to ask Tory voters (genuinely)

[rhubarbcrumbles]

What do you think that the Tory government of the last 9 years have done to improve the education in schools?

Genuinely, I am interested to know what you think.
As a school governor I am not keen on the way they have treated schools so I'd be genuinely interested in the alternative perspective without a bun fight.

Genuinely, I am interested to know what you think.
Of course you are.

I think the GCSE reforms have been good in parts.

I don't like the upping of content for Science, and the restrictiveness of English Lit texts and the general 'O levelling' of all of them. I think the reforms have done a disservice to the middle / less academic.

On the other hand I think the controlled assessment processes were no longer fit for purpose either with widespread abuse. Plus before there was pressure all the way from start y10 with CAs done right from the first term. At least now the pupils have a chance to mature and improve through the courses.

I think schools are generally underfunded.

I don't know when y1 phonics screening was introduced but think that was a Good Thing. Good schools shouldn't need it, but it has to be there for the many schools that still seem unable to teach phonics properly.

Genuinely, I am interested to know what you think.
Of course you are.

Yes, I am. Like I said, I'm a school governor and I'm interested - there must be Tory voting teachers/governors/parents out there.

Plus before there was pressure all the way from start y10 with CAs done right from the first term. At least now the pupils have a chance to mature and improve through the courses.

It's difficult isn't it, some will benefit from the CAs and others from the final exams. I tend to agree with you about them being able to mature etc.

The changes to Ofsted after 2010 caused a great deal of upheaval. However, there was, for the first time, an emphasis on the achievement and progress of disadvantaged pupils compared to others. This meant that ‘coasting’ schools could no longer hide the attainment of certain groups of students behind a ‘generally’ good cohort. It caused a huge kick up the bum for some local schools here.

The emphasis on academic subjects and the removal of some vocational subjects from GCSE league tables meant some lower performing schools could no longer fake good GCSE results by entering students for courses in ‘nail art’ worth 9 billion GCSEs at grade C or above.

I taught from 2004 until 2017 so saw many changes for the better and worse.

I think the abolition of Ofsted would be a disaster.

I was also a governor at a school which was almost rated Inadequate in 2014 due to the attainment and progress of Pupil Premium children. The school needed the changes that were made as a result. It is now rated Good.

I didn’t vote Tory last time but will be this time. I don’t think the torys have done anything recently to improve schools. But then again it’s not a personal concern. Nor is either party offering anything that I think would beneficial in their manifestos so it’s not a big political point (although I do think labour will make the whole system worse overall so in that sense it makes sense to vote Tory to prevent it from getting worse).

I’ve been retired several years now but before I left teaching it seemed that the cynical gaming and manipulation of the exam system was finally being dealt with. I remember feeling quite depressed by the amount of cheating going on and angry that I was obliged to be part of it.

Oops - just properly noticed that you asked this question of Tory voters. I have never/would never vote Tory.

I don’t understand the need to change stuff all the time.

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The Wheel of Fortune will continue to turn and what goes up will come down.

Loads

I’m being serious

I don’t understand the need to change stuff all the time.

When I first started teaching in 2004 I met an Australian supply teacher. He said that one of his observations of the British education system was that nothing stayed the same for more than a couple of years before it was changed. It was true then and it is true now.

I’m a school governor too... Have you seen the PISA scores?

@takeittogo such as?

@rhayader yes, interesting reading again.

The silence is overwhelming - surely there must be things that people think are good that the Conservatives have done for our schools......

By reducing funding in real terms they’ve increased community cohesion through all the extra fund raising days we’re supposed to take part in and the kids love doing about twenty non uniform days a year to help raise money for basic supplies.

@takeittogo which are? You can’t say that and not back it up! (Teacher here so genuinely intrigued!)

My sons teacher voted Tory 😂

And complained about class sizes and under funding in the next breath.

I think I’d have more time for the Tories if they didn’t deliberately underfund public services. As if that’s going to make them magically more efficient and better run. It just makes them cut costs and children/ill/elderly are the ones that suffer.

