Everyone saying 8 April was peak but that's potentially highly misleading - date of death 15 April has the 2nd highest number of deaths reported within two days.
It's arguable 8 April was a slight outlier on the upside and that broad picture is of a plateau with no significant move downwards at all.
Yes, it looks like this is a peak like Table Mountain rather than Mont Blanc.
Not entirely dissimilar to Italy, which has been hovering around 500 deaths a day since April; 6. Today they had 525
France is also slow to decline. Another 761 deaths today.
This seems to be a feature of the bug.
Italy doesn’t count care home deaths . France does so the 761 includes that . France recorded 418 hospital deaths today and similar to yesterday .
If the UK included care home deaths in its daily bulletin I suspect the public would be shocked .
Not sure that’s true. I reckon every Western country is under counting.
I read today that Spain was probably only reporting a third of its real death toll. So many are dying at homes, hospices etc
So you might have to multiply Spain’s death toll by 3 to get the real stat.
Which also means these claims ‘the UK will have the worst death toll’ are just bollocks. No one knows. We are fighting in the thick fog of war.
Critics of our govt will almost certainly include care homes deaths in our figures, but won’t in other countries leading to the confirmation bias conclusion that we are the worst
No. Critics of our government would say that they have shamefully neglected social care, with disastrous consequences for care home residents. I couldn’t give a fig about the international league tables in this respect.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
When I look back upon my life it's always with a sense of shame I know why I've done well is that my parents made sacrifices to ensure I got a top education.
I want every child in this country to receive that without parents having to make sacrifices.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
I'd hazard a guess, as a grandfather who has been asked several times, that there's also tuition on personal statements. I wish someone had told me what Uni's wanted.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
According to the Sutton trust state school teachers are more likely to have BEd degrees but independent school teachers more likely to have MScs and PhDs and postgraduate qualifications in the subjects they teach.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
Some private schools, apparently, are refusing to provide predicted grades unless parents pay the whole year's fees for schooling they aren't really getting. Which some parents are unable to do, no longer having a job or a business. It's a pickle.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
I'd hazard a guess, as a grandfather who has been asked several times, that there's also tuition on personal statements. I wish someone had told me what Uni's wanted.
Some places take it very seriously, but in Leicester we have a policy not to read them. They are worthless and formulaic.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be on the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be ok the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
But that's happening already. The Six O'Clock News had a whole section on NHS staff dying.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
19% of A-level entries are from private schools. One third are on bursaries.
As for Oxbridge, the real issue is they let in so many utter duds (Exhibits A and B - Cummings and Burgon). Admittedly, many of them were privately educated.
Steering clear of detail, can I just ask you this -
(i) Private school use should be encouraged. (ii) Private school use should be discouraged. (iii) Private school use is not a matter for government.
Will help me put your comments on this topic in context.
Private schooling is a scapegoat for a variety of complex societal problems none of which would be markedly different if it was banned or taxed into oblivion. As we may indeed be about to find out, given most of them have shaky finances already and this pandemic is going to kill off many of them.
It is also highly misleading to think of all private schools as conforming to some sort of set pattern. That’s lazy and unhelpful. You have Eton or Wellington who select the wealthiest by ability, and then you have RGS Worcester, with 81% SEND. You have Denstone, with its amazing facilities, and Lichfield Cathedral on a cramped inner city site in several badly maintained medieval houses.
What I do say, quite categorically, is that most private schools are totally unsuitable for being brought into the state sector (their classrooms simply aren’t big enough) but if they were eliminated the pressure on the state sector would massively increase to the extent that in some areas - London or Bristol - it might well implode entirely.
If you really want to eliminate private schools, don’t talk about bans or taxes or structures. Cut the maximum class size in the state sector to 18 and then you would see a huge difference. Moreover, many more private schools probably would follow the lead of Bristol Cathedral or Royal Wolverhampton then and join (or rejoin) the state sector.
OK, thanks. I am in listening mode.
Sure you won't pick one of my 3 options? Gun to head?
The point is they are all based more or less on a series of false premises, so any answer would not be meaningful (and we’re back to Flew). 3 would be the nearest, but it would be more accurate to say, ‘Private education is a matter better remedied by the government taking action elsewhere to eliminate its key advantage.’
Bingo. That's a (ii).
We are agreed on the need to skin the cat.
Just a matter of how best to do it.
