Director of Education privately educates their children

[Thattennis]

Recently I met our local councils director of education through a social event. He has 2 children who are primary aged and I know these children are privately educated and his wife also works at this private school. I do know he has worked within several of the schools in our council and he does have a good reputation if a little under experienced/young. His children would have started school after he took on the role.

However something about the director of education choosing to privately educate his own children doesn’t fully sit well with me. If he is supposed to be championing the system for our children then it reads bad to me that he doesn’t even believe in the system enough to place his own children in it? Our council area is massively mixed with some wealthier areas but also an abundance of council estates and economically deprived rural areas. The entire council only has one private school and it’s not particularly large.

AIBU to feel a little uncomfortable that the director of education doesn’t believe in the schools he is responsible for enough to place his own children in them?

I don't think you know what hypocrisy means or what the director of education role is. And your local Councillor would think you were batshit to be raising this with them.

I think sadly it tells us all we need to know about the state education sector that someone who knows it inside out is paying through the nose not to have his children in it.

And would it tell us all we needed to know about the private school in question if a teacher at the school wasn’t sending her children there, despite the substantial discount for staff children?

He might recognise the schools are currently not giving children what they should and want to work to change that so that all children can have the same quality of experience as children at private schools.

He is also a parent that wants the best he can provide his children.

It does give the message the state schools aren’t good enough for him but doesn’t mean he’s not really working at changing that.

He's probably not paying through the nose though. His wife is a teacher. They probably have a substantial staff discount.

I agree with this. We looked at a private school and the headteacher had his kids as a local state school. Made me think it wasn’t worth paying for as they clearly didn’t! 😂

Firstly, he is an officer of the Council and therefore must have no public political affiliations, so if this does not fit with the prevailing view of the Council, it does not matter. Secondly free choice, it is up to him and his partner how they educate their children, And thirdly, it is none of your business, nor indeed mine, how they choose to spend their money.

It stirkes me as rather more honest than Tony and Cherie sending their DC to Brompton Oratory.

Shall we shut down mumsnet on those grounds?

i get that it might seem as if he should be demonstrating his faith in the public sector schools. Before you condemn him for it, however. I’d expect you to be able to point to one privilege that you could provide for your own children, but you choose not to provide, on a matter of principle

Perhaps that gives you some pause for thoughts about why his family might make the choices they are making.

How someone chooses to educate their children is fuck all to do with their ability to do their job. And no business of a councillor to interfere in their private life. Many councillors also privately educatedtheir children - should that also be banned? As this man's wife works in the school, she likely gets a hefty fees discount, and by using those places, they are not taking places in the state sector.

Actually I think it would be- I came across this when looking at independent schools and the senior leader had sent their kids to a state school. I decided against the school as it suggested a lack of confidence.

All incredible schools that people move to be near..........

So you don't have an issue with this?

Same. I found it weird.

Perhaps even with staff discount they simply could not afford it.

Well, quite. But various PPs are conveniently ignoring that the children have two parents with equal say and similar job related reasons to pick particular educations!

Assuming fees are £15k per child even with say a 50% staff discount that is £15K out of net/taxed income they would need to find for 2 kids. I think people are forgetting that. They simply may not be able to afford it in the same way many people can't and hence don't send their kids private even though they may wish to.

To use your analogy of the chef, if they were forced to work in a place that didn't follow safety rules/had terrible staff etc, they probably wouldn't advise their family to eat there. Just like a lot of NHS staff have said they wouldn't want their family treated in an NHS hospital-even if you're a brilliant chief doctor, you can't change everything, you can only do your best-and if there's an alternative that is much better for your family, you might well use it.
Like many parents who use state schools, I'm in awe of some of the brilliant and hard-working teachers, but I can't say my children are getting the experience that rich ones get.

