Metaphor and reality

The latest odd metaphor to enter educational jargon is that of Capping the Pool. It refers to the proposal of the Government in its present Education Bill to control the amount which local authorities collectively may spend on advanced further education, or higher education in the public sector, and the way in which the total sum is distributed among local education authorities. It may occur to readers that in civil engineering (and it is from engineering that most metaphors about education are drawn these days — a sign of the curricular times) it is impossible to cap a pool of any great size, save at enormous expense. Yet this one — the total cost of AFE outside the universities — is itself enormous; and it is to be capped not only at no cost, but with a saving to the Exchequer. Miracles never cease.