Lowlife. FYI "Definitions of lowlife noun a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible synonyms: bum, crumb, dirty dog, git, puke, rat, rotter, skunk, so-and-so, stinker, stinkpot disagreeable person, unpleasant person a person who is not pleasant or agreeable".
Seems fair enough. Mr (Lord) Cruddas has probably led an exemplary life, helping old ladies across innumerable roads, getting shopping for neighbours, etc. The £500,000 was obviously just a goodwill gesture, made as a completely altruistic offering, with no thought whatsoever of his personal advancement...
Boris Johnson, March 2021: “My biggest priority is to maximise income for party donors, dispensing them honours and directorships of public broadcasters and other bodies deemed in need of remessaging whilst convincing the deluded and gullible I'm a good chap and up for getting it done"
We need to stop the line that children have fallen behind. There is no such thing and learning is not a race. Learning is a lifelong journey.
Change of rules for Gove, I mean new pilot scheme. Doesn’t have to self isolate after serco test and trace pinged him.
The younguns in my family and friend's kids here in the Netherlands are well behind their curriculum timetables especially those with exams coming up. The stark differences between US, the Netherlands and the UK funding need airing.
You are absolutely right. The problem is, however, that these days there are very few second chances. I left school with very basic qualifications in 1966. However, a change in career in the 70s led to a masters degree in the nineties.. I had a second chance and access to life long learning at reasonable cost. Thoses chances are now few and far between unless you are sponsered. A very good friend of mine, sadly gone, a Southampton man and a life long Saints fan was a professor at Leicester and head of the department for life long learning. The department is now gone. Not enough mature students are sponsered and the fees are crippling.. Learning is indeed a lifelong journey, but the stakes are much higher now to get it right first time around..
Could these figures be misrepresented ? I mean what sort of free education do the USA and Netherlands get ? I'm not doubting the figures , just that they may not tell the entire story .
Plenty of info available. Edit, from the Guardian which names the Education Policy Institute as the source for it's numbers. https://www.theguardian.com/educati...es-pitiful-covid-catch-up-plan-england-pupils "Most Dutch schools are funded and monitored by the government. Except for some private schools, most Dutch primary and secondary schools are free. The parents pay a small contribution, which the schools use for extra things. Some international schools are partly funded by the government, and others are private. For a subsidised international school, the annual fee is between €3,600–€6,000, while private schools have fees between €12,000–€24,000." https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/livin...urces/dutch-public-schools-for-expat-families and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Netherlands The effects of opting out of the Erasmus programme. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about/uk-and-erasmus_en
Lifelong journey or not, if a generation of kids are held back at a crucial point in their lives, they will need help catching up.
Lots of info on the effects of CV19 on education and children's services by people properly qualified to give evidence to the committee. https://committees.parliament.uk/wo...ducation-and-childrens-services/publications/ "Pupils are on average three months behind on their learning as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, with the most deprived pupils and those from BAME backgrounds most likely to be affected, according to new research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)." From https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/impact-of-covid-19-mainstream-schools-england
As a classroom teacher I am pretty qualified. Yes kids are not where they normally are, but there is no such thing as behind. The issue with disadvantaged kids is not produced by this pandemic but exacerbated by it. No short term fix will mean anything. What the country needs to do is start investing into education and public service in general. Who benefits from this 'behind' rhetoric? Definitely not the kids who already feel the pressure. Definitely not the teachers who have done a ridiculous amount extra for no pay already. Only the government who can mask inadequate funding behind a pandemic crisis. Kids overcome adversity. They bounce back from illness and other absence. They don't need to be told they are behind. We need to invest full time in young people and not as a bounce back gimmick.
