What is really going on in our schools? Well, Laura....

[noblegiraffe]

Laura Kuenssberg appears to have just discovered that schools exist. New to the concept she has written an essay discussing what might be going on in them, from the perspective of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about. Basic errors include "standards haven't crashed because GCSE and A-level results in 2022 were up on 2019".

She mentions the lack of funding, but doesn't mention the lack of teachers. She mentions increased pupil absence but doesn't mention the implosion of support services for children like CAMHS, or the huge waiting lists for SEN diagnosis and the cutting of TAs in schools due to lack of money. She suggests covid might have had an impact, but not that the government have done basically nothing to address this and that their covid catch-up adviser resigned in disgust.

She says a minister says that 'teachers have had a bashing since covid'. Since covid! She doesn't mention this is led by the government and has been going on for years.

So, what's really going on in our schools? Anyone want to help Laura out?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-65360168

I can't speak for all but I find the strict academies can be brilliant for SEN. They tend to teach in a very structured and systematic way that gets results and gets their confidence up. The strict behaviour policies tend to make them feel safe too as those schools actually get rid of the really badly behaved kids.
It's obviously not all but when done well, the strict system does work well.

I thought teachers have been saying that the strikes are about conditions as much as pay. So if the government agreed to a funded pay rise today, the strikes would be called off?

Funding of the pay rise is very much about working conditions. The last offer was roundly rejected by all teaching unions, not just the striking union because the govt claimed that it was funded and it wasn't.

I’d say that’s a fairly good indication of how increased funding doesn’t always mean improved standards.

That's not an argument for not increasing funding where increased funding is needed.

In a local area, some of the worst performing schools in terms of exam outcomes and pupil behaviour are the ones with the newest and best facilities.

And the most qualified, experienced and consistent staff? Usually not.

I’m not saying I disagree with increased funding. What I don’t think will work though is just blindly giving money without looking into the deeper problems of education.

As for the poorly performing schools, I don’t doubt that they may have a high turnover of staff because the behaviour of the children is worse than other schools.

Blindly giving money?

Throwing money at schools?

What strange ways of describing giving more money to schools. Schools are staffed with professionals. Teachers, office staff and premises. They are very capable of deciding where the money is most needed. They do it every day. I don't like the impression some people are suggesting that schools will some how waste additional money.

My school needs new computers, staff and paper. But hey, if someone 'blindly gave our school money' we would blow it on chocolate...

At Christmas on here there were threads asking what parents should get primary teachers as a Christmas present and just about the top suggestion was glue sticks.

Even when there's a possibility of blowing it on chocolate, teachers ask for glue sticks.

Strict secondary school was a disaster for my autistic DD. I know 3 other autistic girls that have also struggled so much they've either had to move schools, or are out of school completely.

So it might work for some, but certainly not all.

My DD is much doing better in alternative provision (independent specialist) which is very unstrict, but with a very strong focus on pastoral care and relationships. But has tiny class sizes so there is time, space, money to make this possible. I do think if schools were better funded, had higher staffing levels, smaller class sizes and better facilities (including more space), children in mainstream would benefit massively, even the ones who don't necessarily need it, because there will be fewer disregulated kids around.

Also fewer disregulated adults - because stressed out, under paid, over worked staff aren't good either.

No one cares about those though.

But a high turnover of staff also leads to poor behaviour. So it becomes a vicious cycle. To improve these schools, you need teachers to stay in them long term.

What's your solution to that?

Well, this is the thing isn't it?

A lot of the rules in schools (not uniform rules, but a lot of others) do actually relate to overcrowding and large class sizes. If I am going to do a science practical with 34 Y8s, I need to be sure they will all be absolutely compliant, and that I can trust them to stop straight away if I ask them to. To some extent, the only way to enforce this is by being "strict".

In a school build for 900 students, which is now accommodating 1400+, who range in size from small 11yo to adult sized 16-18yo boys, there sometimes has to be strict rules about one way systems, and which stairs are used, and who can queue up for lunch at what time and so on.

Also, obviously, there's no one size fits all for SEN, and often there are competing needs in the same class e.g. the child who needs a quiet room without distractions in order to focus, and one with loud verbal tics in the same class, etc. Again, with smaller class sizes, it's more likely these clashes would be avoided.

If a strict school was a disaster for your DD, than a normal one would most certainly have been too. The behaviour and bullying is really scary.
We are moving my DD to an independent specialist mainstream too and after the trial she said similar. "I think all schools should be like this".
She is in a very strict school at the moment and they've looked after her amazingly but KS4 is just another ball game.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl
"Also, obviously, there's no one size fits all for SEN, and often there are competing needs in the same class e.g. the child who needs a quiet room without distractions in order to focus, and one with loud verbal tics in the same class, etc. Again, with smaller class sizes, it's more likely these clashes would be avoided."

