Our education system is an utter shit show

[Noonelikesasloppytrifle]

I don't think people outside of education realise what an utter mess our education system is in and how bad it actually is.

I have 4 DC with one still in primary and the rest at secondary or 6th form. I have worked in various educational settings and have been a Governor. I am currently working in a large secondary ( 1500 students) in a pastoral role having moved from another area of the public sector which is also in a mess. My DC all attended state primaries. Two of them are now privately educated with the other 2 attending state grammars and one moving to a sixth form college.

I have been really shocked by how bad it is in the school I work at. It has clearly been managed badly for a number of years (former head went on long-term sick, followed by maternity, followed by sick leave) so they were rudderless for a while. They have just joined a MAT who all want the same behaviour policies with a blanket discipline regime and no regard to the individual needs of the kids. There are a mix of behavioural problems but they are all lumped together so those kids who have SEMH issues are punished for not attending lessons when the classroom environment is so toxic for them that they can't cope. There is no resource for it to be dealt with in any other way.

The curriculum and assessment schedule has completely disenfranchised a whole raft of kids. At the start of year seven they're already aware that scraping a 4 in most subjects would be their best outcome but they're forced to sit in classes where the only attainment measure is an exam at the end and we wonder why we see so many challenging behaviours in lessons. There are barely any TA's so often 30 students with one teacher and some very difficult kids to deal with.

This week at my school they had so many staff off sick that for three days we had 5 classes put together in the main hall. It was either that or close the school.

The staff all appear to dislike each other. Teachers don't like SLT or pastoral but also exhibit a sense of entitlement. It's certainly not an "we're all in it together" type of attitude.

School are expected to solve all the ills of society. On a daily basis we're dealing with the impact of poor parenting, lack of boundaries, the poor diet and social media etc etc. There is so little resource to deal with this properly

I know that not all schools are like this. My 16 yr old DC (at Grammar) does not report the same issues at their school that I do at mine. However, I do know that our other nearest secondary is experiencing the same thing as us and they have a similar demographic (rural county).

I feel so sad for the kids coming out of this system, particularly those without the network around them to provide support and direction.

"Some schools might have additional challenges but really a bright child will do well anywhere and support from home is a better predictor of their academic performance, so there is little point worrying about things like staffing and SEN issues."

Well if your child has SEN issues then you are going to worry about that, aren't you?

@portura what % of pupils in your schools have SEN or receive PP (details will be on website)

Having been educated abroad I find the system here better but perhaps my standards are low!

I cant see the point in schools anymore when everything can be learned at the click of a button.

DD has an EHCP, and is in a fantastic local comprehensive which regularly sends pupils to RG universities as well as meeting the needs of those who struggle academically, like DD.

It is possible.

But the lack.of funding is a huge issue. I would happily pay more tax if it went to health and social care, not handing out profitable contracts to cronies

A friend of mine, who is French, recently said to a group of us that she thinks the UK system is much better than the French system. She has a boy (20) and a girl (17)l, both of whom have been in the state system. One of our (English) friends was horrified because everything here is shit right? Apparently not necessarily

Schools vary. Many of my friends are chairs. Most of the schools round here in Surrey are very good. My dc are at an excellent school, and it's recognised at top in the county, pastoral and results.

You'd be in for a massive shock if you sat in lessons for a day. Just because it's slightly less shitty than the shittiest, doesn't mean everything is OK.

My eldest just about survived a comprehensive with an incompetent head (6yrs of failing), and where 60% kids failed to pass maths & English last year - this is not a deprived area, I mean how just how?! Can that be allowed to happen. Half the English dept left the term before GCSEs having seen the dire results coming like a train crash. We have removed our youngest and now home edding as she couldn’t cope in the environment.

What is SEMH needs? Is that another term for SEN like autism?

Social, Emotional and Mental Health

Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. It's a category of SEN.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. They do come under SEN if the child needs educational arrangements that are different or additional to the normal offer to support them.

🙄

7.3% SEN support, 5.1% FSM

Average FSM is 24% and SEND 17%, can make a huge difference, especially as don't get extra funding for most SEND children

I think part of the problem is that the NHS is also struggling massively. If post-natal health care is not adequate, and child health care and dentistry is not adequate, then kids and families can be on their knees before the child even starts school. Then they are still running to catch up when secondary comes round. This is what happened to us.

We were hanging on by our eye teeth when we joined a secondary school that was also massively up against it, and that meant that the whole thing fell apart.

I think the whole situation with state services is a large part of this.

The flip side that actual education is so much easier to obtain now. I mean you can just buy all the Pearson Edexcel books from amazon, and get all the past papers and syllabus documents online. It's actually not that hard to cut school out entirely and home ed, assuming that a parent is at home and healthy enough to do it. (touching wood now).

I think the big question is - What do we do about it?

I mean do we have wishlist to make this situation better, and could we get the political parties to put it on their manifestos?

@fuckityfuckityfuckfuck
What would I be shocked at?
Yes some schools have serious problems. Other schools not do much, are very strict. If you are in top set, ie set 1, for gcse maths (not that my ds2 is btw, I'm just saying) then there is a no nonsense approach, the dc are committed, competitive, many of them striving for 90+%. Do you think there are massive problems in that class?

More funding for SEND, more mental health provision (know of a family where child is self harming, talk of suicide, no external help, has been referred but waiting list about 2 years, school having to pick up the pieces), less workload for teachers, more funding for everything in schools, less testing, more funding for pastoral care, Early Help to actually be available, bring back Sure Start

We also deregistered DC from the shitshow to home educate. Their mental health has improved no end.

@Oblomov24 and if your child can't access that set even if academically able, if SEND, anxious, self harming, highly strict school might not suit them, possibly with disastrous consequences

You are very lucky. Huge swathes of the country are not. Also, a bright child will not do well anywhere, and certainly won’t do as well as they could have done in a different environment. This is for the simple reason that in some schools, it is impossible to actually teach (think 30 students literally swinging off the rafters or throwing furniture at one another leaving 2 who actually want to learn- this is actually the reality in some schools).

Yeah, loads of learning went on during lockdown.

I'd guess at least 70% of secondaries are good.

It's funding funding funding.

This is education under a Tory government.

More exams. Less funding. Also the world has got more complex.

However it's better when you have only 25 in a class.

And lots of experienced well qualified teachers.

They are leaving in droves. If you voted Tory this is what you voted for.