No. It is not a 2. It is a statement that they exist because of failings in the state system, and if you want to get rid of them it would be better to address those failings rather than to take punitive action out of personal and bluntly, ill-informed prejudice, family members notwithstanding. That is nearer to a 3 than anything else, but again, your questions are not in a Flovian sense meaningful because you do not have an understanding of the basic premises.
But unfortunately one of the weaknesses of Labour and indeed the radical left more widely is that while they have always known what they are against they very seldom have a positive vision of what they are actually for.
I tire of you imputing false motive to me. Please refrain.
Now then. Let's argue properly. No distractive waffle.
If private schools exist primarily because of state school failings, how does this square with the evidence which indicates that having adjusted for their advantaged intake, private school results are not materially better than state? That most of the kids who do well there would do just as well at a typical state school.
If your answer to the above is that it's mainly about class sizes (which I think it will be since we have agreed this point before) then the main state school relative "failing" we are looking at is FUNDING. Funding per pupil.
So, what should we do about that? Triple the education budget?
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
So long as the fees are the same at every school. Cautious tick. And you're hired on probation.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
So long as the fees are the same at every school. Cautious tick. And you're hired on probation.
Nope, parents can top up the vouchers if they like.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
I'd hazard a guess, as a grandfather who has been asked several times, that there's also tuition on personal statements. I wish someone had told me what Uni's wanted.
Some places take it very seriously, but in Leicester we have a policy not to read them. They are worthless and formulaic.
Excellent. The angst over the production of them is significant, and unnecessary.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be ok the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
But that's happening already. The Six O'Clock News had a whole section on NHS staff dying.
Now the government has changed the rules to make them more likely to die. Before this it was still all under the "well it's come out of nowhere" now we're 8-10 weeks in and still haven't resolved the shortages.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
A better focus for improving teaching is to reduce the emphasis on the individual teacher. For example, it's utterly insane that many teachers are expected to source or create their own lesson materials, rather than using or adapting externally-produced ones. It's a mixture of craftsmanship (we all want to make personalised lessons) and lack of money, but it also limits how well things get taught and creates excess work which does horrible things for retention.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
19% of A-level entries are from private schools. One third are on bursaries.
As for Oxbridge, the real issue is they let in so many utter duds (Exhibits A and B - Cummings and Burgon). Admittedly, many of them were privately educated.
Steering clear of detail, can I just ask you this -
(i) Private school use should be encouraged. (ii) Private school use should be discouraged. (iii) Private school use is not a matter for government.
Will help me put your comments on this topic in context.
Private schooling is a scapegoat for a variety of complex societal problems none of which would be markedly different if it was banned or taxed into oblivion. As we may indeed be about to find out, given most of them have shaky finances already and this pandemic is going to kill off many of them.
It is also highly misleading to think of all private schools as conforming to some sort of set pattern. That’s lazy and unhelpful. You have Eton or Wellington who select the wealthiest by ability, and then you have RGS Worcester, with 81% SEND. You have Denstone, with its amazing facilities, and Lichfield Cathedral on a cramped inner city site in several badly maintained medieval houses.
What I do say, quite categorically, is that most private schools are totally unsuitable for being brought into the state sector (their classrooms simply aren’t big enough) but if they were eliminated the pressure on the state sector would massively increase to the extent that in some areas - London or Bristol - it might well implode entirely.
If you really want to eliminate private schools, don’t talk about bans or taxes or structures. Cut the maximum class size in the state sector to 18 and then you would see a huge difference. Moreover, many more private schools probably would follow the lead of Bristol Cathedral or Royal Wolverhampton then and join (or rejoin) the state sector.
OK, thanks. I am in listening mode.
Sure you won't pick one of my 3 options? Gun to head?
The point is they are all based more or less on a series of false premises, so any answer would not be meaningful (and we’re back to Flew). 3 would be the nearest, but it would be more accurate to say, ‘Private education is a matter better remedied by the government taking action elsewhere to eliminate its key advantage.’
Bingo. That's a (ii).
We are agreed on the need to skin the cat.
Just a matter of how best to do it.
No. It is not a 2. It is a statement that they exist because of failings in the state system, and if you want to get rid of them it would be better to address those failings rather than to take punitive action out of personal and bluntly, ill-informed prejudice, family members notwithstanding. That is nearer to a 3 than anything else, but again, your questions are not in a Flovian sense meaningful because you do not have an understanding of the basic premises.
But unfortunately one of the weaknesses of Labour and indeed the radical left more widely is that while they have always known what they are against they very seldom have a positive vision of what they are actually for.
I tire of you imputing false motive to me. Please refrain.