This really resonated with me. One of the classes my DD is currently in is a maths class of 10 kids. This is a large mainstream school and it's the lowest SEN maths set. It's all great having a tiny class but the variation in needs is so so huge that even the teacher and TA can't handle it.

Do you think homeschooling is going to increase?

I know one of the issues is both parents often need to work full time, but say for upper middle class families who can't afford private but don't want to send their kids to mainstream, do you think people might turn to homeschooling when they realise just how bad it's getting?

It already has. Massively. Continues to do so. Lots of home-ed groups popping up that allow parents to work and home school. This huge increase is a big reason the govt wanted to pass the new laws around registering home ed kids.

Our world is a different place to how it was 50 years ago. Young people being raised in this world are different. The education system hasn’t moved with the times at all. It still expects the same of families as 50 years ago when families are under completely different pressures and circumstances.

But sadly those at the top are quite specifically wanting to take education back to the "good old days" of their private schools. The whole thrust of Gove's policies was to get back to how things were. This is why small children are learning fronted adverbials and all the rest of it, when they should be learning real world stuff - and experiencing arts and music for instance which enhance academic learning.

I agree, it’s already increasing rapidly. Not just because of the pandemic (although that’s certainly had a huge effect) but because of the sheer amount of children being failed. Home education has become a sort of safety net for people.

It’s a fallacy though that home education is for the well-off. In our community there are families from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. In fact I’d say you rarely meet what you’d think of as ‘privileged’ families (financially). Most are making it work in creative ways. A lot do have one full time supporting wage and another side income such as a part time side business. But not all. Some parents both work part-time and split the time with the children or they use part-time childcare/alternate flexi schools.

It’s sad isn’t it. Fronted adverbials is hilarious to me. I mean why?! Why would a 7 year old need to know this. It’s something you would learn if you took A level English Language in the past!
And it’s again back to meaningless for kids. Those white, male, upper class, privately educated toffs in government have a lot to answer for.

That's exactly when I learnt it. A Level English. Although I think that's a joke too, it should be taught, just not so so young. On the other hand, I do think we really dumbed our kids down in the last 30 years. They're capable of much more than we give them credit for. It's interesting to me when parents say the curriculum is dead and too old fashioned but they always choose to keep things like music and drama when those are also old fashioned. Its very unlikely we will have live performances at the extent we do now, yet it's easy to see the benefit they serve kids. I suspect a lot of people have had negative experiences with learning the more academic subjects so they can't see how those things are very much able to teach skills for the future. Proper finding and stable staff will help the most.

There is a mass of evidence that participation in music increases academic skills, especially in those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds. But hey - let's have a fronted adverbial - that will do the trick!

One of the sadnesses about this retreat to the "good old days" is that children who are totally foxed by it all simply switch off and decide education is not for them and muck about instead - what a waste of the many talents that I am sure they have - just not the ones Gove wants them to have, nor I, nor many other parents.

@Dodgeitornot children with SEN should not have to rely on interventions carried out by volunteers (even if those volunteers are lovely and caring)

@Michaelmonstera and? Do you have any better short term suggestions? Or do you have Rishi and whatever Ed Sec is in place this week on speed dial? If you do, please give them a call and let them know. I'm sure this volunteer and Y6 boy will appreciate it.

@Mischance There's also masses of evidence to suggest that early teaching or difficult concepts actually makes it easier for them to understand. Learning grammar early on helps kids with speech and lang difficulties. A traditional approach to arithmetics is proven to work well.
Music, esp music theory actual instrumental teaching, is actually really really difficult for many kids with SEN and is a miserable lesson for them. One of them is my DD.
This still goes back to staff and funding. If we have good quality staff and leadership, together with healthy funding, itll work better than whatever is in place now.
There is no one size fits all curriculum, we could argue about pros and cons of different things all day. There will always be kids that benefit from one type of teaching, and others from another.
The UK has one of the least flexible education systems in Europe. There is no alternative choices for parents if they want to keep their kids in school.

At my secondary school we’ve just been told that they won’t be replacing any teachers that leave at the end of this academic year due to budget constraints (natural wastage). Reason given was that the last salary increase was only partly funded.
We already rely heavily on cover supervisors who are often agency staff ( & rubbish, to be blunt) and this will just make the situation worse.

Music, esp music theory actual instrumental teaching, is actually really really difficult for many kids with SEN and is a miserable lesson for them.

Then it is being badly taught.

Just like grammar.