So instead of just bringing back grammar schools and calling it a day, how about this for an education system:
4-8, primary school. Learn the basics, reading, writing, maths, ecology, creative stuff 9-13, middle school. Start in a comprehensive class, by the end the pupils are all streamed by ability in different subjects. 14-18, finishing school. Top academic sets from middle schools go to the new grammars, top creative types go to creative schools, everyone else goes to "trade school" to do an apprenticeship after which, if they perform well, they can attend sixth form colleges and do A-Levels. Those unsuited to academia will have an apprenticeship at the end with which they can get a job after leaving school.
Give the trade finishing schools the most funding per pupil to ensure the best possible outcomes, make them about getting ready for the world of work, those who are later developers still get their chance at 18 to do A-Levels and go to university, just a couple of years later.
It would be an absolutely massive change, but I think would get better results for the huge number of children who don't excel academically, but have other skills which schools are completely incapable of providing an education in at the moment.
I'd also support something like this, though I'd do away with entrance tests and base entry on overall performance at middle school. That wouldn't be far off the way they do things in Germany, though all the states do it a bit differently.
Yup Max's idea is very similar to the German model which is very successful. It is also very similar to the model recommended by the Parliamentary Commission on Public Education in 1874. It has never been implemented primarily I think because the educational establishment didn't want it.
Bloody lefty teachers.
The best thing about the model is that it stretches the best out of academically brilliant pupils and doesn't abandon the vast number of middling students to an educational life of middling to poor grades and three years at a mediocre university. It also doesn't close the door to late developers who, provided they perform well, can sit A-Levels and go to university afterwards.
The biggest problem would be inertia, to implement a change of this kind would cost a lot of money and would face severe resistance from the idiot teaching unions.
I'm not sure there was anything that could be considered an educational establishment in 1874, let alone "lefty" teachers! I think money would be by far the biggest problem; the teachers would, I think, go along with this so long as sufficient funding were available and the politicians promised to stop fiddling with the system afterwards and allowed it to bed in properly.
Really, who'd have imagined that a weaker Pound would boost exports, limit imports and thus help our trade deficit? Certainly not all the fucking geniuses at the Bank of England or the Treasury!
True. The problem with PPE degrees is that they spend so little time on Economics.
The other problem with dismal science is that they've trashed things so much no one knows how Macro Economics works nowadays....
Good point on GCSEs, a lot of international English schools are moving to the IB to provide a broader education up to 18.
Again, just off the cuff thinking, how about this kind of system:
7 basics valued at 0.5 A-Levels - 3.5 total, done in the first two years 3 or 4 highers valued at 1.0 A-Levels - 6.5 or 7.5 total, done in the second two years.
Take this as an example Year 1/2 - English, Maths, Applied Science, History, Economics, Classics, French (3.5) Year 3/4 - English, History, Economics, Classics (4)
Total - 7.5
Or the science example:
Year 1/2 - English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Economics, Computing (3.5) Year 3/4 - Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Economics (4)
Total 7.5
That system taken over four years makes a lot more sense to me than our current system of cramming for 11 GCSEs in two years then 4 A-Levels in two years with no real grounding in the A-Levels given the disparity between the difficulty of GCSEs and A-Levels.
Brexit means Brexit. Grammar schools means grammar schools. It's not clear yet precisely what May means.
Interesting though that Justine Greening seems far from convinced herself; this is May's agenda.
In other news, the govt has refused to give the National Infrastructure Commission independent statutory basis as was previously planned. Presumably wants to retain control of infrastructure where of course UK has lamentable record of short-termism.
I know it's early days, but everything we've seen so far indicates a centralising government with decsion making bottle necked at the top.
The exact opposite, in fact, to what we need to solve UK's systemic challenges.
I hadn't heard that about the NIC, and if it's right then it's deeply disappointing.
@YellowSubmarine The Brexiters have no interest in understanding what "demos" is in post-Brexit Britain. It's remarkably short-sighted and foolish of them of course, but you are not going to get them to think about something difficult when they can swap anecdotes about how they grew up in a coalshed, went to a grammar school and were transformed into Waitrose shoppers.
Really, who'd have imagined that a weaker Pound would boost exports, limit imports and thus help our trade deficit? Certainly not all the fucking geniuses at the Bank of England or the Treasury!
In my part of Leics we have Primary, Middle and Senior schools. Senior starts with GCSE.
The results are 10 points better than other Comprehensives in the county (where there is a two school system) in terms of results. Lots going on to Oxbridge and medical school etc. Fox jr went there.
Selectionat age 14 for GCSE courses is much fairer than 11+. No-one deplores University selection by academic potential, but 11 is the wrong age.
The bars to bright kids from poor backgrounds are more complex. I am currently reading Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance, about his progression from the wrong side of the tracks to Harvard Law School. It is an insight into American politics, but not far from the WWC experience in Leicester too.
This is a much fairer system IMO than selection at 11, but I think there is far too much inertia to roll it out nationally. We'd need to build a lot of new schools.
I am told that the parliamentary process to unwind the fixed term parliament is underway.
Anyone know anything about this?
Google has provided a reference to the Fixed Term Parliaments (Repeal) Bill which is a private members bill started in the House of Lords by Lord Desai.
