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|title=Education Under Siege: Why There is a Better Alternative

|author=Peter Mortimore

|publisher=Policy Press

|date=September 2013

|website=http://www.theguardian.com/profile/petermortimore

|summary=Prof Mortimore gives a lively, authorative and thorough account based on his wide experience of statistics and education of the current plight of our schools. His experience as a classroom teacher and leading authority on comparative education suggests urgently needed improvements.

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Peter Mortimore's thoroughgoing analysis of the absurdities of current educational practice and prescriptions for finding a far better alternative deserves a wide readership. It is not just an organisation which is under siege but as his personal anecdotes indicate, more vigorously than his rigorously argued statistics, people are suffering. Parents are anxious, teachers badly led and burdened with confused policies and worst of all pupils are pressurised from early infancy. Reading his book you might be forgiven for wondering a) why so many young students are being abused by such distress and b) as Cicero might have asked, ''Cui bono'', to whose benefit? Professor Mortimore outlines the positive alternatives suggested by international comparisons especially with Scandinavian methods. He argues that their procedures are more effective, that support students and produce a fairer, harmonious society.

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