IF anything, the now ex- Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, pictured, should have lost his job for not going far enough.

There has been a fair amount of wailing, either in celebration or angst, following news of Mr Gove’s removal – it’s denied he was sacked – from his post and shunted into the role of Chief Whip.

Insiders say he had to go because private polling by the Tories revealed he had picked one fight too many with teachers and his unpopularity would prove a millstone around the neck of the Conservatives’ election chances.

I somehow doubt his sacking will win back any votes from teachers even if his successor Nicky Morgan bins each and every one of his reforms, which she won’t.

The Tories’ concern should have been over who has been winning the battle for the hearts and minds of parents rather than keeping teachers on board.

Mr Gove’s dumping would indicate it has been the teaching unions and, more likely, the teachers themselves bemoaning the education secretary’s policies at the school gate, that have been winning the day.

Quite how we square the fact children in this country are accepted to be falling behind most of the world in basic standards, with victory for a profession that seems to kick back against any attempt to reform is another interesting debate.

But in the end Mr Gove was never going to win because he concentrated his bid to reform education almost exclusively on the teaching profession and the provision of new schools.

There are at least two other major factors that play into this arena. They are the fact our education system – indeed much of the western world’s – is stuck in a timetable designed for an agricultural-based economy, and that too many parents simply opt out of their responsibilities to play a significant part in ensuring their children buckle down to hard work.

Unless we tackle all three challenges – the profession, the structure of how we deliver education, and parental responsibility – then no government can turn the ship around.

As always I will state that I accept teachers have a difficult job to do, work very hard and achieve improving results in many cases.

The fact, however, that our children continue to slip behind other advancing nations despite all such considerations, underscores how radical is the change needed to how we deliver education.

We will go on, though, believing we can just tinker at the present system and blame our lack of progress on allocation of funds we no longer have. It simply isn’t in the interest of anyone concerned – teachers, politicians, parents – to make the necessary changes.

It matters to generations of students, of course, but they don’t get a say.