The stats show that women tend to be bad at asking for more pay. It doesn't please me that that is so and by writing about it we can ensure women think about the issue and approach pay discussions in a better fashion. I am not being sexist. I am saying what on average is the case. I never had any trouble with it and I'm sure a lot of other women are fine over it too but it's worth stating to ensure women think about the issue.
As for when is a good time to set up a business a recession is not always a bad time. You can pick up assets of failing businesses in a way that isn't always so easy in good times but I agree you need to pick your business area with care. I accept bank loans are hard to get despite what the Government is saying. I suppose people often start with one lorry and work up without borrowings in some industries. There is a radio 4 business programme and this week the lady on there, can't remember her name, was saying that is how she built up her business and fortune.
Clearly private schooling works well.
With apologies for length here is the Times artilce which to me shows if you can improve schools and results in a bad comp and Surrey comps do much worse that it is not always about money but also about the things private schools do well, rules, manners and the like.
From www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/focus/article794101.ece#prev
"How the ?sergeant major? plans to shake up the country?s schools
The head teacher who is widely expected to be the next chief inspector of schools reveals discipline is at the heart of his vision
"His nickname is sergeant major, his school has been compared to a boot camp and one of his role models is Clint Eastwood?s gunslinger character in the 1985 western Pale Rider.
But last Friday Sir Michael Wilshaw, one of Britain?s top head teachers, seemed more like a proud parent as he related success stories at Mossbourne community academy, a remarkable state school in Hackney, east London, where he is executive principal.
The school is legendary for its disciplinarian approach: lashings of homework, Latin lessons, strict uniform codes, regulation haircuts, children having to recite the school motto at the start of each lesson.
It has paid off: in January, Mossbourne, in one of the poorest parts of Britain, learnt that an astonishing 10 of its sixth-formers ? about a 10th of the year ? had received conditional offers from Cambridge University. They included the son of a taxi driver and the child of an immigrant labourer.
We ban mobile phones so that kids can?t text in class and they don?t get nicked
However, one of the most remarkable tales has not been told. It is the revelation that one of those who won a place at Cambridge was a girl who became a single mother at 14.
?She didn?t want any publicity, didn?t want her name mentioned and all the rest of it, but she became a single mum at the age of 14 while a pupil at Mossbourne,? said Wilshaw.
?She was from a poor family, she had the child and we supported her. She was self- motivated and worked incredibly hard to counter all those handicaps, and this summer she got her A grades at A-level.
?Now she?s started at Cambridge University and they are giving support. She?s got her own flat and they?ve helped with childcare arrangements. I?m delighted. Of all of them, she?s the one who gave me the greatest pleasure, because she had to struggle more than the others to get the grades.?
It is an inspirational story, and one this superhead is recounting because he passionately believes that all children deserve the kind of opportunities Mossbourne offers to youngsters from the tough 1930s council blocks nearby.
Within the next few weeks, Wilshaw, the son of a postman, is expected to be announced as the standards enforcer for England?s schools. The education secretary Michael Gove ? who has hailed Wilshaw as ?my hero? ? is tipped to appoint him as chief inspector at Ofsted, the education watchdog.
If the move is confirmed, Wilshaw would be in charge of a team of inspectors sent into schools to report on whether they are ?outstanding?, ?good?, ?satisfactory? or ?inadequate?. Already, it is clear he thinks the standards are too low and that there are too many ?coasting? schools that are underachieving.
?Satisfactory,? he snorted. ?I?ve never liked that word. It gives the wrong message to parents. An unsophisticated parent who doesn?t understand Ofsted speak would look at the schools described as satisfactory and think everything was fine. But it?s not. So we have to look very carefully at satisfactory.? About 37% of schools are ranked satisfactory.
Ofsted needs to be more ?credible?, he said. If the ?word on the street and the gossip among head teachers is that some schools are being judged good but don?t deserve that judgment, then Ofsted loses its credibility?.
Last week, Wilshaw said he had thought ?long and hard? before applying for the top job in education, but was now ?committed? to the post if, as is widely expected, his appointment is confirmed, most likely with a starting date in January.
Unruly pupils make good teaching impossible, he said. Under his leadership, both poor teaching and pupil misbehaviour in schools would be likely to come under close scrutiny. He believes standards can be raised ? and that other state schools, not just Mossbourne, can and should send far more pupils to good universities, including Oxbridge, than they do at present.
Who is this man on a mission to transform our schools? Born in India in the dying days of the Raj, Wilshaw left for England as an infant. His father, formerly a soldier, became a postman; his mother raised the family as Catholics. The faith is still important to him: he has said he has ?an evangelical zeal to do Christ?s work on Earth?.
He won a place at a Catholic grammar school in south London but admits that, like lots of boys, he did not work hard enough at school. ?I did it the hard way,? he said. After teacher training at St Mary?s, a Catholic college in Twickenham, he took a history degree at Birkbeck College in the evenings.
