To ask why voters don’t care about state schools?

[Lycidas]

Polling suggests that schooling has declined as a priority for voters. Why?? Unless your children are safely ensconced in a private school, can’t people see the:

• Relentless slashing of school budgets
• Atrocious SEN provision which impacts all
• Teachers leaving the profession in droves
• Too many stressful high stakes exams

Why have we accepted the dire provision of state schooling in this country?

as his only plan on most things seems to be throwing money at it.

All of the parties are promising to throw money at things, the difference is Corbyn is promising to throw money at things to help ordinary people whereas the Tories are promising to throw it at things to help the more well off. Personally I wouldn't believe any promises by any politician this week no matter what party they represent.

they dont believe Corbyn will be able to sort them out,

One of Labour’s key policies is the abolition of Ofsted. Whilst this may be very popular with teachers (and teaching unions) it is not a particularly popular policy with parents.

Labour also plans to bring academies and free schools back under Local Authority control. Whilst most parents probably don’t really feel strongly either way about this, it’s a massive undertaking which will involve huge expense for what purpose? Again, very popular with trade unions, but I’m not even sure teachers really care that much (speaking as an ex-teacher from an academy school).

Labour also plans to change the curriculum again. After a decade of curriculum changes, the last thing teachers really want is any more.

The reality is that I don’t think parents really believe that Labour’s plans for state schools are really going to deliver any improvements.

corbyn wont help us and he wont help our kids (when he saddles them with massive debts and screws up the economy). And yes we are ordinary people (albeit ones that have come from highly impoverished backgrounds and worked hard to improve ourselves)

Our kids and grandkids are already saddled with huge debt. It's more than doubled under the Tories as despite the harm caused by austerity.

Brexit under the Tories will screw the economy more than Corbyn's policies will. At least Corbyn's policies won't hurt those already hurting the most.

Those who believe the current Tory party will look out for anyone other than the top 1% of the 1% are sadly mistaken. The smoke and mirrors making them look elsewhere while everything crumbles around them. And as long as there's someone worse off to look at, they can kid themselves they're doing ok.

schoolcoices - the pound has risen because the financial markets are betting on a tories victory, it will plumet if corby gets in. that will make imports more expensive (resulting in inflation) and the cost of any foreign holidays.

at least the tories have a plan on brexit - corbyn's just seems to be to procrastinate further (uncertainty is not good for business as we've seen business state again and again)

If you think tax hikes are only going to be for the top 1% then you are mistaken. All the economists say tax increases will have to be for a much larger proportion of the population. Increases in company taxation will affect everyone as prices will go up. removal of married tax allowance affects all walks of life.

It hasn't declined so much as that other (somewhat immediately urgent) things have reared their (very ugly) heads and are uppermost in people's minds right now.

Wow, this descended rather quickly didn’t it?

It started off as a thread about voters’ priorities regarding education and ended up with the usual ‘your bogeyman is worse than my bogeyman’ mud slinging.

I give up. MN is no place for adult discussions about politics any more.

More desperation from Momentum, eh?

It hasn't declined so much as that other (somewhat immediately urgent) things have reared their (very ugly) heads and are uppermost in people's minds right now.

This. There is just so much of concern at the moment, I have children in state education, but it isn't my top concern. That doesn't mean I don't think there is a lot wrong with the current education system.

Apparently, there is an intention to increase teacher numbers and reduce class sizes. Teachers are leaving, not because of class sizes, or even salaries, but because the workload and expectation are untenable.

People are generally less concerned about education because they’re still going to school. They might start to be concerned when schools are no longer viable institutions.

I don't really care about the school's. I don't like how the education system teaches children it makes me feel uncomfortable as I do not teach my children the same thing's as they are taught in school. I am guilty of saying that they are taught the wrong thing's

Jesus wept

You and your children could both do with going to school

Of course people care about state schools. Don't be ridiculous and goady. Do you care about Council Housing, and pensions, and NHS waiting lists and benefits and childcare and small businesses and IHT and CapGains Tax and fishing and farming and flooding and overdevelopment and green belt land and jobs in the North or the South West or Wales.
Probably you do but if asked what you cared about you might not list all of them.

I think schools do such a good job of hiding how difficult it is to teach well with such limited resources that most parents genuinely don't realise how bad things are. Unless you are a parent of a child with SEND these pupils have really borne the brunt of funding cuts, but there are comparatively limited numbers so most people don't see the effects.

The School Cuts campaign was massively influential in 2017 and some say it lost Theresa May her majority.

