Fear for your children's education under the Tories

PSHE stands for Personal Social and Health Education. its sposed to be getting an extra E for the economic bit. this thread is a bit like the TES forums.
we need stat PSHE folks!i am a specialist teacher for PSHE. i also train staff to teach it. i am constantly amazed at the attitude that people think just anyone can teach it (in schools) without considering the level of subject knowledge required. yes, stuff should be taught at home and we all know there are some that do a great job, and some that dont/darent. kids will always find out info, its up to us to decide what kind of messages our kids get! well trained staff delivering appropriate curriculum in school in fun interesting relevant way means kids learn and learn well. i overheard some of my Y11s yesterday telling a researcher about the PSHE they had had, how much they had enjoyed it, how relevant it was, and that they would give it 10/10. (Bless!)all the work that has gone into preparing/researching etc etc for stat pshe will have been wasted if we have the tories,and there will be many of us who will be gutted. the Youth Parliament have campaigned for this as well. i have seen many comments on various threads today on here about rubbish PSHE - what a shame and missed opportunity. its one of the best lessons to teach!
(i'm just putting lots of stuff in here cos i have been browsing so sorry if it is not as orderly as it could be.)

Blunkett did have kids - i taught one of them! at least 2 lads, tho they would be late 20s early 30s i guess now

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255899/Children-learn-poetry-monarchs-England-heart-Tory-pl ans.html

This is what the Tories propose - our children learning poetry and the kings and queens of England by rote. That'll be interesting for them. And really useful in life.

Oh and a brand new national curriculum. Again.
I'm sure that won't be a mess whilst teachers get to grips with it?

But don't worry - at least they will all be good at countdown because Carol Vorderman has been recruited.

Only small problem is that Carol didn't actually get a very good degree and her intelligence is pretty overrated as demonstrated by her recent appearance on Question Time.

I really hope this nasty man isn't put in charge of my childrens education.

Implement and particularly

Cornsilk The LibDem idea for a 'pupil premium' appears easy enough to impliment and might not be too expensive. I think smaller class sizes (particulary in reception / KS1) would be worthwhile. Maybe if we get a hung parliament???

On tuition fees this is worth a read: Why social justice demands higher tuition fees. From last week's Guardian. It made me think - though I'm still unsure .

tories also with wishy washy ideas
'Establishing a simple reading test at the age of six'
...because teachers aren't able to use a reading test already?
Overhauling Key Stage 2 tests' FFS
I think Lib Dem manifesto is best but they won't get in.

'Ensuring that every child leaves primary school confident in their literacy and numeracy skills'
HOW are they going to do that?They have NO idea. What are they going to do to make sure that children with SEN leave school'confident in their Lit and num skills.' You cannot just wave a magic fecking wand or will children to learn by getting them to recite their times tables.

Hijack - Riven did you see you were in the Economist?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/943980-Riven-in-the-Economist

I'm going to read the draft manifesto (thanks for posting the link) but I'm particular interested in the Tory plans for HE - so lucky for me the discussion has taken that turn. Is that included in the above manifesto, does anyone know (the url says 'schools' so not sure it is)?

What has actually been said about Tory policy on HE? I gather DC said this morning on the Today prog that he favoured higher tuition fees. I'm not very happy with that, but at the same time I can guess it's quite likely to happen with Labour too. TBH I am hacked off with Mandelson and his 'let business dictate how it should work' approach to HE, but I am unsure that the Tories will be much different, so I'm really looking for the key points of difference - if any - between them.

ilove

posted it earlier on the thread but here's the Tory draft education manifesto

Thanks jack. Summaries are good

ABetaDad Many of the ex-poly's focus on courses not often found (in great numbers anyway) in the more traditional universities. e.g nursing, chartered surveying tourism, business studies and art and design. They are normally very popular with employers and often have very high employment rates post graduation. In the 'knowledge based' economy which we are meant to be achieving (given we can't realistically survive on manufacturing, mining and agriculture ) we do need a relatively large proportion of our population to reach a high educational level.

ilove - summary of Tory Education policy. It is from the Telegraph (sorry) - but a good summary. They've also done Labour and Lib Dem.

Will try and post this just the once, this time .

Riven, do you want inclusion to the exclusion of all other avenues? I would hope that it is tied to the needs of the child, so if they would be better in a specialised SN school (whatever that need is) they can have a place, or if they can cope in mainstream they can go there.

I think the Tories will allow University fees to rise. Chris Patten (Vice Chancellor of Oxford) has made comments in that direction. My view is that there are far too many University places though so undergraduate degrees have been dumbed down and discredited. Now everyone goes to university and the qualification is becoming ever more worthless. I think the old Poly 'universities' should be shut and resources focussed on an unashamedly elite group of the old universities.

Allowing fees to double to cover the true cost but quid pro quo, forcing lecturers/professors back into the lecture hall (not using their PhD student to give the lecture), paying lecturers better, cutting the number of students allowed on each course to limit class/lecture size, and raising entry requirements would restore the quality of UK university education.

Riven is right though. The old student grant system has to be restored so that good students regardless of background can still go to university is essential. A elite but well funded university system for the very best students is what we used to have and what we still need.

We also need very good voctional courses in technical colleges that are embedded in and responsive to the workplace.

Quite skihorse. The student loans came in in 1992 (?). I think the Labour party have had a few years to reverse that one.

There have always been, and always will be - grants and bursaries for the most academically gifted students from any socio-economic background.

Riven, if only Labour had been in power more than a couple of weeks, maybe they could've reversed such a mean decision and reinstated grants/free tuition!

So what is the Tory policy on education? Anyone?

Skihorse Those nasty Tories eh?

The idea that the state has a direct role in educating our brightest children is apparently 'elitist'. According to the NUT earlier this week grammar schools were part of a discredited system. No wonder social mobility is declining!

Skihorse Those nasty Tories eh?

The idea that the state has any direct role in educating our brightest children is apparently 'elitist'. And according to the NUT earlier this week grammar schools were part of a discredited system. No wonder social mobility is declining!

Skihorse

ROFL