What in your opinion is wrong with our education system..?

[HotBothered]

And what would you like to see done to correct it?

Before I wax lyrical about the Scottish system I assume your question was actually about the English system?

Mixed ability teaching, dangerous students in mainstream schools.

I would like to see a massive overhaul of the exam system, and the reminder that "you don't fatten a pig by weighing it". This also applies to the constant 'measuring of progress" of schools themselves.

I would totally rescind Michael fucking Gove's alterations - GCSE's should not be a test of who can memorise the most, or of 'powering through'. As a pp states, needing to learn by heart a stupid number of poems when 1 is chosen, is a huge barrier to a huge number of kids. I took my GCSE's 30 years ago, but remember having the poetry anthology/set texts annotated and available. If you are testing skills then this makes sense. If all you want to know is who can remember and regurgitating then carry on. I would much prefer a modular system, which was what we had 20 - 25 years ago (certainly i remember this at A level). Allowing Allowing Functional Skills to help those who it would benefit most would also be sensible, as would a return to more vocational subjects. I know so many teens who did Level 2 and 3 Health and Social care/Childcare and it was a perfect fit for them. Primary school kids have no need of the things he put in either. I had neverbheard of fronted adverbial or similar til my dcs did it. By all means, teach grammar but at a level it is needed (apostrophe usage should definitely stay!). Same with tables - yes they are much needed, but do we really need national tests on them at them at age 8/9?

Get rid of insane uniform rules. My youngest is still at primary, and wears a sweat shirt, polo shirt and trousers/skirt. Why can't there be something similar at secondary, rather than them bring trusted up like a Christmas turkey.

There is so much more but I can feel steam emanating from my ears already

A lack of discipline. Too much screen time. Change these around and it’ll be better IMO.

@HotBothered we do not have an education system.
We have four different ones.
They have differing curricula, they have different teaching standards, they have different values and priorities, they have different assessment arrangements.

So the question is about one education system - I assume England as anyone in NI, Wales and Scotland would not be so daft as to understand this. Perhaps the OP needs some better education about what a union of nations and devolved authority means...

People saying about GPA- would these tests still be standardised or would they be designed in house?

I know nothing about the scot system, other than the Scottish kids get free uni which I don't personally think is fair.

I know it's impossible (or at least impractical) but we need more schools. Loads more much smaller much more local schools. And, therefore of course, many many many more teachers. Small schools that are local would mean teachers knowing their students much better and less stress because of small classes. And many of the new schools could be geared towards children with different learning needs, so SEN schools and technical schools for those who are less academic or have behavioural problems.

It might be easier to recruit teachers if they knew they would be teaching small classes and easier for the students themselves, and those who have a tendency to disrupt classes would have alternative provision more suited to them.

The fact that around 1/3 of kids don't get the prescribed pass of a grade 4 in maths and /or English means thst are being failed for years.
There needs to be a total overhaul of learning for those with more vocational and practical skills.

But, the system also fails the brightest.

By basically attempting to make a one size fits all, they have managed to make a one size fits practically noone.

Split schooling from secondary age - academic achievers in one school, vocational skills achievers in another, and SEN school for those who aren't suited to either of them. Curriculums focused to suit the type of school. Not everyone needs to go to uni, and that's not a bad thing - I think there's plenty tradies who make more than I do (structural engineer) so it's certainly not the be all and end all. Having schools with a mix of book smart kids, not book smart kids, and kids with SEN doesn't help anyone. There's no point sitting exams you know you'll fail when you could be learning skills to give you a start in a good career within your talents.

IMO parents should be teaching the life skills you mention.
The biggest single transformation would be an expectation that kids behave properly and treat peers and adults respectfully being reinforced by parents. If there was less disruption they’d get through the work faster and have more time for creative subjects. Schools would not need to be ‘draconian’ if the pupils weren’t disruptive, and they’d be much nicer for everyone. More alternative provision for those with severe SEND. Tougher consequences for those that disrupt others. A split into grammars and vocational schools. I hate the idea that because some students and their families don’t value education we should dumb down the curriculum for those that do. The problem with teacher assessments is that they are very unreliable and thus very unfair - see the massive grade inflation with ‘TAGs’ during Covid.