He cemented a reputation as a troubleshooter as head of St Bonaventure?s, a 1,300-pupil school in east London, becoming known for his ability to turn around failing schools. But it was at Mossbourne, which he created from scratch in 2004 on the site of the former Hackney Downs comprehensive (once labelled the worst school in England), that he really made his mark.
Seven years after its opening in a building designed by Richard Rogers, Mossbourne?s record is eye-popping. Every youngster in year 13 ? the first year of A-level results ? went to university this year. Yet 40% of pupils come from such poor families that they are entitled to free school meals and 30% are on the special needs register.
How does he do it? Discipline is key, says Wilshaw, rigidly enforced. Pupils are sent home for wearing the wrong colour shoes; buying chewing gum or chicken and chips on the way home is forbidden; and when girls complained to him that boys were greeting them with hugs in the playground, he promptly banned hugs ? and handshakes for good measure.
?Some of it was innocent, some of it was not. I did it to protect some of the girls who were feeling a bit intimidated by bear hugs,? he said.
But it is not purely about rules. The school also stays open until 6.30pm and on Saturday mornings so children from chaotic homes have somewhere to do their homework. It is staffed mainly by dedicated young teachers in their twenties, who work punishing hours ? up to 15 daily ? and act almost like surrogate parents.
Wilshaw said these young teachers would sink unless he managed to create a calm atmosphere in the school. ?There is too much emphasis on the strictness of our rules. Actually it?s about saying something very simple, which is that you can?t teach unless there?s a calm atmosphere and good order,? he said.
?We have a lot of young teachers in their early twenties who are very dedicated and passionate, but they would drown in a school where discipline was poor.
?One in four young teachers leaves the profession in the first four years because they are fed up with challenging behaviour in the classroom. So every head teacher should strive to create a calm atmosphere.
?And good behaviour comes from being absolutely clear and consistent about what you expect. We ban mobile phones so that kids can?t text in class and they don?t get nicked. And it?s the same rule for everyone.?
Both good behaviour from pupils and good teaching will be key targets if he is put in charge of school inspections.
His ambitions for standards are bold. At present, about 53% of the country?s children obtain five good GCSEs, including maths and English. ?That?s too low,? said Wilshaw. ?That means half the nation is not reaching that standard. Singapore, which is at the top of international league tables, is getting far more than that, more like 82%. So we?ve got to catch up with our international competitors in the next five years.
?If a school like Mossbourne ? where 86% of children get five good GCSEs ? can do it, there?s no reason that schools in more affluent parts of the country shouldn?t. Schools in the shires and suburbs should be getting that figure easily.?
Within the next five to 10 years, he wants 75% of students at Oxbridge to be recruited from state schools. At present, the figure is about 55% to 60%.
Can he turn talk into results on a bigger scale than Mossbourne? Critics claim Wilshaw could prove as confrontational with the teaching unions as Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector who famously claimed there were 15,000 incompetent teachers who needed to be sacked.
According to Wilshaw, who says he has got rid of about 12 to 15 teachers over his 25-year career, about 10% of teachers in any school need ?help to leave as quickly as possible?.
?They shouldn?t remain in the profession. If you feel that children are suffering year in year out, you do it very quickly,? he said.
He feels the same way about poor head teachers. ?Good schools are run by good heads, as simple as that. There are lots of heads in the secondary sector earning more than £100,000, they?re earning more than the prime minister in some cases, so we expect them to deliver, the nation expects them to deliver, and if they can?t they need to move on.?
He has in the past compared good head teachers to Eastwood?s character in Pale Rider. ?Take that scene in Pale Rider when the baddies are shooting up the town, the mists dissipate and Clint is there. Being a head teacher is all about being the lone warrior, fighting for righteousness, fighting the good fight.? Sometimes, to be a good head teacher, he has said, ?you have to be scary?.
He will need to be tough if he is confirmed as chief inspector. Last week Woodhead, a Sunday Times columnist, said he wished Wilshaw well but that he would face an uphill task.
?The first challenge is to find the quality of inspectors he will need. My biggest problem was not having enough people who would stand up for my agenda, which was deeply unpopular with most teachers,? said Woodhead. ?If he does not have the right calibre inspectors, it will all fall apart.
?He will have to be robust in standing up to the teaching unions, which will oppose any criticism of teachers. Ofsted was called the Spanish inquisition when I was chief inspector. Wilshaw has to persuade people that he will give praise where it is due, but will be ruthless in exposing failure.?
Wilshaw, however, is optimistic. In fact, he is so confident he can bring improvements that he predicts that both David Cameron, an Old Etonian, and Gove, who went to both state and independent schools, will send their youngsters to state secondary schools.
?I think they will. But like all parents, they?re concerned about state education. Why is it that parents queue up to send their children to Mossbourne and jump over the fence at open evenings? There are just not enough Mossbourne-type schools.?