p.s.

I hate Ed Balls with a passion that surprises me – from a cast of hundreds – he personifies why Labour have destroyed Britain.

That said, they will admit that it’s a process that had it’s roots pre-NL but accelerated immeasurably with NL’s “universal university” policy which plunged to the risible depths of a 16% pass mark in A Level mathematics early on. It’s woeful.

Balls is almost beyond the insult capability of the English language – some literal, innovative directly translated insults from other languages might apply – perhaps you might have a little competition?

ICL now offer a ONE YEAR intro course for their students, so ill-equipped are most of them to study science at Uni level.

Personally, I think the politicisation and destruction of the education system will prove to be NL’s biggest disaster; simple really – we are no longer producing the type of young adults who can drive a dynamic economy. Those who could, emigrate (if they have any sense).

UK FUBAR

Thanks for the comment, and apologies if my rushed response doesn’t adequately respond to everything in it – I only have the time to write this because our ‘severe weather’ has led to cancellations of various appointments I had.

At this stage of my career (6 months as a TA, 1 month of ‘proper’ teaching) it’s quite difficult for me to separate my own experiences from the state of the education system as a whole. My own experiences of my teaching, other people’s teaching and school management have so far been positive, and I find it difficult to reconcile that with some of the more anguished, angry responses you get from others. I realise this is subject to change; I’m not long into the job and – perhaps more importantly – I’m not a parent. It’s probabley that I’ll become either more or less criticial of the system the longer I’m working within it.

On the broader point of policy, being both a vested interest and an incurable lefty, I obviously think our country’s best served by spending lots and lots of money on education. But, of course, we’re already spending lots of money on education, there’s no more money around, and obviously there’s been a lot of waste. We may differ from each other about where that waste is located, but we can at least agree on the basic point. On top of that, I’m interested in reviving community action, particularly in more deprived communities, and that’s why there’s something appealing about decentralisation. Good schools are focal points for communities, and communities should be able to feel like they’re included in school life. There are plenty of instances where this is already the case, of course, but it’s dependent on the school’s management to go out of the way and do it.

The instructive example for me was of the prospect of a closing school. Near where I’m from, there are two well-liked schools which are due for closure and are to be merged on a new, purpose-built site. It seems that parents of children at both schools are unhappy about this, and have campaigned against the closures. Who to side with; the state/LEA or the parents? I personally think it’s a no-brainer, but rather than actually creating competition, the wishes of parents will get bulldozed.

And with that, I really ought to do some work. Hope some of it was of interest.

If such a large % of “graduates” leave without even being able to read and count, That might just indicate failure ?

If the only criterium for “success” is the ability to regurgitate stuffed-in “knowledge” that too migh indicate waste of time and money ?

If “inclusiveness” means one disruptive child can effectively prevent the rest from trying to learn, and Labour seems to think it desirable to spread the disrupters equally, one to a class, then blah blah ….

Neil, for someone who is coming through the teacher’s training college system, you display quite a remarkable awareness of the problems. However, I do not think you go far enough in your thoughts. I was amused to see you worried about the “tories’ plans” – man, I am worried right now about Labour’s actual PRODUCTS, or lack of. NO education would be better than what so many are offered over the last 13 years.

I have a friend who took her 2 out of school (a quite good school) when her son went from being the teacher’s favorite on year to being the class teacher’s butt the next. She home-educated them, which effectively meant 6 weeks of intense education by her just before the inspection. Both are now late teens and excellent members of society, doing well and caring for many around them.

Oh, and whatever innovation the Labour system does have seems to be how to “fairly”distribute the best places around. Have they ever thought of increasing the number of best palces available ? I am thinking of Brighton’s places lottery, which results in kids being bussed all over the place so “middle class strivers” don’t grab all the best places. Insanity. Just improve all schools, then endless and thin distribution would not be needed.

Alan Douglas