What's going to happen to state education?

[user380968]

Just received an email from my child primary school about budget cuts and asking to make posters and put them in social media on Thursday. Is this really going to help? Last year we had some protest and went on tv; I guess politicians just ignore them.

Is state education likely to disappear in the UK in the future? It is very sad, teachers haven't had increases for awhile, etc, etc. What's going to happen to our children future? The gap between rich and poor will get bigger and bigger; Is this country going backwards? Education and health are the most important things for a country future in my opinion.

I have 2 friends state school teachers and their kids are going private for secondary school; my conclusion is that they know the challlengest state schools face better than anyone; they did however got involved massively in trying to make their children state primaries better and helping with findings.

What's going to happen with this country?

Funding not findings; silly autocorrector

This is my opinion for whats it worth.
The government right or wrongly (I'm not going into that) wishes to save money because it has a very large deficit in it finances and is borrowing billions every year. Health is the largest part of its budget and is a ticking time bomb with our every increasing elderly population, education isn't cheap either. So it looks at how money can be saved. Paying schools fees month in month out year in year out is totally outside of the reach of most parents, as the average salary in the UK is 25k a year, employers can't contribute to the cost of feea and there no insurance you can take out say when you 21 to cover the fees when you have children so I genuinely don't think state education will "disappear" I think there will be more cuts and maybe small value vouchers to encourage those who can pay or who nearly pay but who currently aren't to jump ship but I don't believe it will go.
But paying private health insurance to cover all non emergency non life threatening procedures where the NHS make no money in fact looses money; hernia, hips, etc etc is affordable especially if you make companies offer it in the same way as contributing to a pension is now offered. I suspect that in 5 years time we will all be invited to pay into a private health scheme by our employers in the event that we need non urgent non life threatening treatment and if we don't either because we don't want too or we don't have sufficient funds, or a job then your GP will have to make a case for why you should have your hernia done or your shoulder operated on for free by the NHS and if he cant your stuffed and you'll have to live with it.
I agree raise taxes but ring fence it the NHS is going to have to be the priority, stop fighting ridiculous unwinable wars, how much is being spent sin this Brexit thing?
Anyway this wont happen so basically state education will continue to decline and the NHS will collapse.

I personally think that in the long run AI may be involved in teaching

I think your last paragraph say it; state education will continue to decline and I also think that parents will be required to make more contributions so may slowly disappears.

I think you are also right about the NHS sadly.

There's free education in all developed countries (actually I don't know of any countries in the world that don't offer it). Tories have been in power for ages so they squeeze every last penny out of state education and healthcare. When Labour gets in, they'll increase the spending but potentially run up more debts. Then Tories will start tightening the belt again. It's the same cycle that has been going on forever.

I do think state education will eventually disappear. With the advances in AI and tech, there will be fewer and fewer jobs, especially in the lower and middle sectors.

So in future we won't need a skilled and educated workforce. Therefore why waste money on state funded education.

I think state education is like splitting one tin of beans between a family of ten. Yes you can eat but it’s not nearly enough to sustain life.

My eldest is School refusing and I don’t see anyone giving a real shined shit about that. I want to remove him from state now I have seen my younger boys are treated as real individuals in non state specialist schools.

Unfortunately not everyone is in this postion and I’m fairly certain my dd will not be in state secondary either.

I’m not well off and I don’t own my home either but everything is stretched to thin unless your child is a good self starter and proactive. If you have some of Sen like all of my kids it just destroys them. That’s just my POV

Any country that does not provide universal education is not civilised.

It is a question of what education might look like - for example the materials might be made available and taught by a remote teacher so the cost of providing an actual school by the government might go down

virtual classroom with large number of students

The number of children in the Western world is stable / falling

Investing properly in skills education is an essential part of a civilised society.

Countries that do not value education deserve to fail.

If the UK massively reduced the number of young people running up unrepayable loans on bogroll degrees
and diverted those funds to under 16 education
and made employers cough up for vocational training directly
decent, full state schooling is affordable

Virtual classroom won't work as worker bees can't keep working (and paying tax) if they have to look after the children. Unless they are local 'hubs'.

Schools will have to be academies as council support is slowly phased out, all that recent protesting just borrowed time for schools to do it themselves not be forced. I live in an area where academies are popping up in office blocks in business and trading estates. I can see the land redeveloped and the schools being an afterthought to that development. I can also see school hours changing to more business hours sold as a way to help with 'childcare costs' keeping those worker bees working. I also see childrens mental health going down the pan further.

