Off Topic School Funding Crisis

I have no idea why you'd ascertain that something like that would make me happy. Seems an odd comment to make if you're not digging for a reaction.

Sorry for spoiling your thread

 

Sadly me. Though I was a solicitor for a few years first. Can't tell you anything you can't find out easily really, the budget for schools was 'ring-fenced' a few years back which means it wasn't cut as such but it hasn't risen either for about 5 years so in real terms that's a big cut. Many schools have had a major issue in the last couple of years as the living wage was enforced (which on the face of it is a good thing) and means all domestics in the school have had a pay rise from a pot which hasn't grown. Add in the new textbooks and examinations costs (which mount to thousands per subject) enforced by the syllabus changes (funny how many of these publishing companies have links to Tory ministers...) which were brought in by Gove. On the plus side for schools at least teachers pay has been frozen for 6 out of the last 7 years (had a 1% pay rise a few years ago).

In my local area every school i know of is running not just a debt but a deficit (with the 4 schools I'm in a position to hear the figures its £100k+ deficit) and it has resulted in cutting back on teaching staff quite drastically - including the prestigious Bluecoats School in Liverpool where a handful of teachers were made redundant in the lead up to last Christmas. It's a national thing though, there isn't a particular solution though - you simply get what you pay for. More teaching assistants teaching lessons and a gradual diminishing of standards - the pupils at the top who want to do well still can though, it's just the average and the lower end who fall back really.

 

Any time bud

 

So do rich people make it worse by avoiding paying all of their taxes, or easier by lightening the load when they take their kids out of state schools and into private?

 

You lot are worried about overspending over there...

My wife's a kindergarten teacher in a primary school, 3 years post graduation and she's on £50,000 a year.

Bonkers.

 

Hard to say but I'd be reticent to point the finger at someone just because they have money. Tax avoidance and private education are both legal and sensible options for people, as regards the latter I have no issue whatsoever - I went to a rough Comprehensive in Gateshead and yet when it comes to my own children have found I have got a previously hidden snobbish side (when it comes to making the right choice for your children all bets are off).

If people want to avoid paying tax then they just have to be morally ok with it themselves, personally I wouldn't be. It's not their fault though, if the system allows it...

Overall I'm not complaining to be honest. Teachers pay is pretty **** but I hate hearing teachers complain about it, we're a capitalist state and if you want to earn more go and get a different job. I came from a profession where i was earning more than I am now and it doesn't bother me one jot. It is simply the case that as a country we will get what we pay for, if we spend less on education than other countries we will almost certainly get a lower standard. That's not specifically anyone's fault it's just how it is.

 

Maybe education will get a budget reform when we've assessed where we are after we've left the EU then.

We can live in hope. Although all we hear is how grades are improving year on year. I used to manipulate stats for the home office in exchange for a hefty daily rate, so it wouldn't surprise me to find out it wasn't true.

 

I think every mp apart from Skinner is a ****.

 

No. He's just an older.......

 

You're spot on. The grades are whatever people want them to be.

The exam boards claim that every year they work out whether it was a hard test or not then set the grade boundaries but realistically if that was the case they could release the boundaries BEFORE the tests have been marked. Instead they wait until the results are in and then decide what the pass mark was so if grades are up or down in a given year they just balance it out anyway. A small progress every year looks good but it's all a show. Gove talked about making the GCSE's like the old O Levels, I'd be fine with that but people just need to be aware that most of the country used to fail the old O levels.

Media spin: Grades go up = easier tests; grades go down = bad teaching standards.

Truth: People are people, there's things pupils leave school knowing that they had no idea about 10, 20, years ago and things they are clueless about which they used to be taught and still should be but aren't. They aren't intrinsically more or less intelligent (though I have no doubt they have much more pressure on them then I had!).

 

Interesting mate.

Every gov't will try the same tricks, make sure they look good when the stats are printed.

I was paid to manipulate crime stats, it was incredible what they were prepared to disguise in order to meet targets.

 

Very informative fella.

 

My daughter went to the local comprehensive school.
Passed all her GCSE's & went on to Lanchester 6th form to do her A levels which were also passed with flying colours.
She's at Sunderland uni now. Graduated last year with a Bsc hons degree.
On with her PHd now & then her masters & she'll be a doctor in psychology.

 

Politics or religion on the safc board should be abolished imo.

 

Proof that the local schooling can produce successes when applied by both pupil and school.

However, I am at a loss to understand the political animosity in the previous posts since nobody has mentioned the Banking crisis of 2008/9 that caused successive governments to support them to one extent or another at the expense of the nation. Just a pity that the Tories choose not to invest in the future of the nation or their health.

The people who constantly lose out though are those at the end of the queue because, planned or not, because the economy and trade must come first to maintain the wealth regardless of priorities.