to think Gove's ideas on education are hilarious?

[NonnoMum]

So, putting all the kids in blazers and ties is a brilliant idea (why stop there, Mike, how about boaters too?) And training up ex-squaddies to be teachers - that'll instill discipline, won't it now? Who wants James Blunt as their RS teacher (just remember kids, "you're bootiful")
What a load of tosh...
Who voted for these muppets?

Oh, yeah, and they're scrapping school sports too - woopie!

surely if these ex squaddies who have a degree wanted to be become teachers they'd already be looking at teacher training anyhow????

YABU.

The girls at DDs school have a uniform they look smart in - shirt, tie, jumper, trousers or skirt of decent length. Much more egalitarian than non-uniform clothes, and cost-effective. No blazer.

"If this government did nothing but dismantle the stranglehold of the teaching unions, it would be a fantastic achievement".

why and achievement for who?

NonnoMum, you are completely spot on.

This might help you out a bit, Lego.

yyes cause you will be smart in a blazer and tie - not. The tidest school where we live is the secondary school that has trousers shirts worn outside and sweat top, no rolling up skirts when the girsl are encouraged to wear trousers and do wear them and keep their modesty

where as the school that does have blazers and ties the girls have mini mini skirts and have ties around their chest rather than aroudn there neck with shirts hanging half in and out and look awful

think practicle and sense

Baroq, testing the reading of 6 year olds is really important.
If we are to help reedy the poor reading of so many of our people, we need to start when they are this young. The chance of putting it right diminishes with every year that passes.

A wealth of research to support this.
Also, it's not the kids that are being tested but the quality of the teaching they receive.

I actually agree with the compulsory smart uniform in schools.

My secondary school had a very lax attitude to uniform (as long as it was black or white you could wear it). As a result many children turned up in trendy clothes and trainers and the children whose parents could not afford the latest trends (including me) were bullied because of it. My school was not in a posh area, quite the opposite! It was one of the worst schools in the country on a deprived council estate in Bristol. They eventually shut it down and turned it into the television set for Teachers!

I digress, if all children are made to wear the same thing then no child can be singled out for not wearing the latest fashions.

legostuckinmyhoover It will be a great achievement for our children, and our country, because teaching unions defend bad teachers, oppose a mixture of school types to suit different types of pupil, make it impossible for parents to exercise real school choice, and defend mediocrity for all over excellence for some at all costs.

children that young do not to be 'tested'. teachers hear children read every single day and already know exactly where the children are. the 'need' for tests is absurbd surely.

moondog the culture of silence which the article refers to is that of school managers who do fuck all about incompetent staff, and moan that it's the unions stopping them.

I can't think of a single example in all my years of teaching where senior managers have NOT behaved in a slipshod/bullying/underhand manner when it came to managing the incompetent. Not one.

Then the unions are obliged to, quite rightly, defend their members against improper actions take against them.

'teachers hear children read every single day and already know exactly where the children are'

Christ, wake up and smell the coffee Lego.

Firstly many don't know 'where' they are and secondly, even if they did, many are poorly equipped ( by and large through no fault of their own-due to shabby teacher training) to remedy the sitiaution.

Most kids learn in spite of how they are taught. Not because of it.

Is that your own theory Echt or can you back it up with some proper examples and stats?

"tethersend I generate taxes which pay for things like teachers. Does that mean I am not allowed to have an opinion about how schools should work?"

Ah. Right. Yet you seem to have in-depth knowledge of how the teaching unions affect policy. Only you don't.

You are allowed to have any opinion you like. As ill-informed an opinion as you like. Doesn't make you correct though.

It is bloody hard to deal with incompetent teachers though TBH.

How exactly is it going to change - is there a link?

according to that then, what is the point of school at all then?

(Tether, I do get occasional weird shopping APBs. Is that you?

I can't do dodgy gear though. Blimey!

Also, moondog, tests tell you nothing about the quality of teaching. A child might do well or badly in spite of/because of good teaching/bad teaching. It's complicated. You cannot infer a cause in this way.

I like the idea of giving headteachers greater autonomy over how they spend the money their school is allocated. The current system with all the various grants results in schools get strangled by redtape and its good the coalition is putting an end to it. I don't think schools having a smart uniform is a bad idea either

Other measures such as bringing ex-squaddies into schools I'm not so sure about, what will they actually add?

my dd's teachers haven't got a clue about her reading.
I was scrupulously writing down all her reading in the reading record (chapter books etc) and had no idea she was reading anything other than Biff & Chip level 2.

Echt, read that back to yourself.
Aloud.
Then splash your face with cold water, do a few starjumps and walk around the block to clear your head.

sorry, should read 'they had no idea....'