom. My memory is that the teachers liked us to challenge what we were being taught and welcomed alternative ideas, especially in things like English and History.
If we had more women like this in positions of power in the UK we would be in a lot better state than what we currently are