You’re a fine one to talk, after the way you have been twisting my words all evening.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
Jesus, do you have any policies where the answer is to improve, rather than drag everyone down to about the same level?
Yes but all that stuff - "levelling up" - is motherhood and apple pie. It's boring to talk about things everyone signs up to. It's just platitudes and waffle most of the time if you go that route.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
A better focus for improving teaching is to reduce the emphasis on the individual teacher. For example, it's utterly insane that many teachers are expected to source or create their own lesson materials, rather than using or adapting externally-produced ones. It's a mixture of craftsmanship (we all want to make personalised lessons) and lack of money, but it also limits how well things get taught and creates excess work which does horrible things for retention.
There was a very good national resources website for primaries, which Gove abolished, for no reason I can discern.
With reference to Covid 19 no mention of course that Scotland is sparsely populated compared with England, has approx. a third of UK landmass but with only 8% of population, only one city with i million population,no major airports etc. etc.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
Jesus, do you have any policies where the answer is to improve, rather than drag everyone down to about the same level?
Yes but all that stuff - "levelling up" - is motherhood and apple pie. It's boring to talk about things everyone signs up to. It's just platitudes and waffle most of the time if you go that route.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
And anyway- in terms of competent access to teaching that will get your child the grades they deserve, there's not that much in it between state and private sectors. (Seriously. Unless your local comp is one of the small number of very worst, it's better that they spend 1 hour a day doing extra reading than spending that time travelling to and from a more distant but better school.) It's the other stuff- the studious classmates, the networking and so on which is much much harder to do in the context of a state comprehensive. And that problem, which is real and huge, is much harder to fix with money.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
I have friends in the UK who are teachers, friends in the UK who gave up teaching, and friends in Germany who are teachers, including my girlfriend.
All of the UK teachers I know who gave up, did so because of the crazy out of hours workload not because of the pay. Comparing the working conditions between the two countries I see two differences. Thie biggest difference is that homework is not marked by the teachers in Germany. Exams are marked by teachers, but not the standard homework.
The other difference is the teachers in Germany are there to help the pupils learn as much as possible. They are not there to maximise the exam results. The difference might seem subtle to some outside of education, but the effect this has on job satisfaction is considerable. Once the job satisfaction gets wringed out of you that's when you leave the profession.
On masks the advice is variable at present and we are entirely in line with WTO recommendations
Masks must be available in medical locations and high risk areas
It is under review
And that is the view I support
At the very least, we need to be planning to be able to mass produce them. We can't get caught out like PPE, where the big UK company has their Chinese plant seized or the testing where we were too slow to put call out to the private sector.
I’m sure we are.
I don’t know about PPE, but in pharma the machinery is custom made and there is a 6-9 month minimum lead time
O/T, but thanks for your reading suggestions last night @Charles - much appreciated!
And I agree with @Cyclefree, the Times obituary of your father was equal parts fascinating and heart-warming.
Thank you. It was a very different time. I think our parents’ generation had a great deal more fun!
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
So long as the fees are the same at every school. Cautious tick. And you're hired on probation.
Nope, parents can top up the vouchers if they like.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
Jesus, do you have any policies where the answer is to improve, rather than drag everyone down to about the same level?
Yes but all that stuff - "levelling up" - is motherhood and apple pie. It's boring to talk about things everyone signs up to. It's just platitudes and waffle most of the time if you go that route.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
Good schools don't appear out of thin air, they appear because of competition and academic selection.
Wealthy parents might be prepared to send their children to an outstanding state comprehensive or grammar school, they will always go private over an inadequate or requires improvement state school
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
I have friends in the UK who are teachers, friends in the UK who gave up teaching, and friends in Germany who are teachers, including my girlfriend.
All of the UK teachers I know who gave up, did so because of the crazy out of hours workload not because of the pay. Comparing the working conditions between the two countries I see two differences. Thie biggest difference is that homework is not marked by the teachers in Germany. Exams are marked by teachers, but not the standard homework.
The other difference is the teachers in Germany are there to help the pupils learn as much as possible. They are not there to maximise the exam results. The difference might seem subtle to some outside of education, but the effect this has on job satisfaction is considerable. Once the job satisfaction gets wringed out of you that's when you leave the profession.
Great observation. I don’t know much about the German system, but that certainly rings true for the UK.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
So long as the fees are the same at every school. Cautious tick. And you're hired on probation.
Nope, parents can top up the vouchers if they like.
