Politics

21 lurkers | 212 watchers
Feb 2020
9:25am, 20 Feb 2020
19,188 posts
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DeeGee
I feel that there has probably not been enough rigorous scrutiny performed on many academy chains, and that issues only tend to come to light due to whistleblowers. I know that our trust is thoroughly audited three times a year, and there have neer been any concerns raised.

Ofsted are also now starting to inspect MATs a lot more thoroughly. A single poor Ofsted for one constituent school could lead to a whole MAT inspection.

Personally I've long felt that a county-wide approach to all education isn't really helpful. I'd have preferred the French method. Primaries are under the control of the municipality/commune - that's where the pupils come from and that's how to tailor it best to their needs. Secondaries are run by the department, a council the size of an English "district" council, and the Tertiary sector is provided by the "region", which in my day was probably the size of a large county. All of this is overseen by the local university.

That's joined up education by a country that values education as a service rather than a product.
Feb 2020
9:36am, 20 Feb 2020
333 posts
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Non-runner
Gove doesn’t fit the standard Elton mafia model, being put into care as a baby and adopted by a Labour supporting couple. He attended state primary schools then won a scholarship to a private school (all in Scotland). Which might explain his thinking being a bit different, being a bit of an outsider.
Feb 2020
9:37am, 20 Feb 2020
334 posts
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Non-runner
Eton not Elton obvs.
Feb 2020
9:40am, 20 Feb 2020
4,367 posts
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Raemond
didn't Cameron and Osborne used to call him' Oiky'? or did private eye make that up?
jda
Feb 2020
9:40am, 20 Feb 2020
6,413 posts
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jda
It also suggests he has a bit of genuine innate intelligence rather than having had it thrust upon him like so much of the hereditocracy.
Feb 2020
9:43am, 20 Feb 2020
19,189 posts
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DeeGee
I'll tell you another interesting thing about education in France. Teaching is treated as a particularly prestigious civil service job, staff have absolutely no more than 24 contact hours, decreasing to 15 as seniority increases, for an average salary of about €37,000. There is a possibility for a limited amount of *paid* overtime.

Career entry is by competitive exam, there are only as many places for entry each year as there are vacancies, and the places are awarded strictly based on the results of the exam. Entry to the exam is oversubscribed year on year.

You don't get to choose which school you work in, schools do not recruit, you are placed in a school with a vacancy (although you can request a region, it's not a given that you'll work there)

This means that the high-performing schools in the attractive parts of the country are not hoovering up all the quality young talent to the detriment of the rural or coastal areas that can't attract the quality teachers that they need. Good teachers go to where the need is greatest.

The biggest issue right now in the UK, in certain parts of the country anyway, is that teaching is not treated as it should, the quality of the candidates entering the profession is not universally high (many get to the end of a three year degree with no career plans and are offered large sums of money to train as a teacher in certain shortage subjects, which often sways them towards doing a couple of years of teaching just to see what it's like) and certain regions, low population, long commuting distances, far from the bright lights, cannot recruit staff at all to replace those leaving the profession. So schools are understaffed, workload increases, and more teachers leave under the stress. It's a disaster waiting to happen unless something radical can be done to address the nationwide shortage of any kind of quality teaching staff.
jda
Feb 2020
9:47am, 20 Feb 2020
6,414 posts
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jda
It's ok we will just import lots of immigrants to do it....

oh
Feb 2020
11:54am, 20 Feb 2020
19,190 posts
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DeeGee
Tim Farron's put some far more interesting numbers on the hospitality staff discussion this morning. He's MP for a Lakes constituency.

There are 20,000 non-UK-born staff working in the hospitality industry in the Lake District, England's second biggest tourist destination.

There are 200 jobseekers.

twitter.com
Feb 2020
12:12pm, 20 Feb 2020
9,562 posts
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rf_fozzy
This thread interesting - twitter.com

Suggests that the points based system will actually drive the SE-rUK divide even greater.
Feb 2020
6:29pm, 20 Feb 2020
8,392 posts
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simbil
I suspect the ideological benefits of Brexit and immigration policy (me neither) completely outweigh any economic considerations. Perhaps it was always this and the economic discussions were just a side show.

There is always the possibility that its a good time to toss red meat at the hard Brexiters and bolster the posturing that the UK will not be held to any level playing field provisions by the EU so it can be later sacrificed in negotiations to achieve something significant, maybe for the financial sector.

This front is also creating fracture lines in the EU position and No.10 will hope that continues and the EU position weakens as a result. Good luck with that.

Who knows though, maybe they do want no deal - sorry an 'Australian arrangement' (you know, like the arrangement the Australians are desperately trying to change with the EU).

Interesting times.

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