I am so sad the way education is now, the concentration on maths and english with disregard to all the other subjects is awful (science, geography, language etc etc). It gives little preparation to life outside school or an interest. If your parents have the time money and inclination they can feed into any interest and supplement your education to a certain degree but its not the well rounded education they should be getting. I don't quite know what jobs they are being set up for or how they are allowed to explore their individual talents.

"The number of children in the Western world is stable / falling"
and the number of non tax paying expensive elderly is rising. UK plc desperately needs highly skilled income generating young people to prop up the elderly expensive non tax payers.

talking my DH provides vocational training, as do a lot of his friends in various 'trades'. They are really really struggling to get any apprentices, no one seems to want to do it. To a point where actually he doesn't see a future for his business and a lot of his friends are the same. I wonder if schools aren't pushing trades as an option anymore.

cakeofthepan
I wonder if schools aren't pushing trades as an option anymore.
Of course they are not.
All of the pressure from government is on EBACC and Progress8 and Attainment8
so the fact that City & Guilds qualifications set kidss up to stable income for life (and stop us having to import workers year after year)
schools will not push kids to do subjects that push them down the league tables

instead more and more stuff is done with degrees
finances with loans to the holiday funds of Vice Chancellors
that students will never earn enough to repay

Once degrees return to being for the narrow academic 15-20%
and HNDs come back in for another 15%
and jobs at 18 with day release become an accepted career pathway again
there will be more young people earning and paying taxes
and less loans being written off

Virtual classroom won't work as worker bees can't keep working (and paying tax) if they have to look after the children. Unless they are local 'hubs'.

I think that is exactly the issue - many jobs will go with robots and AI

But there may well be local hubs

My dil attended a 3 room schoolhouse and STEM subjects were all online learning. She grew up in a very isolated rural community.

There will still be state education, but as the budget is squeezed, so the quality will deteriorate. So schools are cramming another class of 30 children into the same space and doing away with expensive subjects like domestic science and tech. You can get another 30 children in when all the cookers and tech equipment has been removed. This has happened at dd's school.

I agree with TalkinPeece that civilised countries should provide education, but would go further and say education makes a country civilised. As state education deteriorates, it may give those who can afford private education a wider competitive edge, but the society in which they live will not be a happy one.

Tax payments by the rich and by large companies could easily close the budget gap, but the loophole of off shoring profits has remained open for decades and will continue for the foreseeable future. There is the money to provide education and healthcare for everyone, but it will mean lower spec yachts for the super rich if everyone has to pay the right level of tax.

A new Education Secretary will come in and cap class sizes to 24. They will also limit teacher contact time to 4 hrs of teaching a day so all taught time can maximise outcomes and so teachers have time to do intervention with all individuals and groups who need it. They will open thousands more specialist units so exceptional needs can be catered for by really knowledgeable staff. They will bring in a range of respected qualifications for KS4 and 5 so ALL pupils can engage in curricula that are relevant to them and maximise their life chances.

Oh and they will ban schools from publishing their results and make Ofsted an internal process of checks and balances.

@lowdorinthewal1
Nice idea.
Which Chancellor will announce the 3p increase in basic rate income tax to pay for that lot ?
It won't be a Tory one.

Lord Cuckoo. Watch this space.

I wouldn’t want internal checks and balances. The crap schools would remain crap as they have no incentive to improve. They wouldn’t even know they are bad! Before ofsted schools were deluded and parents were in the dark!

Getting the right teachers means that state schools can flourish. It’s not all about money.

Happygardening is spot on. We need everyone to work at the right level and be productive and pay tax. It’s not just the elderly who pay less tax. Plenty of younger people don’t pay much either.

I saw it suggested recently that the retired should not be exempt from NI. Call it a ringfenced NHS tax and we might be getting more money in from those who use the services most so the burden isn’t on the younger members of society.

I see more & more students in my local area failed by state schools, leaving at 16 for college with no self confidence/high levels of depression etc. All the time the curriculum is narrowing this will only get worse! As a music teacher I see my job totally disappearing in the next 5 years - I may end up setting up a home studio, but only those with enough money will be able to use it & I can't survive on shirt buttons so will have to charge the going rate however much I want to be able to teach anyone that wants lessons! I don't understand what the current curriculum is trying to achieve.

And yet research out today shows that selective and private schools give no true academic advantage over state comps

The solution is incredibly simple.
It involves the end of ideological austerity and proper funding of schools, hospitals, social services and essential public bodies.

However the Tories will never do it
and the Labour leadership have no real ideas at all.
And Brexit will make it worse no matter what.

Time for a revolution methinks