Your proposed system places considerable reliance on the competence of parents. Which would likely exacerbate current inequalities,
Everyone saying 8 April was peak but that's potentially highly misleading - date of death 15 April has the 2nd highest number of deaths reported within two days.
It's arguable 8 April was a slight outlier on the upside and that broad picture is of a plateau with no significant move downwards at all.
Yes, it looks like this is a peak like Table Mountain rather than Mont Blanc.
Not entirely dissimilar to Italy, which has been hovering around 500 deaths a day since April; 6. Today they had 525
France is also slow to decline. Another 761 deaths today.
This seems to be a feature of the bug.
I think it's a feature of lockdown, not the bug. Left to its own devices, the epidemic would see a terrifying spike of death. With lockdown you aim to get to below R=1. Going a lot lower than that it's difficult.
The grown-up politician explains this in her press conference.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
I have friends in the UK who are teachers, friends in the UK who gave up teaching, and friends in Germany who are teachers, including my girlfriend.
All of the UK teachers I know who gave up, did so because of the crazy out of hours workload not because of the pay. Comparing the working conditions between the two countries I see two differences. Thie biggest difference is that homework is not marked by the teachers in Germany. Exams are marked by teachers, but not the standard homework.
The other difference is the teachers in Germany are there to help the pupils learn as much as possible. They are not there to maximise the exam results. The difference might seem subtle to some outside of education, but the effect this has on job satisfaction is considerable. Once the job satisfaction gets wringed out of you that's when you leave the profession.
Germany is still largely selective, with gymnasiums in most states the equivalent of our grammar schools
Mr. kinabalu, their financial sector is inferior, their handling of the migrant crisis was incredibly stupid, and they increased energy costs massively by Merkel's ridiculous reaction to the Fukushima[sp] meltdown and banning of nuclear power in a country not necessarily renowned for earthquakes and tsunamis.
You can point at any country and find good and bad aspects.
Still, those arguing Germany's magnificent will have fun making the case for banning the niqab and completely changing the way the NHS works.
You supply more supporting evidence -
Their financial sector is VASTLY more fit for purpose and value added. The welcoming of the refugees was an act of great vision and compassion. They got ahead of the curve on nuclear. It's not the future. Banning full face covering is a great example of tolerance without cultural cringe. Their healthcare system knocks the NHS into a cocked one.
And a few more for the pot -
Their education system is tons better. And no silly fetish for privates. The way that top level football is run. Exemplary c.f. our rich man's toy model. They devolve power so much better. They are a true democracy. They make quality things and look after the people who do the work. The approach to housing over there. So much more rational than ours.
One could go on. One has, really.
Deuba...Coba...DKW....WestLB....HVB.... sorry what were you saying about their financial sector...? Did I forget IKB? Or BerlinLB?
But compared to our bunch of desperadoes ...
We do ok. the Scottish banks were basket cases, as were some of the provincial mortgage banks.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
Slightly off topic for this thread, but have any of the other teachers on here been in hospital for an operation and been greeted with “ hello sir, you probably don’t remember me but...” from a former pupil?
almost.
barstaff.
You had an operation from a former barkeeper?! Or one of your former pupils served you a drink?
The nearest I’ve ever come to that is when an ITT at Bristol recognised me from a single lesson I had given him six years before.
Must have been the best revision session ever.
I of course didn’t recognise him at all!
There is a fascinating imbalance to the teacher's job, isn't there. You are an important figure in the lives of countless people who to you are nothing. Not that you don't care, of course you do, just that they are so many and you are just you. There must be thousands out there who remember you to this day. They can picture you, hear your voice, they know your name. And you are oblivious.
That is the experience of a profession. Whether teacher, priest, lawyer or physician, your contact with a person can change their life, for better or worse. It tends to be a memorable experience too.
True. But more pronounced with teachers because as well as one versus many it's adult and child. You are a BIG figure in their life in a literal sense too.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
I'd hazard a guess, as a grandfather who has been asked several times, that there's also tuition on personal statements. I wish someone had told me what Uni's wanted.
Some places take it very seriously, but in Leicester we have a policy not to read them. They are worthless and formulaic.
Excellent. The angst over the production of them is significant, and unnecessary.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
Slightly off topic for this thread, but have any of the other teachers on here been in hospital for an operation and been greeted with “ hello sir, you probably don’t remember me but...” from a former pupil?
almost.
barstaff.
You had an operation from a former barkeeper?! Or one of your former pupils served you a drink?
The nearest I’ve ever come to that is when an ITT at Bristol recognised me from a single lesson I had given him six years before.
Must have been the best revision session ever.
