I expect some eminent lexicographer has researched the
frequency of the use of different words in the English language. I heard
somewhere that frequently used adjectives are words like ‘different’ or ‘same’.
I understand that the word ‘popular’ is very popular. Verbs like ‘can’ and ‘do’
are obviously used frequently. Little words like ‘a’ and ‘the’ probably top the
frequency tree.
My own rigorous researches have uncovered what I’m sure will
be widely regarded as an important lexicographical breakthrough. Let me share
it with you.
The use by Ofsted inspectors of the word ‘robust’ has
reached epidemic proportions. I first observed this phenomenon in studying the recent
report on Manchester Children’s services and, following strict scientific protocol,
sought to replicate my results in the case of the report on Southampton.
My Manchester researches revealed 17 uses of the word ‘robust’
in that report, including four on the same page (page 32). The study of the
Southampton report revealed 18 uses of the word.
If you want to repeat my researches you can do so easily.
Just open up any Ofsted report on children’s services in Acrobat Reader and use
the find function to track down every instance of the word ‘robust’. You’ll
pick up some instances of ‘robustly’ and ‘robustness’ as well.
Now it’s a funny thing but I don’t usually hear the word
‘robust’ that often. My neighbours
don’t ask me if I’m feeling robust;
and colleagues don’t congratulate me on a robust
piece of work. I don’t think I’ve ever heard members of my family or friends
use the word.
I suppose I might have used it a few times myself, but I
can’t remember when. Perhaps an argument was ‘robust’ or perhaps a used car?
But at Ofsted it seems that its use is de rigueur. Reports on child protection services are positively
peppered with it. Management of such services must – above all else - be robust, we are told.
I get a funny mental imagine of these ‘robust managers’.
They are people with grim expressions and iron jaws – looking perhaps like
General Patton or General Rommel or perhaps Boudica.
Robust managers don’t suffer fools gladly. They take no
prisoners. The managed tremble in their presence. They bestride the narrow
world of children’s services like Colossuses (as Cassius said to Brutus about
Caesar). The corridors of local government echo to the sound of their stamping
boots. They cut swathes through
the inadequate practices of lesser mortals and lay waste to untimely work and
badly written assessments. And they go about their tasks with all the vigour
and dash of a meteorite. After all they are robust.
For those of you who are getting fed-up with me getting
sillier and sillier I’ll come to the point. ‘Robust’ is an empty word that
points to superficial empty thinking. The problems in places like Manchester or
Birmingham don’t stem from managers who are afraid to put the boot in; afraid to take
names and kick arse, as they say. And the idea that all we need in order to
have high quality and safe services are a few heroes and heroines who aren’t
afraid to shake-up practice and put the fear of God into the work force would
be laughable if it wasn’t such a cruel deception.
On the contrary, problems of poor quality services and
unsafe practices in children’s services stem from a number of causes. They
arise from chronic underfunding and poorly designed systems. They come from low
morale and over-stretched employees. They come from endless meddling by
so-called ‘experts’, by policy wonks and politicians and even by newspaper
editors.
And they come from cultures that inhibit improvement and
prevent people learning from mistakes. They come from the knee-jerk response of
pointing the finger of blame at the usual suspects whenever things go wrong.
They come from fear and despair.
For those of you who are interested in my next research
foray into the lexicography of Ofsted reports, watch this space for a study of
the use of the word ‘embedded’.
