This government don’t give a shit about schools or your kids

[noblegiraffe]

AIBU to think that the government have fucked up literally everything to do with schools and education this year?

Evidence:

Chaotic school closures and keyworker provision (couldn’t decide what a keyworker was until the very last minute)

Forgot that kids on free school meals would go hungry so heads had to go round delivering sandwiches while the DfE put together an utterly shambolic voucher system that crashed and was pretty unusable.

Issued no guidelines for minimum education requirements during lockdown leading to vastly different provision between schools. Even Ofsted said they couldn’t judge schools on lockdown provision as there were no standards to judge them against.

Had to be shamed into u-turning on their insistence that free school meal children should go hungry during the holidays by a celebrity footballer (well done Marcus Rashford you absolute star)

Fed stories to friendly newspapers about schools re-opening in May to judge public reaction, leading to anxiety and uncertainty among parents and school staff

Announced that primary schools would open to all pupils before the summer holidays, an announcement that had surely not been run past anyone who worked in schools given that under the government’s own guidelines for schools for bubbles of 15 and no rotas, this would require double the classrooms and double the teachers available. Then backtracked on this a few weeks later (getting the friendly press to blame the unions) again creating uncertainty, anxiety and disappointment for parents and pupils.

Ignored education select committee questions about Ofqual’s algorithm when they raised issues in July

Lied and said they didn’t have early access to the data from Ofqual’s algorithm

When Scotland u-turned on their use of an algorithm, instead of making a considered response, came out with the bizarre notion that kids could use their mock grades - a suggestion that had obviously never been put past anyone who worked in schools. Again.

Took 5 days to realise that their mock suggestion created more problems than it solved, then u-turned on awarding CAGs creating problems for Y12 next year.

Fed stories to the friendly press that the unions are blocking the re-opening of schools in September so if it goes tits-up, they can blame them again (unions are asking for a ‘plan B’ in the case of local lockdowns, and for working conditions comparable to those of all other workers, no strike action has been proposed or balloted for so they couldn’t block re-opening even if they wanted to)

Blamed Ofqual for the algorithm they were told to create (prioritising statistics over teacher assessment)

Branded a teacher payrise that was agreed back in January a ‘reward for work during lockdown’, knowing this was incorrect, and deliberately fuelling outrage that they themselves had caused by having no minimum requirements for education in lockdown leading to vastly different provision.

Not funding this payrise so teachers probably won’t get it as otherwise it will lead to redundancies for other staff members due to having to fund it from already dire staffing budgets.

Issued guidelines that said that schools should reopen with increased cleaning schedules, increased handwashing, hand sanitising but providing no extra funding for this.

Instructed heads not to take any measures that would improve safety but would require more space (e.g. use of village halls) or not have pupils in full time (rotas, staggered timetables).

Didn’t realise that kids wouldn’t be able to get to school on public transport under current social distancing requirements as there aren’t enough buses until three weeks before schools reopened, and decided to throw £40 million to LAs to sort this (what? buy more buses?) so that they could blame the LAs when it inevitably goes wrong and kids can’t get to school.

And these are the people currently running a campaign to convince parents that they are capable of re-opening schools safely.

YABU: I have full confidence in the government and am perfectly happy with how things have gone so far

YANBU: It is mind-boggling how incompetent they have been, and how little thought they have given to the education of the nation’s children.

ILoveAllRainbowsx

Rather than repeating that, why not engage with the points in the OP?

@cantkeepawayforever

I think we also need to look at the media as well though. There is nothing more important for a democracy than a well-informed electorate. A huge part of that responsibility should fall on the media but bias and financial motivations has corrupted that and prevented some who work in journalism from holding the Government to account in the way in which they should do.

Did you add ‘public inquiries are expensive and divisive’ to your list, Smile?

Also ‘Complaints about their fuck-ups make MPs sad’

@Clavinova , leading or not, what can be said of a company who were firstly briefed to manage the PR for the governments' response to the coronavirus pandemic, and secondly to manage the communication about A levels? Did they offer helpful insights that just weren't taken?

So, in summary, the OP is entirely factual.

I was just making notes on a beermat ~like the government~ but as there are so many top quality arguments against the government being an incompetent bunch of chancers, I’ll do it properly.

[quote ILoveAllRainbowsx]**@Barbie222

Of course teaching is a worthwhile job, I did not say that it wasn;t.

But surely everyone on here who thinks that they could do a better job of running the country should stand for parliament as that is more important than any other job.