It usually requires some upfront investment to create efficiencies because it takes time to change the way that things work and come up with innovative solutions.

I personally think getting rid of ofsted is a sledgehammer approach but I don’t like too much of an inspection/testing regime and would prefer that governments research different approaches and use ones that have evidence of working. I’d like government to approach policy by gathering evidence and testing ideas out. New Labour were better at this - the whole Early Years initiative was based on evidence. Whereas as far as I can tell, the Tories (eyes up Michael Gove) just decided he wanted to super glue his rose tinted glasses firmly on.

I know three governors who are Tory councillors so at least they are trying to do something to help, but by God, I'd love to ask them what they think of the funding for schools. These people who are prepared to give up their time voluntarily for schools and other charities that they do work for, they must have some reasons for thinking that the Tories are good for schools - I wish I knew what they were.

As. The parent of a child with severe autism and learning disabilities who goes to a special schools,the SEND reforms ,now mean my child will be in education until he is 25,as I understand it, the two special high schools that are most likely to meet his needs now have colleges attached that he will be attending from 19-25 and will be focussing on preparing him for some level of independence

I'm retired now, and my teaching was done mostly in independent schools. We switched to IGCSEs because we wanted to not do coursework in the sciences. (Compulsory with the old GCSEs).

So in that sense I think they were right to address this. However, it does seem pointless to base the new exams on IGCSEs and then not allow state schools to use them. Suitable exams - IGCSEs - already existed, so why reinvent the wheel? Especially as we now have people claiming that independent schools are cheating the system because IGCSEs are easier (they're not).

But I don't agree with the Academy programme, and I think state schools are underfunded. I also think that government - and society in general - are too focused on the academic and don't seem to care about the "forgotten third". We have the ridiculous situation whereby students are having to resit maths because they didn't get a Grade 4. Grades 1,2 and 3 are still grades and are probably sufficient for many jobs, so I think part of the problem rests with employers.

But I think Labour's policies are even worse. Corbyn would tax independent schools to the point they might be forced to close, thus losing any hoped-for tax revenue and simultaneously dumping more children into the overloaded state system, while throwing some highly-skilled teachers out of work. I don't agree with a lot of Tory policies but I will vote to prevent that scenario from happening.

Moved back to a more rigorous examination system.

The GCSE had gotten ridiculously easy with modular exams and the cheats charter that was course work and a range of non subjects.

In an a effort to be inclusive, the bright academic children had been forgotten.

Whatever the Tories are doing to education in England, it works. Performance is improving across the board, and especially in schools with academy status.
Here in Scotland, we are lumbered with the bloody useless SNP and their laughable “Curriculum for excellence”. Scotland has been plummeting down the international league tables in maths and science for the last ten years.
Their response? False claims that education is improving, and withdrawing us from every comparison table except PISA. (I expect that will be next)
And as for Labour? Good luck with the bill for nationalising or abolishing private schools and absorbing all those extra pupils into state schools.

I'm not a tory voter and never will be, but I do think some of the changes to GCSEs have been positive. However, I lament the heavy emphasis on academic subjects for pupils who would benefit from more vocational options.

As a primary school governor, I am deeply concerned about school funding. We have cut everything back to the bone at our school, and there is nothing left to cut. We are now onto our third consecutive deficit budget and we're eating into our reserves at an alarming rate. This is a heavily oversubscribed "outstanding" school that will go bust within the next three years if something doesn't change. There is something seriously wrong here.

I've not got a lot to add to the debate, but I will say that two career teachers I know, each who completed well over 20 years of teaching, have said they simply get bombarded with different edicts that are equally useless no matter who is in charge.

I support the GCSE reforms.

My elder dd is very clever - she found the old GCSEs so easy that she coasted her way to 10A*s without doing any work at all, and then really struggled when it came to A-level.

My younger dd has done all new GCSEs, and they’re so much more rigorous. Far better preparation for A-level.