Director of Education privately educates their children

Why does Dad outvote Mum on the education? Assuming it's v reasonable for Mum to say "I want to show faith in the place I work by sending my kids to school there"

You are absolutely right OP, but you won't get much sympathy on Mumsnet. Half the parents here are either privately educating their kids or saving up with a plan to do so.

He can be doing his best for the children in the area but ultimately his hands are tied by budgets, government policy, national curriculum, etc. his kids could have some form of special needs which make a smaller, private school more suitable for. Yes, it’s great he has the privilege to act on that if so and less fortunate for others. However he doesn’t need to throw his kids under the bus to make a political point.

Less flippantly, completely agree with this.

Maybe he and his wife tossed a coin for it - since they both have good "political" reasons for sending their children to a given school - and she won?

Couldnt care less about this. He’s sending his child to the school of his choice and in his working life he’s trying to improve education for everyone. What’s the issue?

ok then...

and?

In your position I wouldn't be able to stop myself gossiping to all and sundry about it.

Wow. Do as I say, not as I do - povvos. Sounds like he knows enough to not be that impressed. Awkward.

Why didn't you ask him the question?

Trying to improve current system means he mustn't be blind to it.

Good on him for sending his kids in the best schools. If nothing else, gives him a good view of both.

He's working with what he got. I'd prefer someone sending his kids to private schools and trying to make progress for state, than someone pretending that "state schools are great" we should be grateful for them.

Hmm.
I think whether or not he is a hypocrite depends on his politics (which I suppose he probably can’t publicly express). There are plenty of Tory supporters working in the public sector.

More practically speaking, no matter how much he may passionately believe in improving state education, if the local state schools are absolutely dire, that isn’t going to change overnight. He doesn’t have a magic wand.
You might be a passionate believer in World Peace and go to work every day as a mine-sweeper, but you wouldn’t take your kids with you on the job.

How often do chefs book a meal at the restaurant they work at? Rarely. Should they never eat out somewhere else?

Should the director of housing live in social housing?

Does the director of social services need to be under a social worker?

Choosing a different path for his children’s education doesn’t mean he isn’t passionate about the local schools. He could have any number of reasons for doing that. It could even be that he recognises the local system is too stretched, there aren’t enough resources but there is nothing he can do to increase them. He may be doing his absolute best with the resources he has to improve the system. There is only so much he can control.

I would say it’s one of those cases where it is none of your business.

I am no fan of private education, but I would never judge any parent for doing what they believe to be in the best interests of their children. I don't think that political or professional concerns on the part of the parents should trump that.

If they can afford it, why not?
Seems sensible that they attend school with their mother.

The director or Education should believe in the value of investing in education.
He could easily gain some very good ideas from knowing different frameworks of eduactuion too.

I suspect it has far more to do with the sheer logistics of getting two children to school if one parent is a teacher. How many teachers would drop their children to early morning wrap around care so they could travel onwards to their place of work in another school unnecessarily ?

I am a primary school teacher and decided to step out of full time teaching for a bit. I have been doing supply in the interim since September. I have always worked in the state system and my children attend state schools. I held quite strong views on private education and felt they shouldn’t exist. However, I have now taught in a private school (I kept being called back to one in particular) and the offer of education is night and day compared to the state system. To begin, the class sizes were a maximum of 18 and for subjects such as music, art, DT, foreign languages etc - the children were split into groups of 9. The day began at 8 and was a ‘soft start’ until 8:30 - the children had an opportunity to talk and get into the mindset for learning. It felt nurturing as a teacher - I could actually have a conversation with the children. I can’t say the planning or teaching resources were better for maths/English compared to state schools - in fact so much emphasis is placed upon state teachers to over plan, differentiate lessons etc. that it causes burn out. The day ended at 4 and some children went off to prep instead of going home at 4. The children were calm, engaged and happy. I haven’t enjoyed teaching so much in a long time… Gove wanted am ambitious curriculum for all children but there isn’t the money or resources to provide it. As a state primary school teacher, I use to buy SO many resources for my classes. I’m talking about things like £30 of fruit for a DT lesson - because in DT the children had been designing a product for an intended user. Not much engagement if you never get to make a product… (smoothie)
The person who holds the title of Director of Education would know how bad it really is - this is why he would not put his children into a broken system. If I could afford to, I wouldn’t either.
If you got to the end - well done! Our children deserve better than this BROKEN EDUCATION SYSTEM

I actually agree with this. He is doing what he thinks is in the best interests of his kids. It drives me mad when people say they wouldn't send their kids to private school because of their principles (a poster on here recently wanted to block their ex from sending their kid to a private school because they disagree with the system). I cant imagine sacrificing my kids education for my own personal principles.

By all means send your kid to state school of it's the best you can afford, or the best suited to your child, or it allows you to put more money into extra curricular. But to sacrifice your child's education to further your career would be abhorrent.

Maybe he's not in the catchment of any of the excellent schools. I've never managed it, despite only being a 5 minute walk from one, as it was full of siblings. So..... I had to go private.

And where do the Councillors send their kids to school? They are the ones who set the budgets etc.
People frown at MPs sending their children to private schools - the Councillors are the local equivalent, not the Council staff.

I guess its just a job for him at the end of the day. Probably well paid too.

Its a job ultimately.
DH oversees a lot of schools (for one particular thing) in his job... should we send our children to one of them?

I don’t think this type of a job is a mission or vocation or a statement of values - just something he does. So wouldn’t have any bearing on what he does for his own kids.

How long has he been working in the role?

Ultimately, it's a job. My children's educational stability (whether at private or state) is worth more to me than my husband's job. If my husband suggested pulling my kids out of a school they were settled in to further his career aspirations and make himself look good, I would tell him to take a running jump.