Not sure if this will succeed without government support.
There are a few things that are interesting about the new Bill. The first is that it is being proposed in the House of Lords, by a Labour peer – Lord Desai. This makes it unclear if the Government have had any hand or influence in the Bill. They may be attempting to progress the matter in an arms-length fashion by persuading an opposition peer to bring the Bill forward, although it seems more likely at this stage that Lord Desai is on a solo run.
The more significant problem is that the Bill, in its initial form, leaves a number of constitutional loose ends untied, as the 2011 Act made some critical revisions to the existing body of law in this area. Chief among these was the repeal of the Septennial Act 1715, which automatically dissolved Parliament after seven years, and Section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911, which reduced this period to the more familiar five years. Under Section 15 of the Interpretation Act 1978, any repeal of an Act which itself repealed previous Acts “does not revive any enactment previously repealed unless words are added reviving it“. As things stand, the Bill in its present form would allow parliaments to continue to exist indefinitely, clearly not a desirable scenario in any democracy.
Deficiencies aside, the die has now been cast for a public debate about the effectiveness of Fixed Term Parliaments, and it will be interesting to see how the Government approaches the Bill when it eventually reaches the House of Commons, which it is sure to do if passed by the Lords during the course of the next few months. It seems very unlikely that Theresa May will attempt to get Parliament dissolved before she invokes Article 50. However, a snap election campaign conducted prior to the commencement of negotiations could grant the Government with the authority and the mandate needed to progress the negotiations and deliver the outcome. In the circumstances, repealing the Fixed Term Parliaments Act is academic, as all of the parties have committed to supporting a dissolution of Parliament if the Government supports a motion to do so. But repeal would grant Theresa May fine-grained control over the timing, an advantage she may find difficult to resist.
@YellowSubmarine The Brexiters have no interest in understanding what "demos" is in post-Brexit Britain. It's remarkably short-sighted and foolish of them of course, but you are not going to get them to think about something difficult when they can swap anecdotes about how they grew up in a coalshed, went to a grammar school and were transformed into Waitrose shoppers.
I'm bringing back the like button just for that post.
I'm not sure there was anything that could be considered an educational establishment in 1874, let alone "lefty" teachers! I think money would be by far the biggest problem; the teachers would, I think, go along with this so long as sufficient funding were available and the politicians promised to stop fiddling with the system afterwards and allowed it to bed in properly.
Some teachers might, but I would expect the unions to kick up an almighty fuss if apprenticeships were given equal weight to A-Levels in the jobs market. It would devalue their profession.
Brexit means Brexit. Grammar schools means grammar schools. It's not clear yet precisely what May means.
Interesting though that Justine Greening seems far from convinced herself; this is May's agenda.
In other news, the govt has refused to give the National Infrastructure Commission independent statutory basis as was previously planned. Presumably wants to retain control of infrastructure where of course UK has lamentable record of short-termism.
I know it's early days, but everything we've seen so far indicates a centralising government with decsion making bottle necked at the top.
The exact opposite, in fact, to what we need to solve UK's systemic challenges.
@YellowSubmarine The Brexiters have no interest in understanding what "demos" is in post-Brexit Britain. It's remarkably short-sighted and foolish of them of course, but you are not going to get them to think about something difficult when they can swap anecdotes about how they grew up in a coalshed, went to a grammar school and were transformed into Waitrose shoppers.
Is there a pb record or even a market for betting on the longest post vote butt hurt sulk ?
Even tim had moved on from a budget 2 months later..
By contrast it is Corbyn's cobtinued receipt of a mandate from Labour Party members but not MPs which is giving Labour such problems. By contrast May has a mandate from MPs and not members and a 13% poll lead, which would give her a majority of over 100 at the next election, the biggest since Thatcher's victories in the 80s and something Cameron never came close to achieving.
Of course if May fails to secure a complete hard BREXIT and makes any compromise with the EU at all a few voters may shift from Tory to UKIP but then a few Labour voters may too. Given the size of the Tory lead over Labour it is also Corbyn who will first face UKIP breathing down his neck before she does
I am told that the parliamentary process to unwind the fixed term parliament is underway.
Anyone know anything about this?
Google has provided a reference to the Fixed Term Parliaments (Repeal) Bill which is a private members bill started in the House of Lords by Lord Desai.
Not sure if this will succeed without government support.
There are a few things that are interesting about the new Bill. The first is that it is being proposed in the House of Lords, by a Labour peer – Lord Desai. This makes it unclear if the Government have had any hand or influence in the Bill. They may be attempting to progress the matter in an arms-length fashion by persuading an opposition peer to bring the Bill forward, although it seems more likely at this stage that Lord Desai is on a solo run.
The more significant problem is that the Bill, in its initial form, leaves a number of constitutional loose ends untied, as the 2011 Act made some critical revisions to the existing body of law in this area. Chief among these was the repeal of the Septennial Act 1715, which automatically dissolved Parliament after seven years, and Section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911, which reduced this period to the more familiar five years. Under Section 15 of the Interpretation Act 1978, any repeal of an Act which itself repealed previous Acts “does not revive any enactment previously repealed unless words are added reviving it“. As things stand, the Bill in its present form would allow parliaments to continue to exist indefinitely, clearly not a desirable scenario in any democracy.
