I'm not a fan of these school "league tables", but this says it all about our education system. One of the more curious statements Ed Balls makes - and he is very good at curious statements - is pledging to "shut down or take over any state school unable to improve within two years."
Err - how is the state going to take over a state school exactly?
Mr Balls unveiled a programme of reforms this week to improve remaining schools, including £10,000 "golden handcuff" deals to encourage the best teachers to work in the worst schools.
Yeah - like that is really going to make a difference. Many of the best teachers are choosing to work in independent schools even though they may actually earn less money than they could at state comprehensives simply because they can't stand the crap ladled out by the government, the pupils and the parents anymore.
The failure of progressive education is now apparent and undeniable - no amount of grade inflation and over hyped pass marks for easier exams can hide this now. This is not a failure of the children - children are as bright now as they ever were (no more, no less) - it is a failure of the system and particularly the progressive meddlers who destroyed what was once a successful and much envied education system.
We have failed two generations of school children - we can not allow the progressives to fail another. We can not afford to allow them to.
1 comment:
Top post, Stan; sorry it's taken time to respond.
"Many of the best teachers are choosing to work in independent schools even though they may actually earn less money than they could at state comprehensives simply because they can't stand the crap ladled out by the government, the pupils and the parents anymore."
This of how many these is true, I don't know. None any of my teacher friends and acquaintances is heading into the private sector and I wouldn't blame them if they did, but one problem that has long been there in the state education system is lousy or absent leadership.
Even as far back as the 1970's - even then when 'education' taught us stuff, if you got the wrong headmaster the whole school could go down the swanny.
If he was busy banging the school secretary or eagerly counting the days to his retirement, then he wasn't paying attention to much going on with his school.
This actually happened in my life: the former in my school where bullying became rife and I was one of the victims, and the other in my mother's school, where she and other teachers felt unsupported and unable to do what they had to do, including asking the authorities to find out where their Pakistani 13-year-old female pupils were disappearing to unannounced, mid-term, and forever.
In the former case, the new head was also a new sherriff in town and he permanently cleared out all the bullying by dishing out six of the best to each bully - most of whom went onto sixth form an half to university whe university was for 1/2% of the population.
Today, it's little different (except for no cane!) when heads belong to the local education authority's Trendy Bad Ideas Directorate, and who go along with any career-destroying novelty and trample imaginative, dedicated teachers on the way to fulfilling their ambition to touch their toes in the County Hall shower block for every educrat and Diversity Enforcement Officer in the LEA.
[Recent vicarious experience again, here.]
Leadership - I bet it would appear in the unlikeliest schools if voucher-equipped parents threatened to take their money and children away, and with it, headteachers' jobs.
Post a Comment