The Liberal Democrat line on Michael Gove

The official public version, via Dan Rogerson in an official party news release:

Liberal Democrats absolutely support reforms to improve standards where the evidence is clear, and we have done so in the Coalition Government.

We want to raise aspirations for all children, which is why every child should have the chance to achieve good qualifications. A two-tier system, with all the upheaval and instability this would cause, is not the way to achieve higher standards across the board.

Reform needs to be managed carefully and we should avoid creating a huge amount of turbulence and distraction in the education system for no real gain.

Rather than harking back to an age when children started their adult life with qualifications that were seen as second rate, we want to look forward and work with teachers and schools to give them the freedom and tools needed to stretch pupils, drive up standards and entrench a culture of high expectations in every school.

And the rather more combative version from a reliable senior Lib Dem source (I don’t normally do such quotes at length, but given the issue this seems a good time to make an exception):

This isn’t agreed government policy. Gove can come up with all the ideas he wants but unless we agree to them, they aren’t happening. And we certainly won’t agree to a 1950s style two-tier education system. We want a future looking system for the many not for the few; not a backward looking system which risks repeating the mistakes of the past.

Update: And here now are my views too.