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

[HotBothered]

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

Everything, everything is wrong with it.

Build more schools
Introduce a legal class size limit
Make all state schools non-denominational
Heavily fine local authorities/properly compensate families for clear cases of failing a child
Abolish uniforms
Introduce compulsory parent-school-child agreements to increase parental accountability
Streamline GCSE/A level system into a 16 year old leavers' exam or series, and an 18 year old leavers' exam and make it much easier for homeschoolers/kids failed by the system to sit said exam locally; the current arrangements are a mess and inaccessible for many

I could go on all day. So sad for my child what the British education system has done to her.

We need a separation end of year 9 into vocational and academic. We need to make vocational achievement as celebrated as academic. What we get is upper and lower sets and half the population doomed before they start when they may actually make a truly excellent carpenter, hairdresser, business owner etc etc. But set them up to fail and then you’re fighting a losing battle to get back into enjoying education and regaining confidence .

Hear hear, exactly this.

Shit parents must be held accountable.

Encouraging trades is really important. Here in Finland they split into academic or vocational high schools at 15/16, by which point most will know where their strengths lie, and the split is fairly even, with vocational being slightly more popular (but also possible to a double award in vocational schools and graduate from vocational school and matriculate at the same time) and there's always opportunities to go to either one later on in life too - vocational schools are always open for adult learners and there are various adult academic high schools or evening schools. So neither route is a dead end and both are popular choices not looked down on.

Too much pressure on teenagers to "perform" regards the exams.
If they can't cope with the pressure there is no help. I had to withdraw my son from his school as he was really struggling with the worry about his exams. Asked if he could just do the most important ones. School said its all or nothing.
School's should be more understanding of students needs and be more flexible with help

At my DDs school they have a (small) selection of Vocational subjects alongside GCSEs. Its working really well for my 15yo. She has dyslexia, but very smart. We werent sure how GCSEs would work out for her. As it is... it looks like she will get 8 GCSEs grades between 5 (English and literature) and 8 (Maths)... plus sit her BTEC early so will gave one subject out the way.

I think all schools should have to offer both simultaneouly. (Maybe with the exception of Super Selective type schools.... which all areas should have from 13+, not 11+)

Havent got enough time to tell you. Lots of emphasis on rights, no teaching of responsibilities. Designed to filter into the compliant, who will jump through silly hoops to get qualifications, and those who wont. BIG emphasis on compliance and virtually no attempt to teach any critical thinking - some claimed but not believable. Too tolerant of bad behaviour and bullying, including sexist, racist and homophobic bullying. Too much emphasis on academic performance - I've seen what can happen when educators value all children and its impressive.

For me, the biggest problem is that we've gradually reduced education to grades and exams.

Schools are under huge pressure to produce measurable results, but it means we spend less time developing the things that matter most in adult life: curiosity, judgement, resilience, communication, critical thinking, and the confidence to tackle problems nobody has taught you how to solve. The irony is that those are exactly the qualities employers now say they want, and they're the qualities AI can't easily replace.

Education should be about nurturing curiosity, courage and resilience; helping students discover what makes them tick, believe their future is full of possibility, and develop the confidence to pursue what genuinely excites them—not just preparing them to pass the next exam.

I don’t know what’s right with it TBH. Fortunately mine are 18+ now. The things I’ve seen over the years - I could write a series of books that would take me longer than the rest of my life.

@PivotPivotmakingmargaritascompletely agree. One of my children (yr4) is in a class of 30 with at least 10 sen children, he is just an invisible child. Not clever enough to just get on with his work, and not a sen child. Unfortunately for him hes just left and its not the teachers fault. Listening to the parents saying their kids cant read or write, (there's 2 in the class that parents are very vocal about this) and I wonder why they continuing in mainstream when its clearly not suited to their children.

I also agree with vocational and academic routes after year 9. Some kids just arent academic but we need those trades. My eldest would definitely of left but is instead stressing out over gcse grades, just to eventually go into a trade where only maths and English is needed. What a waste of time.

In Finland which uses a grade average system the tests can be designed by the teachers but it's very common to purchase tests from the publishers of the text books, so the school will order a set of textbooks for a subject and they will come with tests for each module, so standardised but not nationally (as different schools use different textbooks schemes)

I live in the home counties, and my daughter is going to school next term. My local council application allowed you to set a radius to your home postcode and list the schools.
There are 33 infant or combined (+ at least 5 independent) schools within 5 miles of my house. This is nuts.

Give every child 10 days annual leave a year, so that parents aren't teaching kids to lie to their teachers from the age of 5, we should be fostering good honest relationships and high levels of respect between teachers/ pupils/ families and the current absence policy achieves the opposite . We have this at my DD school in Wales. It works well. Allow head teachers to ring fence a certain number of weeks a year as unbookable to protect exam times/ important events. It also allows children from other religions the flexibility to honour their own religious calendar.

