To not understand the negativity about schools in England

[Desperatefornachos]

I’m British but live abroad.
My Dd is in a school where we are (she’s 6)
I’m not impressed with any of the schools, I remember schools in England being nice when I was younger and watching a series on CBeebies (time for school) the facilities and way of teaching seems so fantastic in the Early years. I would love that for my Dd and it’s the one thing that’s making me question possibly returning home.

However, all I ever hear/read is how rubbish the schools/education system is in England..why??

I agree with this. For example, education in America appears to be poor for the most part. Lots of examples of UK children finding they are working 2-3 years ahead of their school year when they move there.

Wee do have state run g SEN schools my son goes to one and had always gone to one ,we have four in my LEA two primary and two secondary and also several autism hubs
But the provisions for SEN are very hit and miss across the UK.

Hot chocolate (whilst relaxing on the iPad) for the most disruptive pupils in the Head's office is really a thing, as a PP mentioned.

The most disruptive kids in my school were given 'special treatment' like this too. They were all invited to a pizza party at the end of each term if their behaviour improved. Thing is, none of them did actually improve their behaviour at all, in fact, it mostly got worse, but they were all still invited as long as on the day of the party they behaved well.

Imagine the effect that has on the hard working well behaved children. What message does that send?

Bad behaviour and poor SLT aside, it's the lack of funding and unmanageable workload due to constant pressure of Ofsted that breaks teachers and leads to a negative environment, the ripples of which are felt by all.

Underfunded, understaffed, constant changing goalposts and trends set by ofsted, poor behaviour from children and parents. We are the last service still standing and we are milked for everything we've got. The job is very different from what it used to be.

All of this

Schools are run in a way which counter to the culture we have more broadly and wildly differently from most parent's values. There is no an increasingly lack of respect for schools and school's for parents. Schools need a total change to become up to date but they also need to be freed from ofsted. We can't expect a modern, compassionate, inclusive schooling system when we keep paying teachers based on how well children perform on tests.

I'm abroad currently doing teacher training and actually the UK education system is used as a comparison of how not to do it...

In what sense? I've heard that other countries are astonished by our level of safeguarding.

We're also doing pretty well in the PISA stakes.

So what sort of thing are you talking about?

@LeafUsAlone In what way please and which country are you in?

I'm in a country where the pisa scores are higher than the UK.

Mostly the deprofessionalisation of teaching, behaviour issues and subsequent classroom management.

@LeafUsAlone Where?

Not quite right. Funding per pupil has actually increased year on year over the past few years.

The problem is inflation and costs. Teachers salaries have gone up (quite rightfully), electricity/gas have gone up (essential for schools!) so after paying for essentials there isn't much left.

I work in a school where most of us love our job.

Lots of new teachers don't stay long as the term time workload is often crazy. I work 4 days a week and when I've finished marking my Y11 exam papers I will have done 48 hours this week.

One huge change is behaviour - kids seem to be less disciplined and d9nt respect rules and boundaries. A lot of this is due to huge amounts of screen time instead of being parented, particularly during lockdown. These kids are a minority but do take up a LOT of resources. Suspending them pushes them back into the environment that caused the problem in the first place.

Overall I think most UK schools are fine.

Bollocks. The teachers on here are 'at the coal face' and have an understanding of what exactly is happening in education. That we care fed up, frustrated, angry, demotivated is not an indicator of us hating the job. Rather, it is knowing that children in the UK right now are not getting the quality of education we all expect.

Not quite right. Funding per pupil has actually increased year on year over the past few years.

Per pupil funding levels have been below 2010 levels since 2010 due to austerity and only returned to that 2010 level last year (or this?). Anyway, it has had a devastating effect on schools.

My youngest is in her final year of sixth form and I've been happy with their schools. (Secondary is a Comp.) Their teachers have been pretty nice and dedicated. My dds have been happy and done well.