Has the Government done anything so far which we can say is of benefit to society?

starrywillow - re choice of current cuts, I refer you to George Monbiot's excellent article:

www.monbiot.com/2011/10/03/more-cuts-please/

Even if you agree that the current level of cuts are 100% necessary (I'll leave that argument for now), there is no excuse for using those cuts to target the most vulnerable in our society.

I also forgot the 15 hrs a week of free nursery care for disadvantaged 2yr olds.

Well the last government didn't need to try to get it's finances in order since they knew they'd lose the election, so they were able to spend and make commitments they couldn't have possibly kept to. I think it's a bit unfair to try and compare a government who has to cut because there's no choice, even following Labour's vague plans. This year, the coalition is making all but the same cuts that Labour apparently would have and EB has banned anyone in the shadow cabinet from making promises to reverse any of them. If Labour were in office, things would be broadly similar, at least right now.

It's only a step in the right direction if this government is better. If they're worse, it's patently a step in the wrong direction.

Now, I wasn't a massive fan of the last government. But on true shittiness, they've got nothing, absolutely nothing, on this one.

And to also answer the original question, they hurled the last useless government out of power. That alone is a huge step in the right direction!

you forgot abolition of ID cards

and a freeze on fuel duty.

and an increase in the per-child Tax credits tariff.

swc to be equal it doesn't have to be the same. I am well aware of the inadequacies of the current system, in fact I have just posted a question on IEP's following another conversation with a friend regarding her two SN dc's. I just don't think taking money out of the current (inadequate) system to fund Toby Young's hobby horse is going to help.

To address the OP's question.

council tax freeze

bank levy

250 000 apprenticeships

half a million children now at academies

protected spending on nhs

measures to sustain post offices

raised personal income tax allowance to help 1.1 mill

£430 extra per child on free school meals, given to school

scholarships for poorest students to go to university- £150 mill

overseas aid

ended detention for children in immigration process

earnings and state pension link

cold weather payment from £8.50 to £25.

five year fixed term parliaments

held av referendum

boundary review

gay marriage

www.number10.gov.uk/news/the-coalition-government-one-year-on/

There are more options than 'status quo' (inadequate, unresponsive) or 'free schools' (socially divisive, promoting unequal provision).

Good luck with that.

Please do SWC.Very much looking forward to it.
Bread, I think some peopel start off wanting to make a difference and just haven't the stamina or strength of character to stand up to the nonsense peddled.
Equally, many peopel just fall into teaching because they can't think of anything else to do.Traditionally SEN teaching has attracted the least able teachers when it sohuld be attracting the most able as teaching children with complex needs is extremely challenging academically.
This is ,thankfully starting to happen.

No knowledge of the SEN provision at all but admit to being slightly mystified why anyone - power-mad or not - would choose to get involved in SEN provision unless they passionately wanted to help; it looks like a rather hard area to work in, quite tough work on a day-to-day-basis

Re schools generally, maybe as a 'pushy middle-class parent', I've been fortunate enough to find state education excellent. And generally dislike Michael Gove and everything he stands for. Civil servants I know currently working under him all loathe him - he's a complete arse.

Good for you SWC.Glad you have given some of these numpties arses a good kicking (again).
Will you be sharing your story with us? I hope so, either here or at our usual meeting places.
Please do and give hope to all the other people being fucked about.

Free schools? We already had those thanks.

Yes!
The secret is I suppose to not become bitter and twisted and to reatin a grim sense of humous abnotu the whole thing, whilst resolving never to be crushed by it.

I recognise a lot of what you say - my dad worked for a govt agency all his working life, and he complained about the same things until his last day at work. 44 years of loving the job but despising the organisation and 2/3 of the people running it

Not so much back washing but back watching.
Do excuse insane grammar and spelling.I'd blame it on a dreadful education at the hands of these nutters if I coudl but unfortunately I can't as I went to an excellent school.

Too early for politics perhaps?

Proon, I love my job, I really do and I wake up every day looking forward to work.

Regarding the field generally there are several issues.
It's a toxic mix of under trained 1:1 support for kids with SN (literally anyone is plucked off the street) an obsession with pointless paperwork and back washing,as well as targets that in no way reflect the qulaity of the work done or solid outcomes.

Add to that an unhealthy interest in a top heavy management layer, ground level staff who haven't been taught the first thing about data driven evidence based practice and...it's just an utter disaster.

Read the Lamb Enquiry and be rendered speechless at how dreadful it all is.
Billions of pounds squandered on a system that consistently fails to deliver to both the able and the needy.

Or read this and be shaken to the very core of your being.

What in God's mname has happened to our educational system?

But, things are changing. Most peopel accept that what is in place no longer works and is in imminent danger of collapse. Free schools and the things done by Michael Gove are some of the most exciting to have happened in decades.
I'd work in a free school in a heartbeat

Moondog, when I graduated, I toyed with the idea of becoming a speech therapist (have relevant degree). Over the years I've regretted deep down that I didn't.
You have single-handedly erased any regrets I had with that last post of yours.

Elaine, your logic and conmclusions read like something out of a hysterical student tract circa 1969.

'In respect of the other point, it's the 'if they're bad schools' that's the rub. If parents dislike a school because of its intake, and they set up another, then the other school suffers as a direct result of that. Especially if, as in Bristol, they buy land in one postcode because it's cheaper, but don't let any of the children within that postcode in, because they're only interested in providing for their own children and the children of their friends'

So you think that those who remove their children form execrable state schools are to blame if those schools get even worse without their influnce?
Eh? So they are to be held morally responsible? Next, ou'll be coming out with the appalling Fiona Millar's assertion that 'If free schools are good then everyone will want to go to them.'

Have you any idea how bonkers you sound?

I'd also be very interested in your proof that those setting up free schools are only interested in their own kids and those of their mates. And no. Radio 4 won't do.

Smallwhitecat speaks with absolute accuracy. Everythnig she says is true. She does in fact underply quite how terrifyingly dire it all is. It's even worse. and I know that both as a professional in this field and as someone whose child would, were I not the person I am, be at the mercy of a dismal mishmash of undertrained, power mad bullies, intoxicated by the lethal mix of sheer unaccountability and power tripping that is rife in SEN/LEA provision.

Never forget, those involved in education, particulalry SEN, have a vested power in ensuring nothing works to well. If (God forbid) children actually progress and need less support, what happen to all their cosy little jobs.

You have no idea of the fight and difficulties that people who set up Free Schhols and schools like Jigsaw have, against a malicious machine of people peddling the tripe that you have gobbles up for breakfast (teaching unions being some of the worse offenders).

swc I think you have misunderstood my comments. By 'more involvement' I mean having some actual power anddecision making ability on the LEA regarding what provision is made. I've experienced the joy of SN provision in mainstream schools with dd in a very minor way, and know several people who have had massive problems and totally inadequate facilities resulting in their kids getting no real education.
My point is that 'free' schools aren't going to solve the problems of control and accountability for most people. There are no structures in the management systems to do so.