Remembering John Coe:

A Champion for Primary Education

A reflection on the life and legacy of NAPE founding member John Coe (1949-2024)

John Coe was truly an enlightened voice for primary education—a founding member of the National Association for Primary Education (NAPE) and a tireless advocate for children's right to live fully at every stage of their development. Sadly, we lost John earlier this year, but his wisdom and insights continue to guide us.

NAPE is proud to announce that John Coe - an Enlightened Voice for Primary Education is now available to pre-order—a collection of his writings that will ensure his ideas remain accessible to future generations of teachers, parents, and educators. To honour his memory and give you a taste of his thinking, I want to share key insights from a conversation we had back in 2018 for the NAPE podcast.

A Lifetime in Education

John Coe's career spanned over seven decades, having qualified as a teacher in 1949. His journey took him from classroom teaching and headships to roles as inspector and advisor in the West Riding and Oxfordshire, then on to the University of London Institute of Education and Oxford Brookes University. This comprehensive experience—from classroom to policy level—gave him unique insight into what primary education could and should be.

Why NAPE Was Founded

In May 1980, John was among a small group who established NAPE because primary education was being neglected—not just in resources, but in recognition of its vital role in children's development. From that very first meeting, John insisted on something radical: NAPE's membership would be open to teachers, assistants, parents, and families. This wasn't another teachers' union; it was about building genuine partnership around what matters most—the children.

Living Life at the Appropriate Age

At the core of John's philosophy was a principle that sounds obvious but is frequently forgotten: children aged 0-13 should live fully at each stage rather than viewing primary education merely as preparation for secondary school.

As John put it: "The view of education as a whole, which NAPE continually campaigns against, is that the primary stage is merely a preparation for the proper education which occurs at the secondary stage... it's experience that enables children to learn and to grow, and the richness of that experience at that stage of life that's very important in shaping them as men and women."

He reminded us powerfully: "When you're seven, when you're eight, when you're nine, when you're four, you will never have that time of life again. You have it just once. All of us have it just once. And that's why we have to live to the full at that time."

The Consumer vs. Partnership Problem

One of John's most pointed criticisms concerned how government policies over 30 years have positioned parents as consumers of education rather than partners. This shift has created adversarial relationships, damaging the collaboration between parents and teachers that children desperately need.

While around 80% of primary teachers still work hard to establish productive relationships with parents, they're doing so against enormous pressures—uncertain job tenure, relentless accountability demands, and assessment-driven systems that constrain their professional judgment.

The Impact of High-Stakes Testing

John didn't mince words about SATs: "We have a test directed curriculum in primary schools... parents have come together in recent years to form organizations... very active, which looks at primary education as much more than the standard assessment tasks with which government confronts the children."

The emphasis on standardized testing has created a narrowed curriculum where enriching activities like music and PE are postponed until after tests. Perhaps most damagingly, children internalize the message that they must pursue constant success rather than learning from failure.

John was clear about this loss: "The impact of the sats has been to constrain education, to limit it to a search for success, and to deny the natural failure which will come to all of us at some time in our life... learning from one's mistakes are one of the most important ways of learning."

Rethinking Homework as Enrichment

Rather than practicing school skills at home, John proposed that homework should involve parents enriching children's experiences through visits, reading, and exposure to diverse activities that schools lack time to provide. This reframes parents' roles from tutors struggling with worksheets to guides helping children experience the richness of the world.

Children should be learning language everywhere, as John observed: "Children learn [English] all the time, everywhere to every minute they spend in school... the curriculum should be rich and rounded and broad, so that the children, every moment they're in school, every moment, whatever they're talking, yes, even in the music lesson, even in the PE lesson, they will be learning English."

The Illusion of School Autonomy

The shift of power from local authorities to central government and agencies like Ofsted represents what John called a fundamental deception. Schools appear independent but are completely controlled through inspections and assessments.

John was uncompromising on this point: "The rhetoric is that schools are free, autonomous, they can make the decisions. But this is a lie. This is a black lie. Because the control of schools through the inspection of schools, through Ofsted... the control the government has, central government has over schools is complete."

Looking to the Future

John recognised that NAPE's future depends on internet-based communication and social media to reach younger parents and teachers, moving away from traditional membership models toward podcasts and online engagement. This evolution ensures that NAPE's message can reach those who need it most in ways that fit their lives.

A Living Legacy

John spent over 70 years in education, from 1949 until 2024. His parting message was characteristic of his lifelong commitment: he would continue trying to influence government policy "until I die." And he did.

The best way to honour his memory is to continue the work—to insist that childhood matters in its own right, to build partnerships between parents and teachers, to resist the narrowing of education to what can be easily tested, and to remember that children deserve to live fully at every stage of their development.

NAPE is working to collate John's articles and writings to make them available to a wider audience. Through these writings, through the organisation he helped found, and through everyone who continues to champion rich, joyful, meaningful primary education, his influence lives on.