To think the British educational system is all wrong?

I don't think the biggest problem is from parents who work not spending the time with their children; Id think more the parents who spend more time on their socials ignoring their children that is doing more damage to children's development. The parents who are just too busy putting their own interests first instead of actually parenting.

There was a study a few weeks ago which concluded that fathers who spend 10 minutes a week supporting their child's schoolwork can make a child thrive much better. Ten minutes so little effort but could help a child thrive and how many fathers do?
And here we are on a mostly female website pointing and, blaming working mothers for not spending enough time with their children.
Screens are changing human evolution and a lot of it is not good.

I can't imagine that anyone doesn't own 1 shirt and 1 smartish pair of trousers for interviews, weddings,funerals etc.
I have no interest in whether it's designer or not, where is comes from and what it costs, but they need to look quite smart. Along with turning up on time, bringing relevant documents as evidence of qualifications, having prepared for the interview, making good eye contact and good manners, these are all basics I would look for.

And sometimes there is a correlation between this and attitude. The people who have turned up looking scruffy, had clearly not bothered preparing for the interview and scored very poorly, looked like they didn't really want to be there. And before you call 'bias', the panel always consists of 3 people scoring independently, we have to put our scores into system before we can discuss them.

Different issues to deal with for sure, but there are basic aspects that improve education that aren't dependent on different issues and could be transferable, like frequent breaks, free healthy lunch for every student (both of these improve focus), more streamlined curriculum (but the English language definitely makes part of that more difficult - the complexity requires so much more teaching time than Finnish does but probably doesn't need as much detail as its currently getting).
Other things can't be so easily transferred, like smaller class sizes, because there's already so many overcrowded schools in Britain. That would need more schools and a lot more teachers, no way would the government budget for that. Or requiring teachers to have a masters degree, as teacher recruitment is already such an issue so making it more difficult would be a non-starter. The general level of respect for education - to change that would mean changing society.
So yeah, different situations can't use all the same tools.

@Natsku those are very reasonable points but I feel means the Finnish case is even less relevant to England? Totally different set of issues.

@CookiePlough A KS1 poster shouldn't be taking half a day to do and 5 minutes on TT Rockstars would be more than enough daily. Just because the school encourages daily apps doesn't mean you have to do them.

A 45 minute commute is long for primary - do you live rurally or is it a private school - that seems a big catchment. Is there no school closer to home?

I agree strongly with your first point, and it is true across the spectrum of learners.

The Estonians who do play based learning from age 5-7 aren’t dumbing anything down. They lead Europe in two subjects measured and do awfully well in the third. I am particularly impressed by the accomplishments of the lower centile students in Estonia on the PISA.

However it is clear that the Estonians are also doing a great job with all students, including the highly able ones. Two years of play based learning initially is serving them well.

There is no dichotomy between play and learning. After all, we learn more, through play, from 0-24 months than for the rest of our lives.

Even those of us who loved reading (and in my case maths and science) in the early years can learn effectively through play. It is more demanding of the teacher, however.

Of course its wise to dress according to the expectations of the workplace, its just less and less workplaces expect suits these days, and even if they all did, children don't need to dress like mini-workers in school in order to dress like them as adults. Its not like learning how to wear a suit or dress requires years of practice.

Meant to comment on this yesterday but got distracted by work.
A small population in a bigger country than the UK actually makes it quite difficult, because in many areas the population is very spread out which means either having many many tiny schools, at a huge cost, or transporting children long distances to bigger schools, at another big cost. There is also the issue of providing education to indigenous children that protects their language and cultural rights, which is not easy, especially as most Sámi young people live outside of Sápmi.

There's an important point that many people are missing, that for young children learning (done properly) is genuinely fun. I think our education system is far from perfect but am getting the impression some people on here think the whole thing should be overhauled so that the thick kids can doss about.

I was able to take two years off after ds was born. He went to a child minder at 2yrs & 2 months but outside of working hours I spent all my time with him, and all of every weekend.

