Director of Education privately educates their children

Same. I found it weird.

All incredible schools that people move to be near..........

So you don't have an issue with this?

Actually I think it would be- I came across this when looking at independent schools and the senior leader had sent their kids to a state school. I decided against the school as it suggested a lack of confidence.

How someone chooses to educate their children is fuck all to do with their ability to do their job. And no business of a councillor to interfere in their private life. Many councillors also privately educatedtheir children - should that also be banned? As this man's wife works in the school, she likely gets a hefty fees discount, and by using those places, they are not taking places in the state sector.

i get that it might seem as if he should be demonstrating his faith in the public sector schools. Before you condemn him for it, however. I’d expect you to be able to point to one privilege that you could provide for your own children, but you choose not to provide, on a matter of principle

Perhaps that gives you some pause for thoughts about why his family might make the choices they are making.

Shall we shut down mumsnet on those grounds?

It stirkes me as rather more honest than Tony and Cherie sending their DC to Brompton Oratory.

Firstly, he is an officer of the Council and therefore must have no public political affiliations, so if this does not fit with the prevailing view of the Council, it does not matter. Secondly free choice, it is up to him and his partner how they educate their children, And thirdly, it is none of your business, nor indeed mine, how they choose to spend their money.

I agree with this. We looked at a private school and the headteacher had his kids as a local state school. Made me think it wasn’t worth paying for as they clearly didn’t! 😂

He's probably not paying through the nose though. His wife is a teacher. They probably have a substantial staff discount.

He might recognise the schools are currently not giving children what they should and want to work to change that so that all children can have the same quality of experience as children at private schools.

He is also a parent that wants the best he can provide his children.

It does give the message the state schools aren’t good enough for him but doesn’t mean he’s not really working at changing that.

And would it tell us all we needed to know about the private school in question if a teacher at the school wasn’t sending her children there, despite the substantial discount for staff children?

I think sadly it tells us all we need to know about the state education sector that someone who knows it inside out is paying through the nose not to have his children in it.

I don't think you know what hypocrisy means or what the director of education role is. And your local Councillor would think you were batshit to be raising this with them.

His job is to make the best for the schools within a framework (budget, teacher recruitment, infrastructure, class sizes, rules, etc). Maybe he believed that the private school framework is better and will outperform the state school ones, even with the best management possible.

To go back to your cook example: if the cook works at a restaurant using average quality ingredients, should he not eat at another restaurant that uses premium quality ingredients if he wishes?

There are 2 parents.. she teaches at the school so therefore maybe she thinks its the right choice for her children especially as logistically I'm sure its much easier for them as a family
.. lots of Directors work long hours and I'm sure she's picking up a chunk of the pick ups drop offs as well...
Think you're trying to make it a political thing unnecessarily... Why should his job trump her
choices ... He may change job/area .... Its not always about the man ... Sometimes decisions are about the whole family....

you said you would gossip, I am not sure how that would do anything.

Who said the schools were "ok for every other kid"? Did he actively say this, or is he working on improving what exists?

Do you really prefer someone telling you " schools in other countries are worst, you should consider lucky you have "free" education so be grateful and do not suggest any improvement"? Really?

They might get a bit of a staff discount, plus his wife is driving there every day, so might just be practically easier.

My mum recently retired as a secondary school teacher, always taught in state schools. In her last years of teaching she said that if my sisters and I were teens now, she’d pay through the nose to send us to an all girls school due to the sexual harassment she saw/heard of her female students enduring. Doesn’t mean she wasn’t committed to the school where she taught.

He might be thinking “the system at the moment isn’t somewhere I want to send my children but I’ll work really hard to get it to a place where it is”. I don’t see that it would mean he is less committed to that job. Might be better than someone in the role who thought everything was currently hunky dory no need to change anything!

Why is it a problem?

It's just his job, it's not a lifestyle choice lol.

Anyone who thinks kids should be unnecessarily moved from a school they are settled in to make their parents look good is completely batshit.

Your local councillor would have absolutely zero interest in 'looking into it'

ETA he would only be a hypocrite if he was publicly saying that no one should use private schools or similar. OP has not indicated that he has said such a thing.

If I found out someone was being a hypocrite like him then I would ask my local councillor to look into it.
The schools he runs are not good enough for his children but are okay for every other kid

YABU. His children can go to whatever school he sees fit. Education should not be restricted because he’s the local authority director of education. It’s like the NHS, the NHS is great but for me and my family, private is better so we go private.

Anyway, I hate to break it to you, a surprising amount of Public and Civil Servants send their children to private schools and a couple of the SCS I know who work at the DfE do too. It doesn’t make them terrible at their jobs does it? And at least funding wise, more public money goes to those not in private education.

My dd went to a very average state comprehensive, as did I. And we actively chose state for dd, despite having been in the fortunate position where we could have paid for private school fees if we had felt it was in dd's best interests to do so.

But those were our choices. I'm not going to judge other parents for making different choices, based on what they believe to be in the best interests of their children. That's what all good parents do.

I don't see why this man's job should mean that he shouldn't make particular choices about the education of his own children. As long as he is doing his job to the best of his ability, his private family arrangements are irrelevant.

Yanbu OP but conversely if I wanted my kids to go private I would not allow my husband to send them to a state school to prove a point, it's only 50% his choice .