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.

I quite liked this headline from Sky News too, it firmly puts the blame on the right department.

Why is Gav touring the news shows defending this pitiful amount when it is his remit to get what is needed for schools?

@Piggywaspushed

Yup; already yesterday's news. Literally.

And it seems this is yesterday’s thread.

So they’ll get away with it again.

What they've done is send Ofsted out with a blame the teachers for the year 11's having finished school shock horror story.

Ignoring the fact last years cohort finished with 2 days notice in March.

Usually year 11's finish at May half term and just go in for any exams they have the next 2 weeks.

They're making it sound like schools are chucking them out onto broken glass for 3 months.

Well they don't want to fund schools properly so they can't really expect a service above and beyond what they are willing to fund - which ain't even enough for the basics!

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.

Unfortunately the bubble system means that in every school I know, there are many, many times when children can't use the playground, there is nowhere for children to move around and play (because of the window dressing that is forward facing desks in primary) and there is one lunchtime supervisor to cover 2 adjacent classes. It would be good to hear your thoughts on what to do at this point.

Agreed...so what do we do about it? Who is organising the protests?

@Barbie222

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.

Unfortunately the bubble system means that in every school I know, there are many, many times when children can't use the playground, there is nowhere for children to move around and play (because of the window dressing that is forward facing desks in primary) and there is one lunchtime supervisor to cover 2 adjacent classes. It would be good to hear your thoughts on what to do at this point.

Yep. We have a 15 min slot in the morning, 30 mins at lunch and that's it! It's used in the afternoons for outdoor pe sessions. There's no flexibility. If you miss your slot that's it.

@BraveBraveMouse

Agreed...so what do we do about it? Who is organising the protests?

Can't be teachers, the public bloody hate us. It's got to be parents.

So much has just been ignored and we’ve had to move on because covid has just thrown shit after shit.
Cummings eye test for example. It was news for a few weeks, we are still angry but the news has had to move on, more deaths, more variants.
It never gets resolved, tories get away with it.

Schools is the same, yesterday’s school outrage is replaced with holiday outrage.

Normal times the outrage would continue. But this time, so much shit is happening.

Good to have a government that banks on cocking things up so regularly that they get away with it all.

My son is at school in France. First two years of primary, class sizes are capped at 12 in disadvantaged areas. It works really well. Where there’s a will there’s a way.

Depressing analysis of Sir Kevan's resignation here www.tes.com/news/covid-catch-up-schools-sir-kevan-collins-funding-will-schools-take-hit-sir-kevans-departure

Schools have not only lost billions of pounds and the flexibility to spend it, but also someone who actually had the interests of children at heart and access to the PM.

Labour are going to force a vote on the woeful school catch-up funding. They'll lose, but I guess at least it will keep it in the news? www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/05/labour-plans-to-embarrass-government-with-vote-on-pupil-catch-up-plan

Thsi si sloppy bollocks form The Guardian, thouhg

Amid suggestions that education secretary Gavin Williamson had been fighting for a significantly greater catch-up package within government, his department published an analysis on Friday that showed that much of the past decade’s progress towards reducing the attainment gap for disadvantaged children could have been lost during the pandemic.

Covid is quite convenient for the government because they can blame it for this disadvantage gap. It had already considerably widened in the two to three years pre covid and DfE insiders said the dept's whole focus had been moving away from the disadvantage gap, as if it bored them.

I like the suggestion that Useless Gav has been fighting for more funding amid rumours that he is going to be reshuffled. We all know he's been doing fuck-all, and then going on the media tour to say that 1.4 billion 'sounds like a lot to him'.

@noblegiraffe

I like the suggestion that Useless Gav has been fighting for more funding amid rumours that he is going to be reshuffled. We all know he's been doing fuck-all, and then going on the media tour to say that 1.4 billion 'sounds like a lot to him'.

I expect he has been very busy whipping his spider, or whatever he does with it.

What the UK thinks about education is encapsulated in the threads on Harrys kid and this one.

No one fucking cares :(

YANBU

Gav has decided that the real problem in education is that schools have shortened their lunchtimes to 30 minutes and some finish early.

It doesn't seem to occur to him that this is due to Tory school budget cuts. Half hour lunch = fewer lunchtime supervisors needed and earlier finish to the school day - turn the lights and heating off earlier.

What a wanker.

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/07/williamson-attacks-schools-amid-criticism-of-education-catch-up-plan

He's the worst kind of joke.

YANBU it's an utter shitshow and It is very depressing.

Gav the Muppet will be around until results. He will not know when Results Days occur as that is when he takes more holiday. However, someone has got to answer the grade inflation/deflation and it may as well be him.

Clearly, he has not been into a large secondary school having limited facilities to feed 1200 plus students with pasta pots or some hideous non-descript sandwiches in half an hour. He is an absolute fool. The odd trip to a standard state school does not make him a 'man-of-the-people'.

He is a stain on our education system.

"We've done everything possible to protect education' lies Nick Gibb as he forgets that they gave no funding for mitigation measures in schools, didn't even pay for hand sanitiser, let alone improving ventilation.

And now they want to skimp on catching up from the fall-out of their poor decision-making www.tes.com/news/nick-gibb-covid-catch-up-schools-weve-done-all-possible-protect-education

Conservative MP and former teacher Jonathan Gullis told MPs that shortening the school holiday from six weeks to four would save an average family £266

What’s that got to do with catch up?!

@Appuskidu

Conservative MP and former teacher Jonathan Gullis told MPs that shortening the school holiday from six weeks to four would save an average family £266

What’s that got to do with catch up?!

Well it is as clear a statement as one is likely to get as to the purpose of state schools in the minds of Tory MPs.

To provide childcare so that parents can go out to work.

@Appuskidu

Conservative MP and former teacher Jonathan Gullis told MPs that shortening the school holiday from six weeks to four would save an average family £266

What’s that got to do with catch up?!

Back to work plebs !!!! They really don’t care about education do they.