What does Nicky Morgan not seem to understand?

[theluckiest]

Nicky Morgan urges teachers' unions to 'do their bit' www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35899478

No Nicky, teaching is not wonderful at the moment. No, teachers are not just moaning yet again (because that's what we usually do, isn't it?). No, your constant interfering, moving of goalposts and unnecessary 'reforms' are not helping anyone. In fact, you are damaging education irreparably.

Here's an example: the 'more rigorous' testing that you insist all 11 year olds should be put through are actually damaging. They are demoralising teachers but much more importantly, they are seriously damaging children's mental health. Yes, really. The stress these children are being put under is unforgivable this year. As a school we are held to ransom because of these tests (let's be honest, tests that we teachers, parents and schools know are bullshit).

They feel like they have failed already because your 'rigour' is inappropriate, unnecessary and completely pointless. They despise learning this nonsense and I can't blame them. At a time of their lives when learning should be exciting, they are force-fed inaccurate, archaic grammar and given the message that their writing cannot be good enough if it doesn't have a semi-colon.

Sounds crazy doesn't it? Because it is. So forgive me if I don't "Use the tools available to them to build up teachers, promote the profession and tell the story of what a rewarding job teaching really is" at the moment. (how I laughed when I read that one!!)

And don't get me started on academisation....Nicky, take your fingers out of your ears and listen. Before it's too late.

But, if becoming an Academy is deemed to be the best way of raising standards in failing schools (and there's political agreement from both parties on that) then I can see the logic that all schools will improve that way.

But the evidence is that they don't raise standards in failing schools.

www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/10/ofsted-sir-michael-wilshaw-struggling-schools-academy-neglect

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief inspector, has hit out at a key plank of the government’s education policy, arguing that struggling schools are no better off in academy chains than under local authority control.

He is calling for an end to “sterile” debates over school structures and argues that “a new name and a breathless new motto” was all some schools received after exchanging local authority control for being governed by a chain of academies...

And the more recent:

www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/10/academy-chains-come-under-fire-from-ofsted-chief

"England’s largest academy chains have “serious weaknesses” as bad as the local authorities they were intended to replace, Sir Michael Wilshaw has told the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, in strong criticism of the government’s flagship school improvement programme."

Yes, something needs to be done about failing schools whoever is running them, but it is in no way obvious that forcing good and outstanding schools to become academies is good for anyone other than the CEOs of MATs.

So far we have seen some arguments for failing schools in LAs for converting to Academies, although there is no guarantee that being part of an academy will lead to their not failing in future.

IMO we have yet to see a single argument to justify the time and expense which will be incurred changing successful Local Authority schools into Academies. This is not to mention the gamble being taken with a significant number of children's education. It might work, it might not, is not a good basis on which to build an education policy.

Talking about academisation turning around failing schools I remembered this story of one of the worst schools in the country being turned around by academisation www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/how-has-the-city-academy-in-norwich-gone-from-struggling-school-to-class-act-6294568.html they did all the recommended stuff, including bringing in the military to inspire discipline.

From 6% A*-C to 40% sounded promising, so I thought I'd check out where it's at today.
www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=135904

The year after the 40% it dropped to 24% and hasn't gone over 30% since. So what do they do now??

Incidentally the latest Ofsted says that staff are leaving in droves. I'm not surprised.
reports.ofsted.gov.uk/index.php?q=filedownloading/&id=2490786&type=1&refer=0

noble

If we were actually having a consultation about this, rather than having it forced on schools whether it will improve them or not, we could discuss schools like this one.

We could ask Nicky Morgan what the government's plan is for schools that continue to underperform.

But it is like being stuck in one of those pyramid selling meetings. No matter what the truth is, the mantra will continue to be repeated until you lose the will to live.

bow

Interesting reading. The Bow group is a Tory think tank.

Interesting that a conservative think tank are saying that this is not a conservative policy, when pretty has been trying to argue that this policy is driven by ideology.

I did laugh at the photo of the Bow Group though

Yes, is it a menz group or did they just choose the best-looking ones for the photo?

noble. The Bow Group say it isn't in line with Conservative values, but actually acknowledge that it is Party ideology.

Is that what you got from the link, pretty?

Like the bit where it says '
Both George Osborne and Nicky Morgan need to explain why such a significant policy shift was left out of the 2015 Conservative Manifesto, and acknowledge that it marks a clear break with the Conservative Party’s previous commitment to localism.

This is not what the British public voted for, and I don't believe what either local authorities or schools want."'
?

Both George Osborne and Nicky Morgan need to explain why such a significant policy shift was left out of the 2015 Conservative Manifesto

That's what most of us would like to know!

Yes, I did get that from it.