Deficiencies aside, the die has now been cast for a public debate about the effectiveness of Fixed Term Parliaments, and it will be interesting to see how the Government approaches the Bill when it eventually reaches the House of Commons, which it is sure to do if passed by the Lords during the course of the next few months. It seems very unlikely that Theresa May will attempt to get Parliament dissolved before she invokes Article 50. However, a snap election campaign conducted prior to the commencement of negotiations could grant the Government with the authority and the mandate needed to progress the negotiations and deliver the outcome. In the circumstances, repealing the Fixed Term Parliaments Act is academic, as all of the parties have committed to supporting a dissolution of Parliament if the Government supports a motion to do so. But repeal would grant Theresa May fine-grained control over the timing, an advantage she may find difficult to resist.
I remember Slugger O Toole's 2015 GE "predictions". Piss poor doesn't even begin to cover it.
@YellowSubmarine The Brexiters have no interest in understanding what "demos" is in post-Brexit Britain. It's remarkably short-sighted and foolish of them of course, but you are not going to get them to think about something difficult when they can swap anecdotes about how they grew up in a coalshed, went to a grammar school and were transformed into Waitrose shoppers.
Is there a pb record or even a market for betting on the longest post vote butt hurt sulk ?
Even tim had moved on from a budget 2 months later..
In terms of European educational standards Germany, with a selective system is classed as mediocre whereas Finland with no selection at all tops the table. There are adults who still hark back to the ' opening of the envelope' which determined their path in life at the age of 11, let's not condone this example of child cruelty. We should look at the example of Finland before embarking on a return to secondary modern schools.
Finland does select, just at 16 and Finland actually fell back in the latest PISA. Germany also has excellent technical schools as well as grammars which is why it has high quality engineers and manufacturing as well as top quality doctors and professors and lawyers too. Kenneth Baker was pushing more technical schools and they should go hand in hand with more grammars
Signs to watch out for. Meddling Number 10 staff with a tiny majority and a lot of sacked people on back benches could set the seeds of the next implosion.
May does show signs of Gordon like behaviour. She was the MacCavity of the Brexit referendum, and is now micro-managing education policy over the concerns of her own minister.
Please can the Latin article include the word Cunctator. Somehow I feel it right that an article in Latin and possibly something to do with Jeremy Corbyn ought to involve a bit of cunctatorishness. He is rather dictatorial and the other syllable goes without saying. And he's awfully slow and lingering.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
Signs to watch out for. Meddling Number 10 staff with a tiny majority and a lot of sacked people on back benches could set the seeds of the next implosion.
May does show signs of Gordon like behaviour. She was the MacCavity of the Brexit referendum, and is now micro-managing education policy over the concerns of her own minister.
It doesn't bode well.
Nor allowing any scope for comment on Brexit by her Brexit Sec of State.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
OK. I surrender. Let's ignore a careful crafted anti Soundbite from an experienced and usually dull politician and express no interest in what he might actually have meant. We'll leave that to specialised political discussion sites.
I view the FM Wales as presiding over a slow death of the welsh Labour party. Their vote plummeted but the seat loss disguised the decline. It is all set up for a fall below 25 seats next time. Particularly when we have a Wales that voted to LEAVE the EU. Another out of touch Leader.
In my part of Leics we have Primary, Middle and Senior schools. Senior starts with GCSE.
The results are 10 points better than other Comprehensives in the county (where there is a two school system) in terms of results. Lots going on to Oxbridge and medical school etc. Fox jr went there.
Selectionat age 14 for GCSE courses is much fairer than 11+. No-one deplores University selection by academic potential, but 11 is the wrong age.
The bars to bright kids from poor backgrounds are more complex. I am currently reading Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance, about his progression from the wrong side of the tracks to Harvard Law School. It is an insight into American politics, but not far from the WWC experience in Leicester too.
This is a much fairer system IMO than selection at 11, but I think there is far too much inertia to roll it out nationally. We'd need to build a lot of new schools.
Indeed our 3 teir system is under constant pressure to change to a 2 school system, rather than for other parts of the county to change to our more successful system. Apparently it is because the KS exams don't fit it very well, though one would have thought that the end product being better would count for something!
Brexit means Brexit. Grammar schools means grammar schools. It's not clear yet precisely what May means.
Interesting though that Justine Greening seems far from convinced herself; this is May's agenda.
In other news, the govt has refused to give the National Infrastructure Commission independent statutory basis as was previously planned. Presumably wants to retain control of infrastructure where of course UK has lamentable record of short-termism.
I know it's early days, but everything we've seen so far indicates a centralising government with decsion making bottle necked at the top.
The exact opposite, in fact, to what we need to solve UK's systemic challenges.
In my part of Leics we have Primary, Middle and Senior schools. Senior starts with GCSE.
The results are 10 points better than other Comprehensives in the county (where there is a two school system) in terms of results. Lots going on to Oxbridge and medical school etc. Fox jr went there.
Selectionat age 14 for GCSE courses is much fairer than 11+. No-one deplores University selection by academic potential, but 11 is the wrong age.
