This government still doesn't give a shit about schools or your kids

[noblegiraffe]

I've posted before about this government's catalogue of failure when it comes to our children and schools and unfortunately it's still going on.

Sir Kevan Collins, the government- appointed schools catch-up tsar has just resigned over their complete failure to accept his recommendations and their pitiful offer of a programme worth only one tenth of what he said would be necessary to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on children's education. www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57335558

Holland are spending £2500 per child for their catch-up programme, the US £1600. How much do you think the Tories value our children? It works out at £50 per head, and some of the proposed 1.4 billion is going on teacher training rather than tutoring initiatives so won't have an impact for years.

For the much vaunted national tutoring programme, have the government hired experts to provide this? No, according to Sam Freedman, former education advisor to Michael Gove "The DfE have also ballsed up the procurement of the National Tutoring Programme by scoring quality too low vs price so it's going to be run by a Dutch outsourcing firm called Randstad. They undercut all the orgs who actually understanding tutoring. So a lot of the high quality UK charities and organisations providing support to the tutoring programme will now likely pull out. Proper shitshow."

At the same time they have been cladding new and refurbished schools in Grenfell-style cladding www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/30/dozens-of-new-school-buildings-in-england-have-combustible-insulation, and have rejected calls from fire safety experts to install sprinklers in new school buildings. www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57335558

In January, Johnson unexpectedly announced the cancellation of exams for Y11 and Y13. There was no plan for what would replace them and the buck was passed to Ofqual. By March, Ofqual admitted that they had no idea what to do, and so it fell to teachers and individual schools to set, mark and grade GCSEs and A-levels - tasks normally done by exam boards who are still charging exam entry fees this year for doing what appears to be very little. Scotland is paying teachers £400 each for this extra work, England is, of course, paying nothing. Parents are reportedly already gearing up to appeal teacher assessed grades while the government dodges the blame for the impending fiasco.

As I have posted about before, the government have cut Pupil Premium funding by millions, so in practical terms the most disadvantaged children now receive less per pupil than in previous years when there wasn't a pandemic. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4227538-See-how-much-the-government-has-just-cut-free-school-meal-funding-by-in-your-area

And on top of everything else...GAVIN WILLIAMSON IS STILL ED SEC. It's inexplicable, he is widely regarded as completely useless and yet while others involved in education resign around him, he gets to keep his job.

YABU: This government really cares about education and children

YANBU: This government do not give a shit. Not just incompetence, they really don't care.

@Skysblue

Where I’m puzzled is this.

DD is at a state primary. Every week they show her a total of at least 3hrs of TV during lesson time, either as a ‘treat’ or because of staffing issues. She finds it deadly boring as they pick crap like Trolls / Horrid Henry that she has no interest in. She has to sit at her desk when its on.

I don’t want or need a longer day, or catch up tutoring, but I would bloody love it if teachers were banned from showing TV and gad to actually teach all of the lessons. If the teachers run out of energy (totally understandable!!) the kids would be better off running around the playground where at least she’d be exercising and using her imagination.

So basically your daughter’s school does not have enough money to cover PPA. TV use is a budget fudge.

@noblegiraffe I do know that. But to herald the Daily Mail as some sort of saviour because they did a fundraiser for some laptops is laughable.

One of my fondest memories of school is trooping to the magical TV room to watch telly! I never appreciated at the time that is was to give the worn out teachers 30 mins peace and quiet in a darkened room!

Trouble is , kids are generally dismissive of tastes these days (and have a short attention span!) and want what they want on TV/DVD whereas we just lapped up whatever!

I don’t want or need a longer day, or catch up tutoring, but I would bloody love it if teachers were banned from showing TV and gad to actually teach all of the lessons

Indeed. And to get rid of all these damned “educational programmes” that have sold themselves into schools and are frankly utterly useless.

DD, in P7, has also spent a vast amount of time doing “visualisation” which is basically colouring in. Her teacher told her they weren’t doing spelling this year as she had no time to teach it and they have more important things to learn.

