Gillian Keegan
The Reformer
Changing the system from inside it, principle turned into change.
Gillian Keegan is the Minister for Schools, dedicated to enhancing the British education system. This interview highlights her commitment to reforming educational policies and addressing the challenges faced by students and schools, showcasing her proactive approach to leadership.
“Well, the first inkling I had of politics was probably the first minor strike. My granddad was a minor. We lived at that point in a mining village in Yorkshire. And the village, even though I was really young, I was four or five at the time, the village absolutely divided because some people had gone back to work, some people hadn't.”
“Well, what you've got, I mean, Bill Gates in particular, I mean, technology has consolidated a lot of power into a few hands, right? That's true.”
“Absolutely. I mean, horrendous. So, what happened is some of the panels that failed had previously been judged as non-critical. So I had all the engineers, the institution of structural engineers. So what's the difference between the non-critical here and the non-critical there?”
“These schools they built, we call them the wacky warehouses. They didn't have a classroom wall in them. So kids were sort of in different parts of the building with like cloth between them. They were terrible. So actually they had to spend a fortune putting the walls in. But that wasn't the point. The point is...”
The Rest Is Politics: Leading — 55. Gillian Keegan: The future of British schools, union 'barons', and Sunak's Rwanda battle
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