It's ok, I pay £2.4k more income tax than I would south of the border, plus my house move cost 40% more in the equivalent of stamp duty.
So while our children benefit from no uni fees, we do pay for it through taxes.

At Primary level the curriculum is far too large. Inclusion needs to be better funded and there needs to be more of an understanding that it is not always the right environment for every child. Schools also need more freedom to deal properly with poor behaviour to ensure the learning of everyone else isn't affected.

Oh and get rid of Ofsted, it is useless and doesn't help schools improve.

The one size fits all needs to go. The constant testing and rigid curriculum needs to go. School should be there to nurture children’s innate love of learning not destroy it with repetitious exercises and determination to turn them into little robots. More creativity, celebrate individualism and less structured.

Year 4 times tables test?

Yes it's the MTC, it's been around a while and yes it is a silly test. They do need times tables for a lot of the maths from y4 onwards, but the test itself is not helpful.

I wasn't taught much after the first couple years of primary school.
Just busywork then exams for the last few years of secondary.

Mainly the parents

In England the curriculum is too big, fast and young apart from that I think primary is pretty good..

At secondary I think the curriculum works best for the 50% who are heading towards higher education but its really crap for the other 50%.

I a tuslly think a middle school system would help like prep school followed by 4 years at your next school doing gcses/a levels or equivalents.

I dont think we need send them to totally different schools based on vocstion or academics.. people could mix snd match vocational and gcses and build more of a portfolio. Id possibly even scrap the concept of a gcse and just hsve certicates, awards and diplomas at level 1, 2 and 3 and the expectation you'd come out with a certain number of points from those for certain jobs/universities courses..

I completely support the idea of going over to USA-style continuous assessment for age up to 16 but I want to keep A-Levels. Most 15 year olds know which subjects they can't stand anymore and are desperate to drop their less-preferred subjects and specialise in something they love for 6th form after having completed a basic grounding across a general spread of subjects up to y11. It would be horrible to keep having to do a spread of general subjects for another too years without being able to specialise. Obviously a spread of post-16 options including less academic routes and no objection to there existing a 6th-form option that continues to be more general (might be just the IB programme) but A-Levels are what is needed for proper university preparation.

The biggest problem with education is that it is trying to do too much with too little resource. If schools were able to adapt learning contexts to children's needs then fewer children would be falling through the gaps. However the whole structure is built on the premise that schools must warehouse children during standard hours in units of classes of 30, and any learning outcomes that can't be achieved in that context are missed. If a child cannot learn in that context then if they have a parent or other advocate who is well educated, resourceful, determined and relentless then they may eventually get access to a more suitable learning environment after years of fighting and years of missed education. If they don't have someone fighting for them like that, they are just allowed to fail.

More vocational/trades quals at high schools.

There should be more selective schools and more focus on vocational training.

I think one of the biggest mistakes we've made is pretending university is the right answer for everyone. We've also moved away from recognising that children have different abilities and learn in different ways.
Personally, I'd bring back more selective grammar schools for academically able children. How does putting 3,000 children in one comprehensive help anyone? It's harder to stretch the brightest pupils, harder to support those who are struggling, and it creates huge, impersonal schools where it's easy for children to get lost.

At the same time, we need to stop treating university as the default. Too many young people end up with £50k of debt for degrees that don't improve their career prospects, while we're crying out for skilled tradespeople. Apprenticeships and vocational training should be promoted as equally valuable, not as a consolation prize.

Not everyone needs to follow the same path. The education system should help children find the one that's right for them.

The issue with the American system is the scope for corruption with weekly/monthly submissions. Whether a teacher likes you or not, your work style or not could hugely change your grade and exam boards wouldn’t have the breadth to check all the time.

Also people saying kids don’t learn in the afternoon, need more vocational quals etc and more sports - this wasn’t my experience at all. That would limit the academic kids. Maybe we needed to go back to streaming like in the past - vocational schools vs grammar style?

I agree with @disappointedlamathat trades need to be seen as an aspiration not a consolation. The money is excellent but a truly excellent intelligent tradesman is worth his weight in gold. They make incredible work whereas some boys who joined the trades because it’s all they could get really let down their professions and can’t even seem to count the right number of tiles.