The bars to bright kids from poor backgrounds are more complex. I am currently reading Hillbilly Elegy by J D Vance, about his progression from the wrong side of the tracks to Harvard Law School. It is an insight into American politics, but not far from the WWC experience in Leicester too.
This is a much fairer system IMO than selection at 11, but I think there is far too much inertia to roll it out nationally. We'd need to build a lot of new schools.
As a fan of educational diversity, I'm glad that a national rollout of anything is unlikely. It's not as though we've even begun to sort out academisation let alone academy chains.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
Unfortunately that is the tenor of the whole debate, but it's a much more nuanced article than that. I genuinely think dealing with disruptiveness is the key (as well as a focus on the early years).
Regarding Grammar schools, I fully expect Michael Gove to launch a substantial backbench rebellion against them.
Is the whole grammar get-up a means to a Commons defeat, leading to a General Election?
Nah. It's not a manifesto commitment.
It is a dead cat. We're not talking about Brexit.
Not sure the govt needed a dead cat.
What about Brexit is there to actually talk about? Nothing has happened. Nothing looks like it going to happen.
We can have a meta conversation about why nothing is happening and think the govt is a bit shit. But that's hardly worth flinging a cat out of the window.
Regarding Grammar schools, I fully expect Michael Gove to launch a substantial backbench rebellion against them.
Is the whole grammar get-up a means to a Commons defeat, leading to a General Election?
Nah. It's not a manifesto commitment.
It is a dead cat. We're not talking about Brexit.
Right, so if May loses but she (and the public - though it will be interesting to see if polling changes) really wants it, she'll have to make it a manifesto commitment.
In terms of European educational standards Germany, with a selective system is classed as mediocre whereas Finland with no selection at all tops the table. There are adults who still hark back to the ' opening of the envelope' which determined their path in life at the age of 11, let's not condone this example of child cruelty. We should look at the example of Finland before embarking on a return to secondary modern schools.
Finland does select, just at 16 and Finland actually fell back in the latest PISA. Germany also has excellent technical schools as well as grammars which is why it has high quality engineers and manufacturing as well as top quality doctors and professors and lawyers too. Kenneth Baker was pushing more technical schools and they should go hand in hand with more grammars
Germany doesn't have selective schooling. Yes, it has grammar schools, but the decision as to which type of secondary school a child should attend rests with the parents. The primary school gives a recommendation, but it's up to the parents whether they go along with that recommendation. The grammar schools set no entrance examination.
I suspect that this way of doing things automatically forces the vocational schools to up their game so as to be able to attract the less academic kids away from the grammar schools.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
Unfortunately that is the tenor of the whole debate, but it's a much more nuanced article than that. I genuinely think dealing with disruptiveness is the key (as well as a focus on the early years).
Well the afternoon thread is on grammar schools. I'll bring my always inciteful (sic) contribution to the topic.
Brexit means Brexit. Grammar schools means grammar schools. It's not clear yet precisely what May means.
Interesting though that Justine Greening seems far from convinced herself; this is May's agenda.
In other news, the govt has refused to give the National Infrastructure Commission independent statutory basis as was previously planned. Presumably wants to retain control of infrastructure where of course UK has lamentable record of short-termism.
I know it's early days, but everything we've seen so far indicates a centralising government with decsion making bottle necked at the top.
The exact opposite, in fact, to what we need to solve UK's systemic challenges.
I think it was SeanF who said that Grammars might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the "oh look, I'm sending my son to a state school" brigade when the vast majority of kids won't have a chance of going to schools like Holland Park and the London Oratory.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
Unfortunately that is the tenor of the whole debate, but it's a much more nuanced article than that. I genuinely think dealing with disruptiveness is the key (as well as a focus on the early years).
Totally agree. Nothing to do with class either. Every school with poor/middling discipline has spoilt kids that have been allowed to defy authority. And a small minority of the population simply enjoy being disruptive, and or criminal. It's been ever thus - leaving the bad apples to spoil the barrel is daft.
Regarding Grammar schools, I fully expect Michael Gove to launch a substantial backbench rebellion against them.
Is the whole grammar get-up a means to a Commons defeat, leading to a General Election?
Nah. It's not a manifesto commitment.
It is a dead cat. We're not talking about Brexit.
Not sure the govt needed a dead cat.
What about Brexit is there to actually talk about? Nothing has happened. Nothing looks like it going to happen.
We can have a meta conversation about why nothing is happening and think the govt is a bit shit. But that's hardly worth flinging a cat out of the window.
Correct.
We're passed all that last Govt. dead cat rubbish. When you're 15 points ahead, Labour are (literally) sitting on the floor to make a point, and you occupy the centre ground, you get on with governing.
Grammar schools, it seems, are going to be the flagship policy for improving aspiration and helping poorer children that Cameron, for all his well meant words, never managed to alight upon.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
Should just call their bluff. Wales, even more so than Scotland would not be able to function as a sucessful independent state.
It's an extraordinary thing for a staunchly unionist and experienced politician to say. I think it needs more analysis than ' tell the taffs to sod off then ' . Why has he said something utterly unlike anything he has said before ? Hint: IMHO it's about the customs union not the Single Market.
