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.

£22 per child to alleviate the effects of COVID. What a joke .

Why DO people vote Tory? Just why?

@noblegiraffe

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55749959

"The malware, which they said appeared to be contacting Russian servers, is believed to have been found on laptops given to a handful of schools. The Department for Education said it was aware and urgently investigating."

I blame the Computer Science teachers, Chloe. Or the lack of them.

They do not care one iota. Our children have been failed so badly..and continue to be failed.

@noblegiraffe

I blame the Computer Science teachers, Chloe. Or the lack of them.

Burn!

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

@loulouljh

They do not care one iota. Our children have been failed so badly..and continue to be failed.

Has been going on for years, not just tory governments either.

But it has been made far worse by Austerity and now Covid.

However, its now affecting the whole fabric of society, NHS/Dentistry Education, Transport, Adult Social Care, Roads, Council services.....

We keep voting tory because Labour would be worse? really.

*As for funding my friend is a bursar at local school an eyewatering amount of there budget is spent basically parenting the kids instead of educating them .

Not everything is the government fault*

Not sure whose fault that is then? Who has cut back the services in the community to support parents, thereby throwing virtually everything back to hard pressed schools? Hmmm... let me think.

[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]
So bang goes the extra time a lot of schools have planned on the Year 10s and 12s along with the Key Stage 3 year groups who have been patient because the school staff have had to do so much with the Year 11s and 13s.

Besides, plenty of Year 13s want to start their summer jobs to save for university or college and Year 11s have already had more time with their teachers than they would have had in other years, with not study leave (and in some cases more exams).

Amanda has no idea what has been going on in schools, does she?

How little our children count.

How little we fight for them.

Disgraceful of the Tories and of people in this country - after all 'we' voted for this.

We use the year 11 study leave to support the 40-50 most vulnerable year 11s who don’t get study leave at home. Those not doing that use the time to do primary visits to the most vulnerable to aid transition, we have 40 feeder primary schools to see.

@ArgyleIsle

How little our children count.

How little we fight for them.

Disgraceful of the Tories and of people in this country - after all 'we' voted for this.

92% of voters on a parenting forum going for ‘the government doesn’t give a shit about kids or schools’ is quite damning.

But where’s the outrage in real life? Why aren’t we demanding more? How can we demand more?

It isn't even mentioned on the BBC homepage other than under what the papers say

Yup; already yesterday's news. Literally.

@Thisisus909

On the issue of schools closing early, my children loved it when their school shut early on a Friday. Working parents could send in proof and there was a free club provided.

There is this constant assumption that parents want ‘more rigour, longer days etc’. We dont! We want our children to have a happy childhood and learn to read without it giving them a breakdown.

My daughter really really really hates secondary, and I can’t blame her. There’s no fun in it at the moment, the lunches, the science lessons, cooking, workshop. All out of bounds at the moment. All the good bits gone.

Frankly, half day fridays are the only thing she gets out of bed for.

But where’s the outrage in real life? Why aren’t we demanding more? How can we demand more?

I’ve written to my Labour MP twice now and not had a response to either letter. The opposition just isn’t fighting the corner. In fact, what are the opposition doing?!

[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]
This has made me furious. Does she think the schools are just using the time to have a party.

@noblegiraffe

Everything thats been suggested has been slated . Longer days ,working through holidays and private tutoring

Longer days has been 'slated' because 'let's extend the school day by half an hour' generates a shit-ton of questions, doesn't it? To do what? With who? And how will this help? Teachers, entirely reasonably, went 'if this is going to be dumped on teachers, we'd better be paid for it' - as would anyone who was being told to work an extra 2.5 hours a week. And the government has now kicked it into the long grass because they probably thought they could do it without spending any money.

Summer schools are happening. Private tutoring is also happening. Didn't you know?

The real problem I have with all of this is that schools have had their budgets slashed for years and are in a really bad way. Over the last decade we've had to make teachers and TAs redundant, reduce GCSE and A-level options, make class sizes bigger. I've also mentioned the critical shortage of qualified teachers in subjects like maths, physics, computing, MFL. I've been posting about this on MN for years. SEN budgets have been cut to the bone. Mental health services have been cut to the bone. Most recently they have cut funding for the most disadvantaged children during a pandemic.

