Anger at Gove game education ‘snub’

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has been asked to end the education department’s silence on the growing issue of games and tech-focused learning initiatives.

Vaizey, speaking at a game-based education seminar in London, took questions at the end of his speech and was subjected to a range of criticisms of the coalition government.

Vaizey was asked, in particular, why the education secretary Michael Gove didn’t mention games or technology a single time within his 81 page white paper on education.

The question broke the audience’s silence with an impassioned round of applause. Vaizey’s response was that he didn’t make decisions for the education department, and continued to talk positively of the games and tech industries.

To further applause, Vaizey was asked why in fact no minister from the education department had showed up at the event at all – and if that was a mixed mesasge. Vaizey said it was “no secret” that he was the coalition minister most passionate about the games industry.

”Michael Gove has met videogame companies and has an open-mind about the games industry,” Vaizey responded.

The culture minister took it upon himself to highlight the lack of harmony between the tech industries and the government by, bravely, reading through tweets people had made of him during his speech.

Vaizey was speaking at the Learning Without Frontiers event in London, a three-day event conference for discussion and debate on digital media, education, technology and entertainment.