Wales is Ruth to England's Naomi. Not gonna happen. We are an economic basket case, on a par with Belarus.
Why would leaving the single market lead to Wales, who voted for Brexit, declaring independence? It genuinely seems inconceivable to me. Perhaps him just trying to get a bigger role for himself/Wales but May can quite easily ignore him, in a way that she can't with Sturgeon/Scotland.
I think it was SeanF who said that Grammars might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the "oh look, I'm sending my son to a state school" brigade when the vast majority of kids won't have a chance of going to schools like Holland Park and the London Oratory.
Is 1.5 miles supposed to be a long way from home to school or something ?
That headline reads weirdly for anyone who lives anywhere outside of central London I expect.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
I think it was SeanF who said that Grammars might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the "oh look, I'm sending my son to a state school" brigade when the vast majority of kids won't have a chance of going to schools like Holland Park and the London Oratory.
Is 1.5 miles supposed to be a long way from home to school or something ?
That headline reads weirdly for anyone who lives anywhere outside of central London I expect.
I only skimmed the article, and the school may be perfectly acceptable in terms of distance from the Gove home. The point I am making, however, is that these metropolitan schools might be state schools, but they only cater for the great and the good who can afford to live in the area.
In terms of European educational standards Germany, with a selective system is classed as mediocre whereas Finland with no selection at all tops the table. There are adults who still hark back to the ' opening of the envelope' which determined their path in life at the age of 11, let's not condone this example of child cruelty. We should look at the example of Finland before embarking on a return to secondary modern schools.
Finland does select, just at 16 and Finland actually fell back in the latest PISA. Germany also has excellent technical schools as well as grammars which is why it has high quality engineers and manufacturing as well as top quality doctors and professors and lawyers too. Kenneth Baker was pushing more technical schools and they should go hand in hand with more grammars
Germany doesn't have selective schooling. Yes, it has grammar schools, but the decision as to which type of secondary school a child should attend rests with the parents. The primary school gives a recommendation, but it's up to the parents whether they go along with that recommendation. The grammar schools set no entrance examination.
I suspect that this way of doing things automatically forces the vocational schools to up their game so as to be able to attract the less academic kids away from the grammar schools.
Additionally, if the technical schools can show there is a life without university and partner with local companies for work experience then there would be much less pressure on parents to try and force their children into university. I have a first class degree in Physics and Chemistry. I haven't used it at all, in fact it's been such a long time it's all fallen out if my head. If I was able to start my career in computing and then finance without a university degree I would choose that route today. A 4 year apprenticeship course in computer programming would have been great for me instead of wasting £15k on a degree I have used once in my life to get an interview with SCEE.
He was right. Grammar schools is one of those outmoded debates which the UK is incredibly fond of, but which means absolutely nothing in 2016. A substitute for critical thinking and leadership.
See also: NHS wonder of world; renationalisation of rail; handbagging the europeans and up yours Delors; the special relationship and the independence of Trident; perceptions of Scotland as a kind of oats-eating North Korea.
"Research carried out by BMG last month found that more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of those who voted Labour at the last general election, but would not vote for the party today thought grammar schools "enable children from less well-off backgrounds to achieve greater academic success". But far fewer of those who still vote Labour feel that, at just 47 per cent, which shows the party's remaining supporters are much more sympathetic to Mr Corbyn on this.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
What we really need are anti-grammars, for the disruptive. A more difficult sell to the electorate, perhaps...
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
Really? Sounds like he's describing my school (Comprehensive - and one of the better ones in the area).
Not far off my own experience too, though rather exagerrated. I was never bullied for being bright, though did get a bit of a hard time in PE for being crap at it.
It was great training for life, it taught me a lot of survival skills.
Regarding Grammar schools, I fully expect Michael Gove to launch a substantial backbench rebellion against them.
Is the whole grammar get-up a means to a Commons defeat, leading to a General Election?
Nah. It's not a manifesto commitment.
It is a dead cat. We're not talking about Brexit.
Not sure the govt needed a dead cat.
What about Brexit is there to actually talk about? Nothing has happened. Nothing looks like it going to happen.
We can have a meta conversation about why nothing is happening and think the govt is a bit shit. But that's hardly worth flinging a cat out of the window.
Correct.
We're passed all that last Govt. dead cat rubbish. When you're 15 points ahead, Labour are (literally) sitting on the floor to make a point, and you occupy the centre ground, you get on with governing.
Grammar schools, it seems, are going to be the flagship policy for improving aspiration and helping poorer children that Cameron, for all his well meant words, never managed to alight upon.
Yep because they don't work and international surveys show as much..... The fact May is even letting the Grammar school part of the grand idea take focus shows that she will have problems going forward....
Peter Hitchens praising May over grammars, even though he still dislikes her, the first time I think I have ever read him say anything positive about a serving PM, Tory or Labour
I think it was SeanF who said that Grammars might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the "oh look, I'm sending my son to a state school" brigade when the vast majority of kids won't have a chance of going to schools like Holland Park and the London Oratory.
Is 1.5 miles supposed to be a long way from home to school or something ?
That headline reads weirdly for anyone who lives anywhere outside of central London I expect.
