Would you be prepared to pay more tax to get better state education for all?

[happygardening]

Any other suggestions welcome to ensure that all where ever they live and whatever their background have access to education of the highest quality.

Some people also demand more from the nhs due to life style choices. but people who put considerable strain on resources are what matters. No one does anything about prevention.
People like me who cost the Nhs virtually nothing are constantly penalised.

Also "choice" (as in the ridiculous NHS system that offered my a "choice" of being treated for my minor eye op in Rotherham or Cheltenham in 2 weeks, but not at home in Merseyside for 12 weeks) is a total red herring and distraction from the real issues relating to equality of access to decent education.

(disclaimer: I think, like my mother, I am becoming a communist as I age)

RussianontheSpree. Can't see anywhere in my post I said that.

Bonsoir - it might make it better, or it might not. Money alone is never the solution to anything. But money can often be part of the solution.

Vivienne its the logical corollary of what you said. You only want to cater for the middle of the range. No pesky outliers will be considered in your brave new world.

I think you better find somebody cleverer than me to argue with RussiansontheSpree. 'Logical Corollary'???

Extra money often enables people to do things without thinking very hard about whether those things are useful and productive...

I wouldn't mind to pay a bit more tax for education, health service and other public services, as long as the money is spend wisely on specific things, rather than being thrown in a big pot and wasted.

What seems to be achieving results in private schools is smaller class sizes, and I it would be nice if DC had textbooks as I had to take home. It doesn't mean that they need to follow it by the letter but it would be easier to study at home and parents would know what DC are doing at school.

I have no idea what my DS (only Y3) does and hardly ever see exercise books - this makes it hard to support him and chat about what he did in school

Bonsoir oh very yes. Hence my rider when I was giving my own answer that I wouldn't want to pay more taxes to the current incumbents since I have no confidence they won't continue to piss them up the wall. :)

I am clearly in the minority as I believe that we should have more selective education (based on ability). I would like more grammar schools and more specialist schools set up to provide pastoral care and specialist support to those children with additional learning needs/home support. Mainstream schools will then pick up the children in the middle.

I agree that faith schools should not have government funding and if a particular parent wants a religious based eductaion for their child then they should pay for it.

I accept also that private schools should have their charitable status removed. Both my children will be privately educated

It's only the logical corollary if you think that the outliers need to be in separate schools. Which I don't think most people do, do they?

Seeker I suggest you read the first line of my 11:41:30 post for the answer to your question.

Seeker I do though. I think that certain types of SEN condition (other than being super bright) need to be in schools which fit certain criteria and which can cope with them, and not all mainstream schools can do that (DSs school for example would be torment to DD1).

Having 3 kids that are 2e really does focus the mind on these issues, you know. :( There are currently a variety of issues going on with all 3 of them and I can just see how much easier life would be for them if they weren't outliers on so many different planes. Since I've been extremely sick with whooping cough and pleurisy for the last two weeks I am lacking my usual energy to deal with this shit and I'm feeling a bit.....defeated.

Yes, I think most people think that the outliers need to be in separate schools. Here in France the outliers end up in psychiatric hospitals and there is a whole industry devoted to trying to "manage" the "problems" of outliers, including psychotherapy to reconcile DCs to being outliers in a system designed for the middle...

Or maybe I am not in the minority

Interesting that some people say that private schools should be abolished.

If that happened, the 7% or so of children in the independent sector will move to the state sector. To fund that will require an increase in taxes way beyond what is needed to improve state education under the current landscape.

I cannot wait to not have to pay for private education because apparently with more taxes, I can get a better state schooling not. There is no way the increase in taxes will be greater than the amount I currently shell out for school fees for 2. In fact, I might be tempted to pop a few more out for England since I can get free schooling for them out of the same taxes I pay.

Woohoo!

Some people think that others shouldn't be allowed to purchase anything that they themselves cannot afford... abolish private schools, tax "the rich" to death to prevent them buying big houses, cars and holidays...

Err are you off your rocker OP? We already pay half our money to the government. Every single child has the opportunity to learn in this country why on earth plow more money into education when half the population are not interested in learning anyway?

In theory, yes. But:

Olga:
"However much tax we pay, there will always be familes who simply don't give a toss about education. You could throw money at schools all you like, and it would never solve that problem."

Spending money on schools isn't the main thing. Early intervention and/or breaking the cycle of ignorant and disruptive families would make the main difference, and I don't know how far you could go with that.

I am a net contributor at the moment and I do want to see evidence that the money the state currently collects is spent well.

I am unconvinced by comprehensive education because it failed both me and my brother. I am academically inclined and the school didn't differentiate enough (with the notable exception of a very good maths teacher). My elder brother is very practical and he came out with poor qualifications which didn't do justice to his practical abilities. Its a family joke that if something goes wrong my brother will have taken it apart and fixed it in the time it takes me to read the instruction manual. I have always assumed that DB and I are equally intelligent and able but that our abilities lie in different areas. The school didn't enable either of us to achieve our potential.

Yes and yes I am a higher rate tax payer.

I have lived in NL where the marginal rate of tax I paid was 52%. Services were generally excellent. The local primary school my DCs attended was well funded and there was also a lot of parent power. There are private schools in the Netherlands but IME most of these were international or foreign language school (eg British School in Den Haag). There is a kind of national pragmatism which meant why pay for something twice!

The idea that funding decisions are going to be pushed down to schools does rather scare me as the head of my younger DCs' school is an incompetent loon.

Well, one thing seems quite apparent - Michael Gove is not interested in the education of people who aren't academically inclined.

As for schools being free to make more funding decisions - the reality is, they are still dictated to by OFSTED, targets and government whims, so have to put their money where the official national targets are, it's just that they can now take even more of the blame if the money doesn't meet the requirements of the targets set, which are all set to meet a tiresome bog standard. Basically, whilst Henry Ford said of his Ford Model T that you could have any colour as long as it was black, in state education, you can have any colour of uniform so long as the child wearing it conforms to a national statistic.

No. But maybe for nursery from 1yo

Throwing more money at schools won't work.

Yes, I want smaller class sizes. But I also want choice rather than a lottery. Being able to choose a school where kids work hard and know how to behave. AND where the school is allowed to throw out those who misbehave.

Too many times, the problem starts at home...