By his third birthday he was fully toilet trained and by 4 when he started primary, he could fully dress himself (slowly).

His primary was rural with a large field and plenty of outdoor activities.The first four years were great. The stress and unpleasantness started in year 4.

If more mothers could spend more time with their dcs, not be forced back to work after 12 months, and if schools scrapped SATs, I think our children would be a lot happier.

What a strange notion. If someone doesn't normally wear what you're regard as "acceptable" clothing, why would you think they should go out and spend good money on something they'll probably never wear again? Jeans and T shirts can still be "smart" especially given the cost of the designer stuff.

Completely different if someone turned up in stained supermarket £5 jeans and £2.50 T shirt.

I'd look at the overall presentation rather than obsess about the clothes. But even more important than that is their qualifications, experience, aptitude, ability, etc., which is really what matters.

Whilst agreeing with the OP about the education system being wrong in the UK, it's not the earlier years where I feel things most need change. Leaving at 16 and going into work should be an option available to everyone, far too many are doing university degrees of little value, and for GCSE it is more an exam factory than learning skills needed for the workplace and life in general.

The issue about limited post-school time each day would partly be solved by having BST all year round, so the number of weeks when it is dark at or shortly after getting home would be reduced.

Bog standard lawyers in regional firms are very poorly paid. Yes, partners and high flyers in City firms are highly paid, but they're a minority. We keep hearing how "top" accountants and lawyers are paid hundreds of thousands per year, but they really are the minority at the top of their profession. Such professionals working in smaller regional firms doing the bread and butter work are highly unlikely to be even earning enough to be in the higher rate tax band! So, yes, for the majority of bog standard professionals, their wages really are comparable with teachers in the areas where they're working. A bog standard solicitor in a run down place like Morecambe really does earn a comparable salary to a teacher in Morecambe as adjusted for holidays, pensions etc.

We have a dress code where I work, not too strict. If someone turned up for a job looking like they don't want the job they won't get offered it.

Two people came to my workplace for interviews the other day, one was wearing hiking trousers and a flannel shirt, the other wore jeans and a big coat that he didn't take off. Not an issue at all. I wore jeans, comical t-shirt and a hoody for mine.

Not all schools are like this. In primary my kids didn't have any mandatory homework, except reading with them each night (and even then the school didn't actually do anything if you didn't). They did provide optional homework though - some parents want it and complain if they don't have it.

It might be worth looking at changing schools to one that's closer to you and has a less academic approach. In the meantime explain the situation to the school and say that you're not going to be doing the apps.

But the post that @SuzieNine was replying to said that someone who turned up in a t-shirt wouldn't ever be taken seriously. That's just not correct at all - it completely depends on the industry and employer. There are some employers where a standard suit would go against you (thinking some creative industries). You're in a client facing role so yes of course being presentable is important, but not all roles are client facing.

My DDs never ever did 3-4 hours homework a night in GCSE years. Simply didn’t need to. Likewise they wanted to go to school and learn at 4. Which is what they did. One had next to no homework at state junior school and the other had more at a private prep. It was manageable though. Both did loads of extra activities. They never went to bed at 7. They didn’t get that tired! There’s far too many assertions being made about schools and dc that don’t recognise schools and dc are different.

YANBU. I’m deferring my son starting school for a year so he will begin a little before his sixth birthday. I think 4/5 is so young to start school and that virtually all children would benefit from a later start.

@CookiePlough It sounds like you live further from the school than we do so that must make a difference. We are only a 10 minute walk away. If we're going to the park we just go straight from school (I bring snacks!) and then home afterwards. We also do bedtime later but my two have always been night owls.

Is that 45 minutes of homework every day?! That seems excessive. My kids get set weekly homework but we rarely do it (and teachers never chase it up). We do read with them regularly though. There's no evidence that homework is beneficial at primary age. They should be able to cover the required learning in school hours. If your daughter is falling behind I'd speak to the school about how they can support her. I really doubt it's due to lack of homework.

Yet many on here dislike the concept of boarding school at the same time as expecting to be able to pass their children to someone else.