I only skimmed the article, and the school may be perfectly acceptable in terms of distance from the Gove home. The point I am making, however, is that these metropolitan schools might be state schools, but they only cater for the great and the good who can afford to live in the area.
There are very few parts of London in which there is not a significant mix of social backgrounds living cheek by jowl. Chelsea may be an exception, but that would certainly apply in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Southwark etc. It's very difficult to locate a school anywhere without having a catchment area in which there are a large number of poorer pupils.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
She needs to keep the whole party together for the tough days ahead and this is not the way to do it. The Cameroons do not agree with this and will, if pushed, say so.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
In terms of European educational standards Germany, with a selective system is classed as mediocre whereas Finland with no selection at all tops the table. There are adults who still hark back to the ' opening of the envelope' which determined their path in life at the age of 11, let's not condone this example of child cruelty. We should look at the example of Finland before embarking on a return to secondary modern schools.
Finland does select, just at 16 and Finland actually fell back in the latest PISA. Germany also has excellent technical schools as well as grammars which is why it has high quality engineers and manufacturing as well as top quality doctors and professors and lawyers too. Kenneth Baker was pushing more technical schools and they should go hand in hand with more grammars
Germany doesn't have selective schooling. Yes, it has grammar schools, but the decision as to which type of secondary school a child should attend rests with the parents. The primary school gives a recommendation, but it's up to the parents whether they go along with that recommendation. The grammar schools set no entrance examination.
I suspect that this way of doing things automatically forces the vocational schools to up their game so as to be able to attract the less academic kids away from the grammar schools.
Depends on the state, Bavaria for example uses entrance exams to select pupils for its grammar schools. You are right that Germany also has high quality vocational schools which is why more technical schools alongside any new grammars would help
Local Authority councillors are generally of poor quality. As we've seen elsewhere a directly elected Mayor for the NE would attract national calibre candidates. Councillors hate the idea. It's the North East's loss. As for replacement funding for lost EU grants why should Westminster ? The correlations between high EU grants, having voted heavily for Brexit and not electing Conservative MP's while not exact is very strong. These areas deserve to be shafted at the expense of deficit reduction and protecting our research universities. I hope they do get shafted.
I don't favour punishing districts that vote Labour.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
She needs to keep the whole party together for the tough days ahead and this is not the way to do it. The Cameroons do not agree with this and will, if pushed, say so.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
The Cameroons challenging May on grammars would fin themselves as isolated as the Blairites trying to take on Corbyn, the Tory membership and most Tory backbenchers are staunchly pro grammars
Local Authority councillors are generally of poor quality. As we've seen elsewhere a directly elected Mayor for the NE would attract national calibre candidates. Councillors hate the idea. It's the North East's loss. As for replacement funding for lost EU grants why should Westminster ? The correlations between high EU grants, having voted heavily for Brexit and not electing Conservative MP's while not exact is very strong. These areas deserve to be shafted at the expense of deficit reduction and protecting our research universities. I hope they do get shafted.
I don't favour punishing districts that vote Labour.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
She needs to keep the whole party together for the tough days ahead and this is not the way to do it. The Cameroons do not agree with this and will, if pushed, say so.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
The Cameroons challenging May on grammars would fin themselves as isolated as the Blairites trying to take on Corbyn, the Tory membership and most Tory backbenchers are staunchly pro grammars
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
She needs to keep the whole party together for the tough days ahead and this is not the way to do it. The Cameroons do not agree with this and will, if pushed, say so.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
The Cameroons challenging May on grammars would fin themselves as isolated as the Blairites trying to take on Corbyn, the Tory membership and most Tory backbenchers are staunchly pro grammars
So what? Government majority of 12.
Only until the next election? Then it could be Tory majority of 112!
Should just call their bluff. Wales, even more so than Scotland would not be able to function as a sucessful independent state.
It's an extraordinary thing for a staunchly unionist and experienced politician to say. I think it needs more analysis than ' tell the taffs to sod off then ' . Why has he said something utterly unlike anything he has said before ? Hint: IMHO it's about the customs union not the Single Market.
Wales is Ruth to England's Naomi. Not gonna happen. We are an economic basket case, on a par with Belarus.
Why would leaving the single market lead to Wales, who voted for Brexit, declaring independence? It genuinely seems inconceivable to me. Perhaps him just trying to get a bigger role for himself/Wales but May can quite easily ignore him, in a way that she can't with Sturgeon/Scotland.
The timing possibly has something to do with the announcement yesterday of Verhofstadt's appointment. But if he wants direct representation of Wales in the negotiations he is going to be disappointed.
@SouthamObserver That's like throwing cakes at a bear. The Tory right's appetite is not going to be quenched by such morsels.
I completely agree. May gives me the impression of thinking she can do what no Tory leader has done before and tame the right. I think she will be proved wrong. That's why I am expecting a general election before 2020. She is not going to be able to avoid increasing her majority for four more years.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
Indeed. Grammar schools are an issue that'll keep the right slavering with joy, and give her a little protection if and when Brexit doesn't go quite the way they want.
Whether it's right for the children is irrelevant.
Yep, that is the real reason why people want Grammar Schools, so their
"...hardworking, bright or just non-violent [kids] [avoid the] need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters)."