The Bow Group are expressing concerns that the Party are moving away from localism - they are highlighting that the new ideology doesn't match with the old values.

"This adds to on an on-going ideological drift between the Party and conservative values."

Personally, I'm surprised it taken this long for the Bow Group to comment - Local Government has been under threat from this government for a while.
I disagree with the conclusion that it spells an end to localism - in my area, the budget cuts to the LA and NHS have been matched by central grant funding to third sector organisations at a local level - which are delivering similar services to those formally commissioned by the LA.

What are third sector organisations?

Ok, just googled it

It's largely oluntary and community groups (so churches and the like).

The Big Society in other words

Leaving things to voluntary groups is so hit and miss though. As a volunteer, if you get fed up, you can just walk away. If sufficient numbers do that the voluntary service collapses.

I remember when we had playgroups rather than school based nursery provision. The provision was patchy, and you didn't really know what you were getting.

The way it seems to work isn't like that here - volunteers enhance rather than run things.

Our local LA outsourced all the Youth Clubs - they're now run by a variety of different not-for-profit organisations but they all employ trained youth workers who work alongside volunteers who do specialist activities.
The LA will be cutting their funding to the groups next year but the groups can get money direct from various central government grants to carry on.

The way it seems to work isn't like that here - volunteers enhance rather than run things.

Yes, but you are still dependent on the goodwill of the volunteers. Our local Scouts and Guides have waiting lists, but the problem is getting sufficient adult volunteers to commit to help regularly. The same happens with a local pre-school - it's been threatened with closure a couple of times, because there aren't enough volunteers to serve on the committee.

Our youth clubs run with or without volunteers though - they had to prove to the Council they'd be viable without - the volunteers bring the 'extras' - sports coaching, craft activities etc.
None of them are 'stand alone' organisations though - they are all part of bigger 'voluntary' groups; a church, an education charity, a community centre.
They were all established and able to expand.

Similar has happened in Social Care sector. Local branches of organisations like Age UK being funded by the government to deliver home help and companionship services that were previously delivered by the LA and NHS. They use paid employees, not unpaid volunteers.

but the groups can get money direct from various central government grants to carry on. Hmm, I begin to wonder whether you live in the real world PrettyBright.

Having once been the Chair of a Playgroup, (more than 30 years ago), it can be an absolute pain chasing round for grants from this body and that, in order to finance day to day activities.

Or again, an example from now, a local scheme supports teenagers and young adults with problems. The Police are very happy with the service it provides because it keeps young people out of the courts and potentially away from a life of crime. Funding has been cut, paid staff have been made redundant; it's a constant battle for the organisation to find the money to support their work. Furthermore, they don't just need dribs and drabs - ideally they need to know how much funding they will have in the medium term e.g. five years, so that they can plan properly and offer paid work to suitably qualified staff. Sometimes jumble sales and cake sales just don't raise enough money.

I live in a fairly wealthy area too, so I dread to think how more impoverished areas manage.

I can only speak from my own experience, which is that local third sector (charities, CICs, community groups etc) are growing at a rate of knots because they have access to grants to deliver services that previously were being delivered through the LA.

These aren't 6 month pots of money that don't even cover general running costs - they are three/five year grants that allow them to lease premises, employ staff, and deliver to outcomes set out in the funding agreement. The Management/Leadership Team are on competitive salaries and the skilled professionals attract the market rate - often higher than the were earning in the LA.

It's been rapid and so far, effective - the people who ultimately use the services are saying how it's improved things.
Of course there was resistance when the LA/NHS initially stopped delivering services - concerns about the third sector not having the capacity, skills, longevity and the like. But it seems to be working.

And I can see the same model in the White Paper - the Government is handing over delivery of state education services to the not-for-profit sector, funded from the centre.

Where is this haven? We obviously don't have the same experiences then. Or my glasses aren't rosy tinted.

I am in Oxfordshire.

Does it not seem unnecessarily risky to move to this model, where you are reliant on suitable third sector organisations? What if some areas don't get what they need? How would that be dealt with? How do you check that organisations with a background agenda don't overstep the mark? It seems that you just have to hope that the right organisations will appear and provide the right services.

How do you check that organisations with a background agenda don't overstep the mark?

Good point, speak.

I refer families in crisis to the food bank and several of them have commented that it makes them feel uncomfortable when staff offer to pray for them when they go to collect their food. Numerous threads on here suggest that staff do this because they don't see the harm in it and it "comes from a good place".

Even suggesting the staff pray together for all clients after the food bank is shut is met with disbelief that anyone could possibly object.

Just had to google "CiCs" too.

Enough with the jargon already!

Do you mean organisations like Kids Company fireflies? Because we all know how well that went .....