Professor Bernard Barker of our School of Education is not shy about giving his opinions on the government's education policy. A former head teacher, he has previously railed against the Labour leadership and is equally scathing about the Tories. His previous book, The Pendulum Swings, criticised school policy for pursuing only test results and called such an attitude 'self-defeating'.

Writing most recently for the Journal of Educational Administration and History, he criticised the government for using arbitrary criteria to judge the success of schools and for not consulting with teachers before introducing new measures. Government policy, in his view, creates an unequal system that favours schools in prosperous areas whilst those in struggling neighbourhoods are too easily condemned as failures.

The Pendulum Swings was published by Trentham Books Ltd in 2010.

• University Press Release