The country cannot run itself.[/quote]
People on here aren't saying that they could go to London and crack on with the job. They are saying that if this was the private sector you'd have more knowledgeable and efficient people running things. Certainly not the current band of charlatans who think they are great. Politics is about who you know and what you know about them.

It is perfectly fair to question why Williamson can be sacked for a big fucking mistake under May then come waltzing in under Johnson.

can'tKeepAway

Been chasing you round the boards.
Well done to your ds, mine got a 7 in Music and didn't fail Maths. Yeah!

Singing and woodwind are pretty knackered tbh, no choirs.
On the up side she gets her own dorm and bathroom and only has to take 2 A levels.

I think teachers have done a brilliant job for our kids along with all those involved in managing what they have had to. My sympathy is with all those teachers of GCSE and A level.

@Mumratheevergiving I do have two kids in state school, and DP is a teacher. I do believe the Tories screwed up a few things up, and got some things right. However, the choices given by the OP were: 1). Mind-boggling incompetence, or 2). Full confidence in the government. Hence YABU - this kind of polarised argument, 'you're either for me or against me' leads to madness. Don't think that Donald Trump can't happen here.

I totally agree with the OP. I feel like the past 3-4 years of living in this country would make an excellent prelude to a dystopian novel.

Iamnotthe1 you're quite right. Career politicians are quite a recent phenomena. Even in the 80s most politicians were middle aged + who had had pretty damn good careers already. It was fairly rare to find one under 50.

I am in utmost agreement with you. These young idiots with no experience and no principles need to spend years actually working alongside fairly normal people before they're ready to even think about Parliamentary roles.

However, the choices given by the OP were: 1). Mind-boggling incompetence, or 2). Full confidence in the government.

What would you have preferred given that there are only two polling options on MN?

[quote Iamnotthe1]@cantkeepawayforever

I think we also need to look at the media as well though. There is nothing more important for a democracy than a well-informed electorate. A huge part of that responsibility should fall on the media but bias and financial motivations has corrupted that and prevented some who work in journalism from holding the Government to account in the way in which they should do.[/quote]
Just before Corona we had the problem of certain reporters being banned from Downing Street press briefings. This seems to have been forgotten /ditched as a policy during the pandemic but I wonder if it will return afterwards.

Excellently well written OP, I agree with every word. Who are these 10% saying YABU? Morons!

The system works like that because people like you (and me) who want to change it do not want to become MPs. So it is our fault.

No, it really isn't. How on earth could a system work, where in order to critique or scrutinise authority, you are obliged to re-do the job yourself.

Please don't labour under this obligation any more, @ILoveAllRainbowsx , although i really doubt that you do.

How many more mistakes will you accept though, and of what magnitude?

Yeah, but not everyone will be able to do that role well, surgeon or MP.

@netflixismysidehustle
We've also moved to an acceptance of pre-approved questions only and a complete avoidance from certain ministers of any journalist who will actually challenge them.

Of course, I agree that the government has made mistakes. But the problem is that no-one wants to be an MP so we are stuck with who we have

No. The problem is that the government have made catastrophic mistakes and the ministers/advisors responsible have not been sacked.

But I find it difficult to complain when I won't stand for parliament myself

That’s not how democracy works. Democracy works by people telling their elected officials loud and clear when they have fucked up.

I am one of the 10% morons because I clicked on it by mistake! How do I undo my vote!? I am in complete agreement; there is so little positive action from government that has been done regarding education and child welfare over the last five months. All the positive work has been done locally.

anyone can stand for parliament

Ok, I’ve stood for Parliament but no one voted for me because I’m a socially awkward maths teacher with no campaigning skills. I’ve lost a bunch of money and the school has lost a maths teacher while I’ve been campaigning.

What now?

I am one of the 10% morons because I clicked on it by mistake!

I’m now going to assume that’s what happened with everyone who voted IABU

@SmileEachDay
That’s not how democracy works. Democracy works by people telling their elected officials loud and clear when they have fucked up.

It's one of the reasons I'd advocate with mandatory voting with an option to say "None of the above". That way we could very clearly see the level of dissatisfied people, couldn't avoid noticing that a 'winning' party has less than a third of all possible votes and politicians would also start having to think more about the people who typically don't vote like the younger generations. Pie in the sky idea though.

But I find it difficult to complain when I won't stand for parliament myself

Sorry, what? they stood for parliament because they wanted to do the job of a representative, but you won't complain about them doing a bad job because you yourself don't want to be a representative .

That's not how it works.

You're in parliament, you put up with complaints.

Not abuse, but politely written angry complaints and protests and petitions etc.