Caemeron's comment on impending White Paper on Public Service Reform

[moondog]

Very encouraging I thought.

I think you missed the irony in my post Lego.

I don't konw what you have been reading about free schools to make you think that. What a curious opinion. How did you form it?

"ensuring fair funding, ensuring fair competition, and ensuring that everyone ? regardless of wealth ? gets fair access. "

having removed targets and indicators, how are they going to ensure these things? Best guess? stick a pin in a spreadsheet?

The inequalities gap is going to become a chasm

I don;t think there is anything wrong with 'targets and indicators' per se. However i do know that within the public sector there is much emphasis on chasing targets for the sake of it and massaging of figures to ensure that 'targets arte met'.

Not that this will disappear ever of course.

National indicators are going
Targets are a dirty word

TARGETS
ooh aren't I naughty :o

completely agree that chasing targets for the sake of it is wrong. But I wonder how thye plan to close the gap (if in fact they do ) without any evidence.

The main emphasis in the NHS and Education is on evidence based practice these days which shifts matters somewhat.

Now, instead of proudly trumpetting about having seen, say 12 patients a day, you'll need to start showing that what you did for them actually worked.

It sounds insane but this has actually been the least important consideration for many years.

Having a service is not the same as offering a service that works (see earlier comments re state schools versus free ones. If free schools are shite they will close. If state schools are shite, they generally stay that way.)