"F**k off, Gav. Nobody trusts you"

[noelgiraffe]

Gavin Williamson appears to be now more hated than Gove by the education profession, including school leaders and head teachers, which is probably his only achievement since starting the job.

He actually managed to unite all education unions, including heads, governors and the Church of England to write a joint letter refusing to co-operate with his bonkers mass-testing plan. This never happens.

neu.org.uk/media/13741/view

"F**k off Gav. Nobody trusts you. There is no ‘we’. The good will reserves are empty. Some schools are working today on track and trace from last week because you didn’t let them close; your cut ‘n’ paste guidance is unresourced crap. You’re a bad joke."

The above quote from a prominent member of the education community is in response to an article where he gears up to pre-blame teachers and schools for the imminent failure of the mass testing programme that he wants quickly knocked up on a shoestring budget over the Christmas holidays. (Do Serco not have any of their billions of pounds budget left for this?)

twitter.com/educationgovuk/status/1341023021788770307?s=21

Given the complete breakdown in the relationship between Gavin Williamson and the people he is supposed to lead, is it indeed time for Gav to f**k off?

YABU: No, Gav is doing just fine
YANBU: Fuck off, Gav

Can’t teachers just send home a textbook/internet link with the instruction for kids to read 4 hours worth a day

No, they can’t.

I hear the KerChing! of £1000 Christmas bonus'. They all in there scanning social media and countering 'disinformation' not actually planning how the fuck to pull off 3.4 million tests in 2 weeks time with 2 bank holidays and a distribution network busy delivering Christmas.

Universities had several weeks warning for the mass testing. Schools were told the day we broke up for Christmas that testing would happen the week we come back.
Schools were told the day before (via the media) that online learning would happen for the majority of students.
Not much to organise by the end of Friday 18th then....

oh be fair now, boris has a limited pool of ministers to choose from, in all senses of the word. hence priti and hancock and the unpleasantness which is gove.

@ChloeDeckTheHalls

Yeah, to Gav: ODFOD

I assume your second D stands for Dick not Dear?

My thought is that the announcement was deliberately timed because Gavin Williamson wanted revenge for the responses he had about re-opening schools fully before the end of the summer term.

Some of the cabinet are out of their depth (Matt Hancock for example) and then some are nasty.

we had a video msg from the head at my kids school where he was like "im sure they're not asking ALL kids to be tested, just the ones who would need to self-isolate" so even he didn't get it. it is a massive ask. I'm worried schools won't reopen for the other years.

The only possible reasons for voting YABU are that you are the Boy Gav himself or you're a member of cabinet/benches and shit scared that you'll be next in line for the job.

stovetopespresso

The first message from gav was that close contacts would be tested.
Within days this has changed.

"It's like a constant episode of The Apprentice with all the really shit candidates."

We've been saying this in our house for months.

Except they can't be sacked and no-one ever does anything that you could say, 'well, that's pretty good given the time scale and budget'.

Schools don't have a budget for this, just like they don't have a budget or text books

We had an email from DS's school saying those getting tested in the first week will be given a time when to come in for their test. How do you think that will be managed from a transport point of view? DS is in Y11 so will be in full time anyway.

I know lets chronically underfund schools and the nhs for a decade leaving them understaffed and barely fit for purpose and then blame them when an international pandemic occurs and they can't magically spin and pivot at the drop of every stupidly incompetent whim hat.

Fuck off Gavin. Go get some work experience, maybe in a school.

Time to post my favourite Gavin Williamson Youtube clip:

Does anyone remember this line?
"I think the Headmaster is a marvellous man and this is the best school I've ever been to".

I think the YABU voters have been hypnotised. There is no other explanation.

@Hercwasonasnowball

I saw mention of £78 million being magically available for staffing costs now...

It’s probably just your existing staffing costs budget knowing this government.

It’s actually quite impressive that he’s managed to achieve this level of hatred while actually doing nothing. At least Gove earnt his hatred.

I have to admit I struggle to remember a more incapable education minister than the present incumbent.
However I do have to ask the question why it is he is so useless, when he has a multitude of civil servants to advise, who one would hope were at least capable of understanding the reality of the situation. For me the answer seems to be that the reality is that they are just being told what to do by the enclave of so-called experts around the PM. It is clear that the senior leaders in the unions, headteacher associations and governance organisations have a more practical voice but their voice is being ignored.

Could be worse. You could be landed with John Swinney.

Absolutely Lalliella

I’m sure I once read here that someone had a friend of a friend working in the DFE and they were just as frustrated and depressed as school leaders are!

Gav’s parents are staunch labour supporters. He went to the local comp. near where I live. They must be so disappointed.

Has someone got the link to the Public Accounts Committee interviewing Susan? Would be good to have it here.

I am not testing. No-one will make me stick a swab up a child's nose. I did one myself, just today. Sneezed violently three times after. Test centre staff wouldn't be exposed to that so I am FUCKED if I am.

What amazes me about him is that his wife is/was a teacher

Imagine how much worse he’d be without that? Scary prospect