As for streaming. Martin nails it, the problem is
"alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom.
I solved the problem by moving to rural Bedfordshire where such characters are thin enough on the ground not to influence the school experi ence, many others are not so lucky.
Whatever view you take on grammar schools, and I can see arguments on both sides, this is a really bizarre distraction when the government has so much on its hands. In my opinion raising this now shows poor judgment and they have lost control of the story.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
It's part of Brexit. May needs to keep the Tory right onside for the tough days ahead.
She needs to keep the whole party together for the tough days ahead and this is not the way to do it. The Cameroons do not agree with this and will, if pushed, say so.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
To be fair to May, I think she understands in a way the three amigos don't just how hard it will be to do a Brexit deal. I think she also understands that it will be impossible to do one that the Tory right will buy into. She believes she needs to store up some credit with them and would not be too fussed if Cameroons can be blamed for grammars not happening. Of course, she would not be even trying this if there were a decent opposition.
In terms of European educational standards Germany, with a selective system is classed as mediocre whereas Finland with no selection at all tops the table. There are adults who still hark back to the ' opening of the envelope' which determined their path in life at the age of 11, let's not condone this example of child cruelty. We should look at the example of Finland before embarking on a return to secondary modern schools.
Finland does select, just at 16 and Finland actually fell back in the latest PISA. Germany also has excellent technical schools as well as grammars which is why it has high quality engineers and manufacturing as well as top quality doctors and professors and lawyers too. Kenneth Baker was pushing more technical schools and they should go hand in hand with more grammars
Germany doesn't have selective schooling. Yes, it has grammar schools, but the decision as to which type of secondary school a child should attend rests with the parents. The primary school gives a recommendation, but it's up to the parents whether they go along with that recommendation. The grammar schools set no entrance examination.
I suspect that this way of doing things automatically forces the vocational schools to up their game so as to be able to attract the less academic kids away from the grammar schools.
Depends on the state, Bavaria for example uses entrance exams to select pupils for its grammar schools. You are right that Germany also has high quality vocational schools which is why more technical schools alongside any new grammars would help
Sorry, I stand corrected on Bavaria. My experience is from North Rhine-Westfalia and Lower Saxony.
@SouthamObserver That's like throwing cakes at a bear. The Tory right's appetite is not going to be quenched by such morsels.
I completely agree. May gives me the impression of thinking she can do what no Tory leader has done before and tame the right. I think she will be proved wrong. That's why I am expecting a general election before 2020. She is not going to be able to avoid increasing her majority for four more years.
The Right might be tamed, but the Osbornites who believe in modernisation wont be; not by grammar schools anyway.
Comments
7 basics valued at 0.5 A-Levels - 3.5 total, done in the first two years
3 or 4 highers valued at 1.0 A-Levels - 6.5 or 7.5 total, done in the second two years.
Take this as an example
Year 1/2 - English, Maths, Applied Science, History, Economics, Classics, French (3.5)
Year 3/4 - English, History, Economics, Classics (4)
Total - 7.5
Or the science example:
Year 1/2 - English, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Economics, Computing (3.5)
Year 3/4 - Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Economics (4)
Total 7.5
That system taken over four years makes a lot more sense to me than our current system of cramming for 11 GCSEs in two years then 4 A-Levels in two years with no real grounding in the A-Levels given the disparity between the difficulty of GCSEs and A-Levels.
http://stephansmithfx.com/articles/how-a-weak-currency-affects-an-economy/
Introduced by Lord Desai (Labour).
RE Fixed Term Parliament Repeal
Slugger O'Toole says:
There are a few things that are interesting about the new Bill. The first is that it is being proposed in the House of Lords, by a Labour peer – Lord Desai. This makes it unclear if the Government have had any hand or influence in the Bill. They may be attempting to progress the matter in an arms-length fashion by persuading an opposition peer to bring the Bill forward, although it seems more likely at this stage that Lord Desai is on a solo run.
The more significant problem is that the Bill, in its initial form, leaves a number of constitutional loose ends untied, as the 2011 Act made some critical revisions to the existing body of law in this area. Chief among these was the repeal of the Septennial Act 1715, which automatically dissolved Parliament after seven years, and Section 7 of the Parliament Act 1911, which reduced this period to the more familiar five years. Under Section 15 of the Interpretation Act 1978, any repeal of an Act which itself repealed previous Acts “does not revive any enactment previously repealed unless words are added reviving it“. As things stand, the Bill in its present form would allow parliaments to continue to exist indefinitely, clearly not a desirable scenario in any democracy.
Deficiencies aside, the die has now been cast for a public debate about the effectiveness of Fixed Term Parliaments, and it will be interesting to see how the Government approaches the Bill when it eventually reaches the House of Commons, which it is sure to do if passed by the Lords during the course of the next few months. It seems very unlikely that Theresa May will attempt to get Parliament dissolved before she invokes Article 50. However, a snap election campaign conducted prior to the commencement of negotiations could grant the Government with the authority and the mandate needed to progress the negotiations and deliver the outcome. In the circumstances, repealing the Fixed Term Parliaments Act is academic, as all of the parties have committed to supporting a dissolution of Parliament if the Government supports a motion to do so. But repeal would grant Theresa May fine-grained control over the timing, an advantage she may find difficult to resist.