The Tories anticipated this, this election by promising more money for schools.

And it seems to have worked. People haven’t noticed that the money offered is pitiful, that the Tories massively failed to meet their teacher recruitment targets for the 7th year in a row, that the PISA results this year said that our kids are among the least happy in the world. And this happened on the Conservative’s watch. People, for some reason, don’t link the Conservative Party they are voting for with the massive failures of the Conservative Party of the last 9 years. Which is bizarre.

I do care about schooling, do have DCs in state schools and do understand that schools struggle financially but think that things are worse for the NHS and am more concerned about Brexit and climate issues.

People think the NHS has it worse because Michael Gove made the genius move of allowing schools to hire unqualified teachers. 25,000 of them, apparently currently teaching in schools at the moment.

If there weren’t warm bodies in front of the kids, and if, like the NHS, we sent kids home instead saying we didn’t have the resources to teach them today, the perception might be different.

I care about education, but not as much as health purely due to my personal circumstances. I will vote, but not enthusiastically, I like my local MP, but don’t have much confidence that any of the leadership will do well.

Labour also plans to bring academies and free schools back under Local Authority control.

What they could certainly do, is allow Local Authorities to take back 'orphaned academies' - those schools which failing MATs just abandon. Driving the bad MATs out would be no bad thing.

Allow LAs to build new schools where they see a need, instead of the present stupidity where they have to try to find an MAT or free school to open one.

Allow LAs to insist that MATs put on bulge classes where there are shortages of school places.

Three improvements which could be made now. If the will was there.

IMO anyone who believes the Tory promises about more money for schools is deluding themselves. This will be a manifesto commitment dropped in the first day of office.

I don't really care about the school's. I don't like how the education system teaches children it makes me feel uncomfortable as I do not teach my children the same thing's as they are taught in school. I am guilty of saying that they are taught the wrong thing's

I hope you aren't critical of the way they teach them English as they will be doing a better job than you can judging by your post.

I think a significant number of people who use state schools (and vote Conservative) are either unaware or accept that they are going to need to use tutors to plug the gaps but accept it as it is much cheaper than private school. Certainly the case where I live in a very strong Conservative area.

I don’t think any of the parties really understand the complexity of the issues in education and really have any idea of how to address it to be honest. Teacher recruitment and retention, SEN, funding, curriculum changes every five minutes, resources, school funding, lack of resources, alternative education, Ofsted - it is all a complex mess. Neither Labour or the Conservatives have any coherent plan for addressing it.

My blood was boiling at a meeting the other day where several school governors were discussing the election and were obviously going to vote Tory. I had to bite my tongue to some extent.

Countries which are completely different to the UK in virtually every way, such as geography, industry, demographics, population, etc. It's like comparing Apples with Oranges.

Yes so many Corbyn haters are happy to compare our potential future to that of Venezuela, a country with an economy almost entirely reliant on a finite resource with fluctuating value.

when people read that in England results are improving but in Scotland results are declining despite more money per pupil ( most explained by higher cost of delivering education in rural areas as population densities outside of central belt are very small) it seems that money is not the real issue but curriculums methods etc

sometimes it is procurement we are in Scotland and headteachers can only buy from certain suppliers often at inflated prices when they could get the same stuff cheaper at normal retail outlets Tesco, Amazon the works etc it is stupid when people are forced to use certain suppliers when their prices are more than the retail price on high street

also many state schools get results close to that of independent schools and several schools in some of the most deprived areas are doing very well so it is not just money

if they let teachers teach; instead of loads of form filling and bureaucracy stopped changing curriculums and exam systems

people do care about state education but it is one of many things people care about like the economy, job creation, GC issues, healthcare social care green issues brexit etc

Of course tax rises will have to be borne by more of the 0.1%.

Services need to be funded properly. They are at breaking point, just not quite a visible currently as the NHS.

Coupled with the fact that almost everyone will need to use the NHS at some point, whereas many do opt entirely out of state education.

A pp was correct with the school cuts campaign, that and the letters from heads did have an impact.

that again did you go to school? do you home ed? if so, and I hate to be snotty because you might be dyslexic or something, but PLEASE have a look at your grammar (disclaimer: my dyslexic DD1 wrote a 10,000 word dissertation with no grammar errors.. it can be done).

To answer the question, why does state education no longer seem to matter? I guess there are an awful lot of private school parents for whom it seems irrelevant, and as a PP said, schools do a bloody good job of patching up the holes - I'm an ex sec modern governor, been there and got that t-shirt.