Have you (school staff) been happy with Education policy under this government?

[fedup21]

Have the changes/budget cuts affected how you intend to vote next month?

I’ve only ever voted Labour or Lib Dem so am probably what -my parents!- you would call a lefty and wouldn’t vote Conservative anyway, but I was wondering if you were pretty happy with how things are in schools/your job and how that would affect your vote? Or is your vote based more about other issues (Brexit?) than the education/NHS etc

I agree with all that. But behaviour has got worse ime. I have been at it longer than you and to me the halcyon days were Major and Blair. Brown I liked. But under each government there was at least one deeply damaging idea. I miss AS and banker after the days of less accountability and greater freedom of choice. And coursework. Proper coursework. Not the CA . Although I liked some of the CA topics.

I know a lot of people don’t like the super strict approach a lot of academies have, but it really does work. My current school isn’t super strict though bur I’m leaving soon.

I started teaching in 2003. I personally didn’t like teaching in Blair’s government but it’s hard to say whether I found behaviour awful as I was obviously an inexperienced teacher or whether it was tolerated.

Coursework was a headache - getting the kids to take it seriously and re doing it and the MARKING!

I’ve worked in a school and would never vote Tory.

I’m not worried about the labour plans for private schools and the perceived burden on state schools. They’re not going to shut these schools - they’ll still exist. The idea was to change their status but this isn’t even actually in their manifesto as they’re not available yet?

At the end of the day, the Tories have shown no inclination to invest in education at all. Their supposed increase is only because an election is coming.

Same with nhs and adult social care. They know these things are failing and they’ve deliberately underfunded them all the while. It’s digsuting.

Not in any way trying to be contentious here but one of the reasons is waste of money.

We have sensory lights in our school. A chance conversation meant I found out these amount to thousands of pounds a year. To me, that’s a complete waste of money.

The NHS is as bad. My friend has been suspended for eighteen months now (staff nurse.) That shouldn’t have happened. It’s obviously been horrendously stressful for her but think of the money wasted as she’s on full pay but someone is also being paid to do her job. It’s disgusting.

There’s waste in every single organisation public and private.

I accept that some cuts would be absorbable due to waste but long term systemic cuts are not. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s no coincidence that with cuts to education and benefits, we are seeing it blow up in children services for example.

We have sensory lights in our school. A chance conversation meant I found out these amount to thousands of pounds a year.
Do you mean lights that come on when they sense movement? Loads of schools have these. They actually save loads of money because lights don't get left on in empty rooms any more.

Or do you mean lights in a sensory room? That's a whole different thing.

I am definitely glad all that early entry stuff has gone out. But the EBacc seems to be gaining traction again.

I am not sure it is actual colour of government that makes a huge difference in education : it is what the PM's priorities are (tinkering with grammar schools atm) , who is Ed Sec and who is in charge of Ofsted. Woodhead and Wilshaw were messianic bullies.

I’m sure now the Tories will start promising millions of pounds for schools-like this morning they have said they’ll stop the benefits cap in April if they get elected).

The country is in a mess right now because of them-We need to look at their actions not their promises.

Labour scrapped coursework for maths not the Tories, so no gratitude needed there.

On the whole, in terms of maths education, I think the Conservative reforms have been negative. The new GCSE is not a positive change - it might be better for the much brighter kids, but they were already well served with further/additional maths options which are now sadly on the decline. For lower ability students it’s awful, and a pass still doesn’t mean that kids have the skills that employers want.
The new maths A-level is a mess, so bad I expect it will need to be changed again soon.
That change from modular to linear has been bad. Reducing the exam from six 1.5 hour papers to three 2 hour papers has massively reduced the scope of what is tested making them, dare I say, less rigorous. I can’t see any positives to the new A-level, tbh.
The change to linear A-levels has been a big negative - a lot of schools now only allow students to start with 3 and that loss of the 4th, taken to AS, is keenly felt. It has narrowed students’ education and has made them ‘play safe’ with their choices. Students who may not be confident at taking maths A-level who could have previously been encouraged to take it with the safety net of dropping it at AS, now may be lost to maths. On the other hand students who take maths and struggle are now locked in for the full two years and Y13 is a nightmare. We’ve had an increase in the number of Us - what a waste of two years.

They’ve scrapped the further maths support programme - that’s bad. They introduced Core Maths, which is actually really good, then scrapped the Core Maths support programme, which is bad.

Not sure what Tory policy is for the future, Gav was going to scrap UPS and give NQTs 30k which sounds stupid. Boris may be in favour of grammars, hope not.

I just want education to be taken out of the hands of politicians. We shouldn’t be feeling like an earthquake’s coming with every election.

I just want education to be taken out of the hands of politicians. We shouldn’t be feeling like an earthquake’s coming with every election.

Absolutely

Nope wouldn't vote Tory.

Not only based on what they are doing to schools (I work send, have a send child) but also all the services. Camhs, diagnostics (NHS), the EHCP process etc. Also the way they are cutting all services to the disabled.

But I also agree with noble that labours current policy doesn't fill me with confidence either. Actually - the whole party doesn't. The LIb dems have a the best manifesto imo. But I'm not sure they have the back done to implement it, send is weak and I think after the whole uni fees fiasco they'd be extremely wary of making any changes to education.

I do think we need to increase send funding and stop creating academies as a priority though - which means ousting the Tories.

Magpie the issue I've seen with the super strict academies is that they don't allow for any send. Basically they are perfect for clever children with great MH and no SEND. I would have thrived in one as an introverted swot but my autistic ds with a genetic neurological condition was driven to attempted suicide in one.
Academies are first and foremost businesses and image is important. That's never going to sit comfortably alongside the whole point of education.
Private schools are the same - but they actually charge for it and they are allowed to select their students as they are a paid for service and can take whichever customers they want.