Simplify school uniform policies and enshrine this in law. My DD schools uniform policy is ...
"Light-blue polo shirt (to include the school's logo, if desired); Blue jumper (to include the school's logo, if desired); Black trousers/shorts or skirt; keep wellies in school for use in the outdoor area" That's it in it's entirety. Anything more is unnecessary fuss and expense, and frequently uncomfortable and impractical.

I'd be in favour of a move back to smaller primary schools, but i know this is a contentious issue, my DD is at a 2 class 60 pupil school, it is a small close knit community, the kids are all great at mixing across ages groups and supporting each other. I think rigidly separating kids into narrow age brackets from a really young age does nothing to support social development and is not reflective of wider society.
Obviously there are financial implications but smaller schools will often share a head teacher with another small school to reduce costs.

The invisible child breaks my heart- they are usually the sweetest ones who I want to help but I can’t get there!!

There are some parents who continue to parent they thought they would have not the child they have.

It’s so outdated … my daughter’s history curriculum is the same as mine from 1996!! Medicine through time … anyone else remember that?!

I would like to see academic learning starting later: reception should only be about social interaction, communication skills, motor skills, independence, collaboration and creativity. So many kids start school lacking these essential skills and totally unready for reading and writing.

At a secondary level, there needs to be more skills based (physical and mental) learning and fewer learn by rote facts.

Everything! I'm a teacher.
The curriculum is dated and not fit for today's job market. It is also much too narrow and test/ exam focused. All creativity is gone for both pupils and teachers.
Class sizes are too big, there are too few support staff and this coupled with high numbers of children with special needs is a disaster.
The pressure on head teachers to get results is passed onto teachers, who then have to put pressure on the children. This narrows the curriculum further as only test subjects (Englush and Maths at Primary) are deemed important.
We need an emphasis on critical and creative thinking. Children need to be taught how to use AI not how to cram facts.

@Periperi2025, how could every child having 2 weeks out of school work? Where in that curriculum, would you teach reading clocks or converting measures if kids are regularly off? I am sure it would be the parents who would be up in arms about their kids not having learnt a third of the stuff in SATS when they had periodically taken their kids out of school. Taking kids out of school for holidays to me is saying we don't value education.

As for tiny schools; so inefficient and lacking in specialist expertise! If you want schools to be smaller with smaller class sizes, you are going to have to pay a lot more tax to fund them, and I am sure you don't want that!

I imagine because getting a place in specialist provision is practically impossible.

Parents who don’t think it’s their responsibility to teach their children things at home. Deferring everything to schools. Children who do best are those whose parents are invested and teach them at home.

Parents who undermine schools and teachers. Whose children’s behaviour is not dealt with. These children disrupt learning for others.

A curriculum that demands all children are the same. That sees children who should be learning through play feel like academic failures before their counterparts in Norway have even started formal school. A curriculum that doesn’t doesn’t value anything but the core subjects. That sees children who don’t achieve well in English as failures.

Class sizes. Should be capped at 20 on primary.

Inclusion. Not all children learn in the same way. Having specialist schools with specialist practitioners was better.

Term time holidays are generally allowed where I am (at discretion of the head) but children are expected to keep up with missed work themselves (with parents help for younger children). I took DD away for two weeks, checked what they'd be covering during that time and made sure she did the work while on holiday. This takes away pressure from teachers while also taking away pressure from families that struggle to go away during school holidays or have special events to attend.

It's the parents . They need to make their children behave .

Schools are very, very child-unfriendly places for many children, especially secondary schools. How can we expect children to behave and perform at their best if they're constantly in a state of discomfort and sensory overload?

Many are hot, noisy, crowded, have harsh lighting and are sensorily overwhelming in many ways, while simultaneously lacking soothing sensory input like through airflow, quiet spaces and access to the natural environment. Uniforms are often made up of artificial fibres, inhibit natural movement and are very uncomfortable.

Why did anyone ever think it was a good idea to design new schools like traditional office blocks? Children are not office workers, many won't go on to work in offices and many offices are rethinking their layout and set-up to provide better working environments for their staff.

We are frying, stifling and deliberately stressing our children out, and then we're surprised that this manifests itself in behavioural problems? Completely bizarre.

No exams at 16. So much time wasted. If there are exams a much simpler grading e.g. pass, merit distinction. Separate at 14 or 15 into technical, vocational or academic streams or schools similar to UTC but with more variety. 11 is too young so scrap 11+. Exams or tests in functional English and maths when kids are ready and not at a set age. Appropriate assessment at other stages to allow progression e.g to university or apprenticeships. Broader education until 17 or 18. Focus on knowledge and skills rather than memory and rote learning.

It would require a radical rethink of transition ages and school infrastructure so it won't happen. University may need to be longer as some current A level knowledge could no longer be assumed. Could have advanced higher type of year as in Scotland.

Simple one would be to ditch pointless uniform rules. At 6th form where there is no set uniform most wear clothes they find comfortable e.g. jeans or shorts, t-shirt and hoodie.

Make more transport to sixth forms available. The journey times can be excessive and expensive here and limits choice.

Insufficient funding and support for disruptive and poorly behaved pupils

too little respect in our culture for experts which devalues education and make everyone think that teachers deserve disrespect