One of my fondest memories of school is trooping to the magical TV room to watch telly

That was once a week at most, though. It happens way more than that now.

I'm not convinced! I think it was at least three mornings a week. We also had really long breaks, massive long lunch hours and almost endless play opportunities and lots of reading for pleasure.

The local education job market is about the most active I’ve ever seen it. Several jobs in the kind of schools that have zero staff turnover. Must have been 30 TA posts advertised since Easter when you normally see a couple in July and nothing else. And that’s in a very deprived area who’s main industry has been hit by covid. School staff have had enough.

@Piggywaspushed

I'm not convinced! I think it was at least three mornings a week. We also had really long breaks, massive long lunch hours and almost endless play opportunities and lots of reading for pleasure.

My memories of primary school (I’m 42 so talking the 80s) were full of watching ‘Geordie Racer” on the big TV for my English lessons (bloody loved it and was always fascinated in what a ‘stottie’ was) and playing. A lot. I had a very happy schooling despite growing up in an area of massive poverty. I was fed. Teachers were kind. I would have my school trips paid for (wouldn’t have gone on trips otherwise). I loved school, probably why I ended up being a teacher. I was the poor kid but clever. Thankfully to Blair (who became PM when I was 18) I got to go to Uni for free and had a grant. I like to think I make a massive contribution to society and it’s all thanks to the help my family had when I was a child. Social mobility can only happen if we help to fund it.

Hope this doesn’t seem like a woe is me post. As the ‘poor kid’ I’m very passionate about social equality.

Schools don't pay millions to Tory Party funds, or offer plum directorships to retiring Ministers.
So why should schools get money from the Government?

@motherrunner
We made stotties at school after watching geordie racer!!

I know this may not have escaped many minds but in the very good always “outstanding” state primary schools the gap between the best independent fee paying and these so called outstanding state primaries have widened since the pandemic. Many of us in said best paid for state schools are doing our upmost outside school to top up the tuition and overall learning. In other words we rely on the teachers to introduce the basics and then at home we fill in the details or take it to the next deeper learning level. This will hopefully mean the children don’t fall behind educationally. You do get the odd child in class who don’t get maximum weekly English language spelling tests correct or the mathematics up to normal high levels as you tend to find among peers in the best few paying local independent primaries. The pandemic has made this task more challenging and more involved at home. This is in addition to blended remote working at home too. Pre pandemic many of these better sought after oversubscribed state primaries were classic state to eight numbers but how it is hard work as one tend to get better relative educational value for investment return via the independent pay as you learn route. I believe the current government is by stealth going for blended public services with private education playing an increasing role as public schooling system is systematically allowed to perform with less state resources. This reflects Conservative ideology more than you may imagine!

[quote MintyMabel]@noblegiraffe I do know that. But to herald the Daily Mail as some sort of saviour because they did a fundraiser for some laptops is laughable.[/quote]
Oh no that wasn’t my point. My point was even the Daily Mail admitted that the govt was doing a shit job with schools and that something needed to be done.

@Skysblue

Where I’m puzzled is this.

DD is at a state primary. Every week they show her a total of at least 3hrs of TV during lesson time, either as a ‘treat’ or because of staffing issues. She finds it deadly boring as they pick crap like Trolls / Horrid Henry that she has no interest in. She has to sit at her desk when its on.

I don’t want or need a longer day, or catch up tutoring, but I would bloody love it if teachers were banned from showing TV and gad to actually teach all of the lessons. If the teachers run out of energy (totally understandable!!) the kids would be better off running around the playground where at least she’d be exercising and using her imagination.

Staffing issues don't mean the staff have 'run out of energy'. There must be real issues with funding that means they have to resort to this.

For what it's worth, my class watch some TV after lunch as they wait for their slot on the playground (due to Covid) and I am on my lunch break. They also watch a bit before home a couple of times a day as we have a staggered finish to the day (due to Covid) and I can't dismiss individual children and teach the class at the same time.