Brutus aderat
Caesar sic in omnibus
Brutus sic intram
Even tim had moved on from a budget 2 months later..
Of course if May fails to secure a complete hard BREXIT and makes any compromise with the EU at all a few voters may shift from Tory to UKIP but then a few Labour voters may too. Given the size of the Tory lead over Labour it is also Corbyn who will first face UKIP breathing down his neck before she does
It doesn't bode well.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/08/the-three-brexiteers-embrace-the-idea-of-free-trade-but-does-the/
Attending a middling to failing comprehensive school does tend to give you a different perspective on these matters. These are places in which half the pupils are bouncing off the walls in frustration when they should be doing something more useful than being trapped in the bottom stream for languages. The hardworking, bright or just non-violent need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters). This goes on for the first four years or so, alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom. Then comes the change, when the disruptive start to leave and the non-disruptive emerge, blinking in the sunlight tentatively at first wanting to be sure the hardcases are gone and it is ok to have a normal conversation. The atmosphere changes. By the 5th and 6th form it is a different school. Academic achievement is not a matter of shame.
http://reaction.life/anti-grammar-school-stance-public-school-boys-makes-blood-boil/
He could, if minded, set himself up as head of a de facto "progressive" internal opposition -- which it looks like we're sorely going to need.
It is a dead cat. We're not talking about Brexit.
Brilliant.
As a fan of educational diversity, I'm glad that a national rollout of anything is unlikely. It's not as though we've even begun to sort out academisation let alone academy chains.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/european-parliamentarians-urge-australia-to-put-planned-free-trade-talks-with-britain-on-ice-20160908-grcbz7.html
UK MEPs objecting to the UK having trade talks with Australia......
What about Brexit is there to actually talk about? Nothing has happened. Nothing looks like it going to happen.
We can have a meta conversation about why nothing is happening and think the govt is a bit shit. But that's hardly worth flinging a cat out of the window.
Conservative leader David Cameron has warned that the row over grammar schools was a "key test" of whether the party was fit for government.
He said the issue would show whether the Tories were now "an aspiring party of government" or whether they were to be a "right-wing debating society".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6679005.stm
I suspect that this way of doing things automatically forces the vocational schools to up their game so as to be able to attract the less academic kids away from the grammar schools.
Those with bets (I have stayed out of this market) on ~ 5/6 Jeremy Overs must have been pleased by last night.
Owen Smith made Jezza look like Alexander the Great.
http://tinyurl.com/zohf45o
I think it was SeanF who said that Grammars might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the "oh look, I'm sending my son to a state school" brigade when the vast majority of kids won't have a chance of going to schools like Holland Park and the London Oratory.
We're passed all that last Govt. dead cat rubbish. When you're 15 points ahead, Labour are (literally) sitting on the floor to make a point, and you occupy the centre ground, you get on with governing.
Grammar schools, it seems, are going to be the flagship policy for improving aspiration and helping poorer children that Cameron, for all his well meant words, never managed to alight upon.
In dealing with Brexit and creating a new economic policy Mrs May has as busy an agenda as any PM in recent times to deal with. She needs to focus and make progress on the stuff that is central to the national interest.
That headline reads weirdly for anyone who lives anywhere outside of central London I expect.
Alex Wickham
Am loving posho Corbynistas getting in touch to tell us this flat is "not exactly luxury" https://t.co/6vHUoBHSX4 https://t.co/HobFbceXuE
Grammar schools is one of those outmoded debates which the UK is incredibly fond of, but which means absolutely nothing in 2016. A substitute for critical thinking and leadership.
See also: NHS wonder of world; renationalisation of rail; handbagging the europeans and up yours Delors; the special relationship and the independence of Trident; perceptions of Scotland as a kind of oats-eating North Korea.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/09/jeremy-corbyns-crusade-against-grammar-schools-sets-himself-agai/
http://reaction.life/alan-watkins-cameron-osborne-era-left-barely-trace
It was great training for life, it taught me a lot of survival skills.
Not sure that's what he'd like to be remembered for though...
Also he gave the Tories their first majority government for 23 years so he'll be remembered for that too.
This is going to be a long Theresa May speech, looks more like a uni lecture..
Then again she's got a lot of explaining to do on grammars
Sky suggesting this was her conference thing but leaked.
She has chosen to appoint a muppet her Secretary of State for Brexit. This presumably means that she intends to do that job herself. So she should get on with it.
Whether it's right for the children is irrelevant.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/09/theresa-may-every-school-in-england-will-be-given-opportunity-to/
"...hardworking, bright or just non-violent [kids] [avoid the] need to keep their heads down to avoid the attention of the hardcases and their accomplices (who are often perfectly fine individually but who had to choose a side and chose the nutters)."
As for streaming. Martin nails it, the problem is
"alleviated by streaming, but not eliminated because a school is as much about what happens in the school corridor and at the gate as it is about the classroom.
I solved the problem by moving to rural Bedfordshire where such characters are thin enough on the ground not to influence the school experi ence, many others are not so lucky.