I of course didn’t recognise him at all!
There is a fascinating imbalance to the teacher's job, isn't there. You are an important figure in the lives of countless people who to you are nothing.
And there, instantly - and not with an edit to rip it out of context - is why people who have never taught do not understand education. Nobody you teach for any length of time is ever ‘nothing’ to a teacher. The difficulty here is I only taught him once. If he had been one of the Year 11 class I taught for five months, I would have known him alright.
I was impressed that my Head Man’s wife recognised me when I bumped into her in Peter Jones 20 years later...
Twisting words is not the same (or as bad) as imputing false motive. Not that I was twisting your words. I was merely seeking to condense.
If you say so...
I will admit that is the most unconvincing statement I have heard since a student when I was on teaching prac did actually say they couldn’t hand in their homework ‘because the dog ate my USB pen,’ but it isn’t ultimately very important. You have shown that your position on this is not based on reasoned arguments so reasoned arguments are unlikely to move you.
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
So long as the fees are the same at every school. Cautious tick. And you're hired on probation.
Nope, parents can top up the vouchers if they like.
Your proposed system places considerable reliance on the competence of parents. Which would likely exacerbate current inequalities,
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
We no longer look at personal statements, prefer post A level applications
I can’t help but feel those two, particularly the second, would be far better for social mobility than just about any campaign against private schools if they were rolled out for every course and uni.
But leaving universities with a blank year is something they are never going to agree to.
We take a mix of pre and post A level students, and graduate students too.
Our scoring algorithm simply gives more points for an actual A level over a predicted one*. We also find that some time working in the care sector brings extra maturity to the students. They are better on our acting stations with simulated patients.
*private schools over egg their predictions compared to state schools which tend to underestimate their brightest. This is one way to level the playing field without ruling out exceptional 6 th formers.
Some private schools, apparently, are refusing to provide predicted grades unless parents pay the whole year's fees for schooling they aren't really getting. Which some parents are unable to do, no longer having a job or a business. It's a pickle.
The 20-30 that I’ve seen figures for are cutting fees by 20-30%
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
Slightly off topic for this thread, but have any of the other teachers on here been in hospital for an operation and been greeted with “ hello sir, you probably don’t remember me but...” from a former pupil?
almost.
barstaff.
You had an operation from a former barkeeper?! Or one of your former pupils served you a drink?
The nearest I’ve ever come to that is when an ITT at Bristol recognised me from a single lesson I had given him six years before.
Must have been the best revision session ever.
I of course didn’t recognise him at all!
There is a fascinating imbalance to the teacher's job, isn't there. You are an important figure in the lives of countless people who to you are nothing.
And there, instantly - and not with an edit to rip it out of context - is why people who have never taught do not understand education. Nobody you teach for any length of time is ever ‘nothing’ to a teacher. The difficulty here is I only taught him once. If he had been one of the Year 11 class I taught for five months, I would have known him alright.
I was impressed that my Head Man’s wife recognised me when I bumped into her in Peter Jones 20 years later...
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be on the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
According to the Sutton trust state school teachers are more likely to have BEd degrees but independent school teachers more likely to have MScs and PhDs and postgraduate qualifications in the subjects they teach.
Everyone saying 8 April was peak but that's potentially highly misleading - date of death 15 April has the 2nd highest number of deaths reported within two days.
It's arguable 8 April was a slight outlier on the upside and that broad picture is of a plateau with no significant move downwards at all.
Yes, it looks like this is a peak like Table Mountain rather than Mont Blanc.
Not entirely dissimilar to Italy, which has been hovering around 500 deaths a day since April; 6. Today they had 525
France is also slow to decline. Another 761 deaths today.
This seems to be a feature of the bug.
I think it's a feature of lockdown, not the bug. Left to its own devices, the epidemic would see a terrifying spike of death. With lockdown you aim to get to below R=1. Going a lot lower than that it's difficult.
The grown-up politician explains this in her press conference.
Is she still planning to step down later this year?
Compare that to Trump or Boris/Raab. It makes you want to weep
And now imagine Piers Morgan yelling “answer the question! Yes or No!”
Politicians can only develop thoughtful answers if they are given the space to do so. Being respectful doesn’t mean giving them an easy ride
When Morgan interviewed Helen Whately on Weds, I defy anybody to admit to thinking she was ‘laughing at elderly people dying in care homes’ rather than ‘exacerbated at his pompous interviewing/interrupting technique’
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be ok the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
But that's happening already. The Six O'Clock News had a whole section on NHS staff dying.