Speak to the school and share your concerns but it absolutely won't be because the staff have run out of energy.

*a couple of times a week.

@motherrunner, I think you might actually be me. I loved Geordie Racer! And Badger Girl!

@sherrystrull I was just thinking that I put Numberblocks on for 10 minutes before lunch, while the children wash their hands. It is the only time I get to listen to the children read and change their books. I am in a year 1 class and we share a TA with the other class, it is difficult.

Of course they dont care. It's great for them - leave the masses uneducated and let the elite continue to crush them.

Why did anybody expect anything different.

We spent a whole day binge watching geordie racer while the teachers sorted the classroom on the last day of term in year 3. Being Southern I didn't understand a word and came home telling my parents I had been learning French!

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

That’s great that your able to plug that gap. But alot of parents simply aren’t able to at home, even if they wanted to.
I didn’t and don’t have a clue how to teach phonics, and my interference is only going to be detrimental to the schools.
Let alone the stuff my daughters doing at secondary.
I consider myself a switched on involved parent, but I’m no teacher.

@Clavinova

Tes - April 2021;

Teacher training applicants soar by 17% in 2020.

Recruitment goals at secondary level were exceeded for the first time since 2012-13.

So there has been a significantly smaller increase in the number of applications to teacher training courses than university based courses on agriculture.
Hardly something to be excited about I would have thought.

@GladAllOver

Schools don't pay millions to Tory Party funds, or offer plum directorships to retiring Ministers. So why should schools get money from the Government?

I so wish you weren't right, but sadly you are.

I feel sorry for that poor school showing tv programmes every week. They’ve clearly been royally shafted by reduced funding year on year and now can’t cover PPA.

My class only avoid watching any tv at all because I eat bites of a roll standing up while handing out/tidying away lunches and supervising them eat thanks to covid bubble lunch systems. If I had an actual lunch break, they’d have no choice but to watch tv because there’d be no one to supervise them and I’d have to keep them calm somehow.

@StaffRepFeistyClub

Just make sure seat belts are fastened for results day! Watch Gav and the DfE blame schools for the shit show of their own creation

It seems there may be some awareness of what is to come in Scotland.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-57346742

[quote DuncinToffee]More facepalm

Schools should not send exam-year pupils home early, says Ofsted Head
www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/03/schools-should-not-send-exam-year-pupils-home-early-says-ofsted-head[/quote]
I'm sure that the Ofsted Head has a marvelous suggestion as to who should be doing all the extra work teachers have done this term as a result of the exams being cancelled, so teachers can continue to teach.

Actually decent write-up of the response to this shitshow in the Daily Mail.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9647581/Tories-warn-Boris-Johnson-money-sofa-catch-education-plan.html

"Boris Johnson is facing a Tory revolt against his 'half-hearted' schools catch-up plans today after his education tsar quit in disgust at a lack of funding.

Education Committee chairman Robert Halfon and former immigration minister Caroline Nokes were among those who urged the Prime Minister to look again at funding to help children left behind by pandemic-induced school closures.

They spoke out after Sir Kevan Collins resigned following the announcement of a £1.4billion package - a tenth of the cash he said was needed.

Sir Kevan said he had 'no option' but to quit as he accused the Prime Minister of taking a 'half-hearted approach' that risks failing hundreds of thousands of children.

Sir Kevan Collins claimed Mr Johnson rejected his proposals for a £15billion package to provide pupils with extra time and teaching to catch up on lost education due to successive lockdowns over the next three years.

Mr Halfon, the chairman of the Commons Education Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Of course there are funding constraints but the Treasury announced over £16 billion extra for defence only last year, we've got £800 million being spent on a new research agency, £200 million being spent on a yacht.
'So where there is the political will, the Treasury can find the money from the back of the sofa, and there has to be that political will because we need a long-term plan for education, a proper funding settlement.'