We know state schools are holding pens for wild animals and anyone with any choice would choose private. What I can't believe is the number of people here defending this man, "oh, what if they were bullied' etc etc, so what, plenty of other kids have to suck it up and don't get to opt out

I have a friend who works in international development where he helps ensure children in sub Saharan Africa have clean drinking water. Meanwhile his own children have all the clean drinking water they could possibly want, and orange juice too! What a hypocrite 😏

Obviously I don’t know these people, but one of the reasons that I chose DD’s (independent) school was that they had great extra curricular activities. Many of these, if you are local enough to be able to join them, take place in the morning; the results is that many of the staff have to be in school really early in order to start running their various clubs/activities at 7.30. The morning traffic is awful in our area so God only knows what time they have to set off if they live outside town. I also often pick DD up from activities at 6pm, so all the teachers running those clubs presumably won’t get back to their own local areas through the town centre traffic until maybe 7 or so.

If the mum’s in that position, and the dad’s in a senior role also working long hours, it’s quite possible that there’s no breakfast club opening early enough or after school club opening late enough at their local state school for them to make it work, even if they’d wanted to. And yes, other people have to make it work and find childminders and ask grandparents and rely on friends and…. etc, etc. But those people are often feeling frazzled and burnt out and falling out with grandparents over childcare and paying a fortune for the precarious patchwork of wrap around care that they have managed to cobble together - if they’re lucky. Sometimes they’re not lucky, and their jobs are at risk.

So can’t we give this family a break? They quite possibly just want the mum to keep her job - something we’d all want to do. Why should she be forced into a massively stressful childcare juggle / risk getting into trouble at work when they have another solution, just so that her husband can look good?

That's entirely wrong. Many small private schools are perfect for kids with ND who just need quieter, calmer, more flexible systems. They are not all fiercely academic hothouses.

No I know some are. But I also know this one isn’t, what I’m saying is this particular school has an awful reputation when it comes to supporting children with additional needs.

As it stands, we have private schools in this country. And as it stands, they provide a FAR superior standard of education compared to state schools.

Classes that are often a third of the size and more diverse subjects that often just aren't available at state schools - certain languages, musical instruments, specific sports etc.

Due to years of underinvestment and poor working conditions for teachers, our state education system is currently an utter shitshow. There may be some schools around the country that are doing better than others, but even the best state schools don't compare to private schools as they simply don't have the same resources. Look at all the threads we see on MN where there aren't even teachers for exam year classes, they're being taught by generic TAs!

We have amazing teachers and TAs in our state schools who are providing support to a wide range of children, many of whom need more specialist SEN environments but are dumped in mainstream instead. Huge classes, not enough staff, and a regulatory body that changes their mind with the wind about what it expects. No wonder so many teachers are quitting.

I have no issue with any parent who wants the best for their child - and for many, that might be private schools. Interestingly, not every child is better off in private schools, many are absolutely appalling for SEN and are disinterested in children who struggle academically.

Until our state system can offer an education that rivals what's available privately, I've got no issue at all with the existence of private schools nor the parents who use them. It's not a race to the bottom. And frankly, the more people that use private schools, the better, as it means the very meagre resources in state schools stretch further.

I am a million miles from ever being able to afford private school and my DC have very significant SEN, so it wouldn't be for us. But if you can afford a better education for your child then I bear you no ill will at all. Our children all deserve the best education possible, and it's good for the future of our country. I'd obviously prefer it if ALL our children could enjoy the very best education but we are such a very long way from that right now.

The director of education role is actually very little about holding schools to account, especially as more and more schools are academies so the Council duties are around ensuring provision of sufficient places, support via the quality assurance and support process and then things like school transport, attendance and exclusions, provision of Day 7 education after permanent exclusion and then EHCP as well as section 19 provision and oversight of EHE. They also provide LADO for investigation of harm by school staff. By statute they also have to coordinate the transition rounds for reception (middle school if the area has a tripartite system) and then Year 7. Where the LA has community and voluntary control schools they also have to provide an appeals service but this comes under a different directorate usually. Councils can't investigate complaints about schools and have very little power over them even if they are community schools and not academy/voluntary aided/free schools. The old role of the LEA doesn't exist and hasn't got well over a decade