Zoomchat with Bridget Phillipson - Thursday 28th September 11-12

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Hi all,

We’re pleased to announce a Zoomchat with Shadow Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson this Thursday from 11am-12pm. You can book your place now by registering for free here.

Bridget has been the Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010. In April 2020 she joined the Shadow Cabinet under Keir Starmer as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, before being appointed Shadow Education Secretary in November 2021.

Please post your questions below ahead of the chat. Please note that we will be closing the thread on Thursday morning so please ensure you have posted your questions before then. If there is time, there may also be an opportunity to ask additional questions live.

If you join the Zoomchat, your camera will be turned off by default. Your screen name might be visible, so consider whether you’re happy to use your RL name or want to use your MN posting name or something else entirely. The Zoomchat will be recorded so you can catch up if you’re unable to attend on the day.

Please stick to the usual guidelines - one question per user, keep it civil, and if one topic is dominating, please don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point (we'll be deleting questions that are repeated multiple times). We'll be limited for time so do keep questions as short as possible so that we’re able to ask more of them - as always, we'll try to make sure we cover the topics that we know are important to Mumsnet users.

Thanks,
MNHQ.

Hi Bridget, thanks for doing this.

Based on your bio, I think you have professional experience of women in domestic violence. What do you think needs to happen in society to best support these women, and how will a Labour government help here.

My question is: What are you going to do to help schools protect girls from sexual harassment and sexual assault at school?

Will your party fund school buses for children going to sixth form college?

Post 16 education is compulsory but our nearest 6th form is actually over 10 miles from our village. My daughter has to catch two buses, the first at 6.40am to get into college for 9am. She spends 5 hours a day travelling because there is no direct bus and it costs £8 a day. It's unaffordable and exhausting and could be solved with a dedicated school bus. I expect this is replicated across the country.

I would be prosecuted if she didn't go and this college is her only and nearest option.

Do you support suspensions or expulsions, or other forms of discipline, regardless of whether they have a disproportionate impact on minority students?

I mean in a situation where there is no good evidence that minority students are being treated unfairly, and given harsher punishments.

How are you going to compensate those children whose education was ruined by COVID and lockdowns?

Hi Bridget - what do you think about the idea of rebranding "childcare" as "early education"? It's always seemed crazy to me that during some of the most formative years of a child's life, we don't prioritise making sure they're given the developmental guidance and education they need to flourish. We pay the people who work in that sector pittance, give them no real status in society and yet we know that not getting it right for kids, especially those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, during those years causes major problems in later years. Wouldn't we actually end up saving the State money later down the line if we properly invested in early years education and stopped calling it childcare?

I would like to know what Labour plan to do about pay and working conditions in schools.

Today - amongst other tasks - I have carried out various SEN interventions with over a dozen children, prepped all of the books, worksheets and resources for the days lessons, provided ongoing/across the day emotional support to multiple children, done literacy pre-teaching and maths pre-teaching with small groups requiring additional support in these areas, marked all the maths, marked all the literacy, and listened to 35 readers.

In the space of the last week, I have also had a ceramic pot of pens thrown at my head, been spat on twice, had a door kicked into me hard enough to bruise, had my hands slapped to prevent me reaching for the "safety phone", been told to "go die", had a child falsely report I was "screaming" at them (thankfully there were witnesses to confirm I was doing no such thing), had a child deliberately soil themselves in protest, had to feed four children who had not been fed at home, and had to complete half a dozen safeguarding reports.

This month I've also had to complete mandatory online training at home in my own time because there is no free time in the workday to do so, attend four after-school staff meetings (unpaid), and four before-school staff meetings (also unpaid) which lengthen my workday by up to 2-3 hours.

I'm a professionally qualified LSA and for dealing with all of this I am paid just £15,300 a year.

Why does our pay not reflect the workload and level of responsibility involved in the role and why are we so undervalued given that our work is essential to the school's ability to operate?

I am also interested in this, what would Labour do differently for those children who have SEND and who cannot find a suitable placement either due to inadequate placements to meet need or inadequate number of places.

I would also like to know how you would hold Local Authorities to account that break the law with regard to the EHCP process, going months over the mandatory time frames that the law allows.

Hello Bridget, given the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, what steps would Labour take to keep more experienced (and more expensive) teachers in the profession?

Many teachers are leaving the profession due to onerous reporting, a lack of support from management, and a lack of funding for provisions. What do you plan to do about this?

In an advancing economy we need more scientists and engineers, and our children need to be more employable.

Would you consider funding STEM degrees? How else would you encourage our children to study the "right" subjects?

have you read this information about safeguarding in schools from Sexmatters

https://sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Keeping-children-safe.pdf

Bridget. What is your position on teacher's pay? Did you support calls for fully funded pay rises in line with inflation? Do you think we will continue to attract skilled professionals into teaching without an attractive pay award?

I would like to know Labour's plans for faith schools (C of E and Catholic) and whether they agree to state school places being allocated on the basis on faith.
Personally I think that this should continue and that parents with the above faiths should continue to have this option within the state sector.

If Labour win the next General Election, will you actually listen to the thousands of experienced teachers and support staff about what WE want to happen in education?

Education think tanks and working parties are always made up of "gurus" and CEOs who have either never or not recently taught full-time in a classroom. The workforce who are actually working directly with children and young people day in day out, through all the budget cuts and reduction of support services and poor retention and academisation, are never asked to be part of these groups.

Can you promise that you will live up to your name of "Labour" and consult the on the ground working staff rather than people with hefty salaries who mainly sit in offices and attend meetings?!

Hello,

We need a well trained and educated workforce. However, Further Education has been massively underfunded and neglected compared to schools. I would like to know when or if you have plans to address the teacher shortage in further education- currently the average teacher in FE gets paid about £8-9K less than a school teacher! Why is this? Will the Labour Party help to address this imbalance?

In your view, should any person or party unable to articulate what a woman is, and do that accurately and honestly, expect to be chosen to run a country?

I’m a teacher and I’m considering leaving due to how things are currently. We’re battling poor behaviour, with no support other than being told to keep even the most difficult children in school. Being sworn at and verbally abused daily. Then on top of this, we have insanely high targets that we are judged in and have lost faith in the exams system after this round of gcses being so poorly marked, possibly because of the desperation for examiners. Some of our exam papers went up by two grades when we requested re-marks. What are your plans to retain teachers?

Currently, the progress in schools is measured by the progress students make between year 6 and year 11, but the year 6 teachers are able to mark their own students whereas in year 11 the GCSE’s are invigilators and externally marked. Do you think this is a fair way to measure progress? Should external markers and invigilators not be used in order to create a balanced system?

Hi Bridget. What are your plans to encourage more teachers in STEM subjects, when they can earn more than double a typical teaching salary in industry, even at entry level? Thank you.

How would you ensure that higher education is properly funded?

Hi Bridget - would Labour plan to stop the creation of new schools that select by religion? I am fervently in favour of religious freedom of expression but do not understand why segregating children by religion is desirable. (Although many church schools have an obligation to take a proportion of non-affiliated pupils,the oversubscribed schools seem to ignore this.)

Do you think it’s acceptable for schools / teachers in schools to socially transition children (by changing name and pronouns) in secret without consulting the child’s parents?

Dear Bridget,
Why are the few allowed to completely ruin the Education of the other students?
Constant disruption, no respect for others, disgusting language, violence .
It is so unfair. Most people only get one chance at education.

hells bells this is important.