Webchat with Tristram Hunt, Labour education shadow, MONDAY 27 April at 12 midday

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce that the first of our (three!) politics webchats this week will be with Tristram Hunt, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Labour candidate for Stoke-on-Trent Central.

As Shadow Education Secretary, Tristram has been been involved in policy issues ranging from teachers’ qualifications, free schools, and partnerships between state and private schools, to vocational education and leadership in education. He also got into a spot of bother concerning nuns when on BBC Question Time recently.

Tristram is also a history lecturer at Queen Mary University London, and has published several books, as well as presenting TV programmes about the English Civil War and Isaac Newton.

Do join us on Monday 27 April at 12pm for a live webchat with Tristram or post your questions in advance on this thread. And please remember our usual webchat guidelines.

Thanks
MNHQ

I'm really interested to know whether Tristram thinks the endless testing of pupils from such a young age removes essential teaching time from teachers and causes too much pressure on young children?

Does he think putting pressures on 10 year olds to be excelling academically will end up making some children resent school rather than enjoying learning because exams are being forced on them at such a young age.

If it was up to you, would you abolish grammar schools? If not, why not?

Do you still think that parents who are involved in setting up free schools are 'Yummy Mummies', and would you agree that statement was incredibly sexist, patronising and ignorant given that many talented and committed parents, with or without professional qualifications, are already heavily relied on to run maintained schools and academies as unpaid governors?

he has a fine head of hair. Do you use product?

With primary school places just being announced, some parents are still waiting to find out which year of entry their summer born children will be starting in after requesting a start in reception at compulsory school age (With many being forced to take a reception place too soon, or a year 1 place they do not want.). How will you address the problem of the School Admissions Code being applied inconsistently by admission authorities nationally and the discrimination parents of summer born children face who wish for their child to start at the beginning of school at compulsory school age?

Why do you think that 40% of teachers leave the profession with in the first five years? How would you address the problem?

What will you do to address inequalities in school funding across the country? We live in one of the worst funded counties in England and our village school could employ at least two more experienced teachers if it was funded at the average rate per pupil.

Schools don't like having poor teachers on their staff. If they do, it's usually only because there's no alternative, either due to lack of funding or lack of availability of decent teachers.

Given that teachers are already regularly observed, have their results scrutinised, are Ofsteded and performance-managed to within an inch of their lives, what do you think a Teacher MOT will really achieve apart from cause even more good teachers to finally have enough of it all and leave the profession?

I should have a serious education question for TH but all I can thinnk is how much I resent him for his appalling act of sabotage on Sir Isaac Newton in the Greatest Britons poll. Never going to forgive him for that.

Everyone else presented a programme on why their chosen candidate was fabulous and interesting and should totally win. TH presented a programme focussed almost entirely on why Isaac Newton was a dysfunctional weirdo with more psychological and ethical issues than you could shake a stick at - and didn't even scratch the surface of an unparallelled catalogue of scientific achievement.

Nicky Morgan introduced a workload survey for teachers. Many responded but nothing has changed, what will you do to make teaching a better and more attractive career?

You said you'd sack unqualified teachers. Would you also sack the brokers paid extortionate sums of money to bully schools into academy status?

Were you ever tempted to train as a school teacher yourself?

Why when the conservatives have done such a thorough job of demoralising and alienating teachers, have the labour party not done more to show support for them?

Will you actually listen to the leading academics when putting together policies?

Will anything improve for teachers? I know so many who are leaving the profession, and those that are still in are trying very hard to find ways out!

Some academy chains are using our schools to make money for their individual board members www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-27238265 As a tax payer this is not where I want my money going? What are you doing to make sure this won't keep happening?

Hello, direct question: would the Council support paid third party professionals for extra curriculum activities at school, related with sports and physical education specifically Pilates for children in alignment with Change4live programmes?

Figures often quoted state that 40%-50% of teachers leave teaching within the first five years. However, the latest figures (from the Department of Education) show that 40% of teachers don't even complete their first year of teaching. Further figures suggest that there are 4,000 teachers leaving the profession per month. Are you going to listen to teachers seriously and consider removing/reforming Ofsted? We are currently struggling to recruit to our 'good' school. (1 applicant for Head of Maths, 2 for Head of Science etc). There is a huge recruitment/retention crisis and all we hear are empty promises about 'training more graduates' (who don't stay in the profession) and 'reducing workload' which is the opposite of what we are seeing. Please come and spend a day teaching with me to see the pressures we really face.

Tristram

Can you provide us with a definition of your ideological stance on education across age groups? What is your plan? Where do you see education and yourself in 5 years time? Are you prepared to be accountable for what you say to us today?

I have looked long and hard at training to be a teacher.

I have the right skills, useful career experience and love working with children but right now, with the pressure on teachers (I'm a governor so have seen behind the scenes), constant negativity from politicians, and a family of my own to look after, there's no way I'd sign up.

Teacher friends have said it's a different job to the one they sign up to and several good teachers I know have left the profession.

My question - what can you say to make me change my mind, or to my teacher friends who are thinking or leaving?

Do you think the current NC L4 (not sure what it will be under the new system) target for end KS2 SATs in Maths/ English/ Science is sufficiently rigorous?

I ask this because of a recent blog I read by Leading Learner (leadinglearner.me/2013/10/06/changing-flight-paths-and-interventions/) which pointed out that for those pupils arriving at secondary with NC L4 from KS2 the conversion to Grade C or better (old money) at GCSE was only 55% (with 45% failing to achieve that - based on 2012 data).

In particular Leading Learner's statement:

"We need to intervene in Year 7, to change a student’s flight path, by deliberately seeking to address issues and gaps in learning, for those students who entering the College at levels 3B, 3A & 4C. This can help redirect them towards a flight path to achieve a 6B at the end of Year 9. Maybe 6B should be renamed the new “Key Stage 4 Ready” level as the conversion from a 6B at the end of Key Stage 3 to at least a GCSE Grade C is very high."

...really caught my attention - and made me concerned that primaries telling parents Nc L4 is a 'good achievement' or 'a good standard' is being somewhat economic with the truth.

Given that teachers are already regularly observed, have their results scrutinised, are Ofsteded and performance-managed to within an inch of their lives, what do you think a Teacher MOT will really achieve apart from cause even more good teachers to finally have enough of it all and leave the profession?

Absolutely-what do you think the purpose of the MOT is? How will this change the current situation for the better.

Please please don't suggest it will encourage 'the brightest and the best' to enter teaching.

I want to vote labour but have one concern. I was a grammar school girl. DP went to grammar and 3 of 4 DC so far have gone to grammar schools. I just assumed No. 4 will too.
Will a Labour government keep or scrap grammar schools and will the funding for them increase, decrease or stay the same?