We don't need 'catch-up funding', we need proper funding. What is the point in taking a kid out to do a few hours of maths tutoring when they then go back to a massive maths class which has a different non-maths supply teacher every week?
What is the point of some catch-up funding to engage them in the arts when the school cut Art GCSE years ago due to lack of funding? (Not that the government is funding the art catch-up which is one of the reasons Sir Kevan resigned).
What is the point in offering after-school tutoring to a pupil who due to cuts in mental health and pastoral services can't even make it into school?
What about the child with SEN who doesn't need a longer school day, they need a TA in class to support them?

One thing that really made me angry was Gavin Williamson having the gall to say that schools should be forced to open for the full week, as some close early on a Friday and this is unacceptable. Do you know why they shut early, Gav? BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO STAY OPEN. Jess Phillips must be absolutely fuming, her boy has been out of school for years on a Friday afternoon due to school funding cuts, she has even left him on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street on a Friday to protest this, and now the government are suggesting that it's a problem with schools?

It's not a schools problem, it's a government problem. And it has been for over a decade.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Very well said.

At what point will they realise schools finish early one day a week as they can't afford ppa cover?

And so r get me started on sen - my da has sen and the system isn't even fit for purpose

You do realise that they're never going to sack Gavin Williamson. They're happy for him to take the blame for everything that is wrong with our education system. If they replaced him we would expect a new person to come in and do better. And that would cost money that they are not prepared to spend. He is basically a fatted calf!

This has made me furious. Does she think the schools are just using the time to have a party.

Probably been reading Mumsnet and all the accusations of teachers drinking in their gardens

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.

*92% of voters on a parenting forum going for ‘the government doesn’t give a shit about kids or schools’ is quite damning.

But where’s the outrage in real life? Why aren’t we demanding more? How can we demand more*

I don't know what the answer is, so frustrating that there just doesn't seem to be the interest. I think that about the academy system too, conversions of schools see a response from maybe two parents, yet when things go wrong SM is full of 'contact the LA and complain'.🤔

Maybe that is it, don't educate anyone well enough to understand and then as a government you can get away with anything you want. My own parents voted to rid their NE town of labour...'because they have left us with nothing, so many services cut' ...AAAAAHHHH!
Doesn't matter that I work for an LA and can explain the funding cuts from central Tory government and how they hit locally.

To those talking about the public continuing to vote Tory, the data reveals a different picture.

In the last few elections, more votes for given to left-wing parties than right-wing parties. Unfortunately the right is all aligned behind one party but the left are split into many different parties. Until there is a left "alliance", the one party right will continue to win.

Remember: more people didn't vote at all than voted for the current Government.

@ jasjas1973
@ loulouljh
“They do not care one iota. Our children have been failed so badly..and continue to be failed.”

“Has been going on for years, not just tory governments either.

But it has been made far worse by Austerity and now Covid.

However, its now affecting the whole fabric of society, NHS/Dentistry Education, Transport, Adult Social Care, Roads, Council services.....

We keep voting tory because Labour would be worse? really.”

————————

Agree with @ jasjas1973 and @ loulouljh above. We - the large majority in England who turn out to vote - vote Conservative because there is no real opposition not one that is ideal centre right (or possibly centre left) and that the unknown Labour offer is probably not as ideal as what we have and know. That being said it is political inertia for retaining the status quo of best of very bad voting options. I gathered popularity politics based on pretty much single issue of Brexit (and vaccination) is all that counts as very very surprised former northern England red wall have switched presumably because although they are in economically challenging localities they still believe in leaving the EU above all other considerations despite the lack of community infrastructure and services support including education. However that said I do not understand what the current Labour Party offer but surprised the third party (Liberal Democrats) has disappeared off the radar as most go all in on blue. Vaccination is world beating but everything else - not so much! If only there was a new centre party to challenge the current status quo and carte blanche literally getting away with murder (political manslaughter). The only positive from pandemic shortened in person school days is that there is marginally less Covid incubation and transmission time especially as the previous superficial Covid risk mitigation measures have been removed too. The medical data should support whether Covid is spreading around certain unvaccinated age groups which correlates to schooling age with the ever more contagious Indian Delta variants etc.

Thank you for your thread noblegiraffe. It’s is truly outrageous how this government have just passed the buck to teachers this year. I have one in the GCSE year and one in the A-level year and there’s so much inconsistency between how different subjects in the same school are being graded, let alone between schools.

BUT HOW IS GAVIN WILLIAMSON STILL IN THAT JOB??? I just have no words..,