It was impassioned to the point of verging on a rant - the personal and the political influences and convictions of the education secretary coming together in a highly combustible mix.
The speech covered a lot of ground in its examination of the 'making of an educational underclass' - from school-readiness to phonics to physical contact to soldiers as male role models.
It veered into the ridiculous when Gove spoke of his admiration for academy sponsor Phil Harris of Carpetright, whose firm, Gove said, has brought 'high-quality, low-cost flooring solutions to thousands'. How this tortured expression for 'carpets', sounding as though it had come straight off the side of a Carpetright van, made its way into the supposedly erudite minister's speech is something of a mystery!
However, more pertinently for those in the early years sector, there were worrying words about young children. No-one would argue with him over the need to tackle problems of children arriving in reception class with limited social and communication skills. This is why the revised EYFS proposes making these Prime areas of learning.
But Gove also makes much of young children's inability to 'sit, listen and learn'. They 'cannot form letters or even hold a pencil'. No recognition here at all of young children's need to move and play to develop and learn, or that forcing a bunch of four-year-olds to sit still and scribe will only result in more behavioural problems, not fewer.
Holding on to the best of the EYFS is beginning to look very difficult indeed. Read Ann Langston's first article in her series of guides to the revised EYFSand be inspired to keep on fighting!
