Questions on education policy for the new Con-Lib Dems

[LeftishBrit]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/18/coalition-education-policy-cuts

Michael Gove will make much of the new focus implied by the departmental name change. One of his first acts as education secretary was to send a letter to key supporters in which he said he wanted to "refocus the department on its core purpose of supporting teaching and learning". He is already planning ways of underlining the break from the past. These will include advising schools of a raft of past guidance, red tape and targets that they will no longer have to adhere to. His motto will be: "Less is more"...

...
The coalition agreement also promises greater freedom over the curriculum. The proposed new primary curriculum, based on Sir Jim Rose's review, has been stopped in its tracks. The big question is whether Gove's stated preference for a primary curriculum built around learning key historical dates, phonics and "proper mental arithmetic" will triumph over the conflicting Tory philosophy of letting teachers do their own thing.

...So, as we adjust to coalition government, some things are clear for education policy. Report cards, the licence to teach, extensive targets, micro-management, and the 50% university participation target are all off the menu. The language of government will change. There will be less instruction, less legislation and less detailed prescription. But expect some very nasty shocks on the spending front.'

Deep sigh. Doesn't look that good. But could be worse, I suppose.

[Hopeless Romantic]

1. The most common complaint I've heard from teachers (and I know quite a few) is

about how they have been overloaded with work by central government.

record keeping (often nonsensical), the curriculum stuffed to such a degree that they don't have time to teach anything properly.

I don't suppose that will change.

[LeftishBrit]

2. I hear the same...

In theory the new lot claim they want to change this. In practice, it probably clashes too much with the RW Tory obsession with Back-to-Basics and e.g. teaching ONLY Synthetic Phonics (a religion to some of them).

And no doubt it will all be cuts, cuts, cuts again like under Thatcher. Anyone else old enough to remember Keith Joseph for example?

[TheBigotBasher]

3. Education is one of the "protected budgets".

Although how protected is hard to know. Ed Balls Up volunteered over £1 billion of cuts in the schools budgets shortly before the election, so does the "protection" include that £1 billion of cuts or not?

I'm guessing Mandlescums cut of £.5 billion from universities is also swallowed up as a saving.

[non sociopath skin]

4. Very well indeed. Especially the time he visited a primary school ....

... and, impressed by a very good classroom teacher, asked when she was likely to be "promoted" to teaching in secondary.

And yes, he was Education Minister at the time.

The Skin

[tjwmason]

7. Promoted to secondary school?

:banghead:

[Nihil]

8. Oops.

(Mind you, I'll have to remember that one for the next time that
my sister-in-law starts winding me up ... :evilgrin:)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

13. Wow, just wow n/t

[Jeneral2885]

5. Their gift to students

more debt more debt and more debt

[TheBigotBasher]

6. Labours?

Who declared in their 1997 manifesto that they oppose the Dearing report which suggested loans or fees. They never said and no one expected them to introduce BOTH.

[dipsydoodle]

9. Aside from the change for grammar schools to comprehensive

what exactly was wrong with the system through which I grew up ?

[T_i_B]

10. Schools are being invited to become academies

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/10159448.stm

Education Secretary Michael Gove is writing to all primary and secondary schools in England inviting them to become academies.

Schools which are rated as outstanding by inspectors can be fast-tracked into academy status for the autumn. The proposals could mean thousands of schools leaving local authority control.

The NASUWT teachers' union claimed the policy would "disenfranchise democratically-elected local councils".

The Academies Bill, to be presented to Parliament later, allows for a rapid increase in schools operating outside the planning and organisation of local authorities.

[LeftishBrit]

11. The 'opt-out' policy of the 1980s under a new name

But 'academies' sounds grander.

[non sociopath skin]

12. I imagine another has gone out to the private sector Education Companies ...

... asking for contributions to Tory Party funds for services rendered.

:evilgrin:

The Skin

[non sociopath skin]

16. Well, I guess we should give Gove some kudos for being honest ....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/31/michael-gove-academy-schools-profit

He's doing it because he's a Conservative.

How about you. Ms Teather?

The Skin

[enlightenment]

15. I've been watching this with increasing horror -

no, I don't live in the UK but I am an educator and this 'plan' is a train wreck in the making.

This editorial almost made me want to heave:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/can-sweden-teach-our-schools-a-lesson-1882566.html


I feel so sorry for you all.

[fedsron2us]

14. Interesting to see how the government will respond if hundreds of teachers cooperatives

apply to take over the school system. Somehow I do not see that is going to be allowed to happen.

[T_i_B]

17. Soccer and study? Premier League aims to score big with 'free schools' plan

Question is....What happens to the pupils from a school like this who don't make the cut as professional footballers? There's only so many footballers that clubs can take on anyway.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/03/premier-league-free-schools

The typical footballer's understanding of the three Rs might normally extend no further than studying the flicks and tricks of Rooney, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. But that could all be set to change following the Premier League's announcement that it is exploring how to set up its own education system through the "free schools" policy.

Following the widespread popular backlash to England's dismal performance at the football World Cup this summer, Michael Gove's schools reforms have struck a chord with the Premier League. Richard Scudamore, the League's chief executive, is seeking meetings with officials from Gove's Department for Education with a view to setting up schools where the curriculum is based around sport.

"I think there will be a radical development," said Scudamore. "I can envisage the day when there is a Premier League school. We are working with the clubs and we are taking a look at Michael Gove's education reforms to see clubs having relationships with schools.

"If you have an elite athlete why not work on their education? We need coaching, schools and schooling to be very closely embedded for football."

[non sociopath skin]

18. See also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x31669

The Skin

[Nihil]

19. Panem et circenses

Let's put even more visibility on the talentless overpaid celebrity "goal"
instead of - dare I say it? - knowledge, intelligence and skill. Let's just
glorify the few who flare up in a moment of wealth (whose achievement owes
more to being in the right place at the right time than anything else) and
keep the underclass happy in their dream that "the local boy makes good"
isn't just the drunken fantasy promulgated by generations of losers in front
of the 60" Sky TV screen in the local lager house.

That way, when the kids end up as illiterate shelf-stackers they will only
blame themselves for their failure ... and go down to take their places to
watch "what could have been" in between endless soaps to "teach" them how
they are expected to behave and the so-badly-named "reality" shows that
reassure them that there *are* worse losers around after all ...


(And yes, I'm being a grumpy bastard this morning. :rant: )