Now the government has changed the rules to make them more likely to die. Before this it was still all under the "well it's come out of nowhere" now we're 8-10 weeks in and still haven't resolved the shortages.
Everyone wants the government to succeed in getting to grips with the virus for all our sakes.
Unfortunately I have a growing feeling that we have a largely inexperienced and second rate cabinet handling this crisis. I don't consider Johnson a politician with much gravitas himself and his cabinet was largely selected on the grounds of their willingness to see through a no deal Brexit if necessary.
Of course the current crisis could not have been foreseen at the time but the upshot is we are led by people like Raab, Patel and Hancock who I'm afraid are all beginning to look out of their depth.
According to the Sutton trust state school teachers are more likely to have BEd degrees but independent school teachers more likely to have MScs and PhDs and postgraduate qualifications in the subjects they teach.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
It is fairly easy to spot the privately educated applicants when I am doing the Medical School interviews. It is usually obvious from the extracurricular activities etc.
Yes, I suppose that is a bit of a flaw here. Still what can you do. You can't dispense with interviews, I don't suppose.
Does medicine have a pronounced over-representation from the privately educated, would you say?
Slightly off topic for this thread, but have any of the other teachers on here been in hospital for an operation and been greeted with “ hello sir, you probably don’t remember me but...” from a former pupil?
almost.
barstaff.
You had an operation from a former barkeeper?! Or one of your former pupils served you a drink?
The nearest I’ve ever come to that is when an ITT at Bristol recognised me from a single lesson I had given him six years before.
Must have been the best revision session ever.
I of course didn’t recognise him at all!
There is a fascinating imbalance to the teacher's job, isn't there. You are an important figure in the lives of countless people who to you are nothing.
And there, instantly - and not with an edit to rip it out of context - is why people who have never taught do not understand education. Nobody you teach for any length of time is ever ‘nothing’ to a teacher. The difficulty here is I only taught him once. If he had been one of the Year 11 class I taught for five months, I would have known him alright.
Except you have done exactly that. Edited it and deleted the rest of the comment which gave it the required context.
A teacher is a far bigger figure in the life of a child than vice versa. And the imbalance is all the greater because it is also adult child.
This is why the profession is so important and why the quality control over entrants is so important.
Is that not a reasonable observation? Or should only teachers be commenting on this whole subject?
Abolish the Department for Education, close every state school in the country, and give every parent the money in school vouchers.
The free market will sort it out, and we'll finally have a truly world class school education system.
Every child will be educated brilliantly.
Abolish the target of 50% of school kids going to university, remove university status from most of the former polys.
Abolish fees for those that study degrees in the most important subjects, such as STEM, medicine, engineering, computing based degrees, history, and law degrees.
I am quite happy to serve as Education Secretary.
Happier than the rest of us, perhaps.
A bit like Michael Gove.
I'd make sure every child was educated. The best teachers would command salaries that would be at the top end of society.
I realise I was lucky that my uni fees were paid for, I want to go back to that.
TSE for EdSec 7 years ago.
(So my extremely high pay under that system would also be reflected in my pension.)
To my surprise, I'm with TSE here. Pay teachers much more. And thereby make it more competitive to get into. Some teachers - like my daughter's young, enthusiastic year 3 teacher - are worth much more. Some - like my daughter's occasionally adequate year 4 teacher - aren't. I can't see any way of getting more of the former and fewer od the latter without paying them more.
While pay matters, I don't think it the decisive reason that so many teachers do not stick to the profession*. Other elements might well matter more, particularly a supportive culture of respect for teachers from parents and from the hierarchy of education and government. That is not so easy to address.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
I have friends in the UK who are teachers, friends in the UK who gave up teaching, and friends in Germany who are teachers, including my girlfriend.
All of the UK teachers I know who gave up, did so because of the crazy out of hours workload not because of the pay. Comparing the working conditions between the two countries I see two differences. Thie biggest difference is that homework is not marked by the teachers in Germany. Exams are marked by teachers, but not the standard homework.
The other difference is the teachers in Germany are there to help the pupils learn as much as possible. They are not there to maximise the exam results. The difference might seem subtle to some outside of education, but the effect this has on job satisfaction is considerable. Once the job satisfaction gets wringed out of you that's when you leave the profession.
Germany is still largely selective, with gymnasiums in most states the equivalent of our grammar schools
For a start none of the teachers I know in Germany are in Gymnasien, but secondly what has this at all got to do with what I wrote?
According to the Sutton trust state school teachers are more likely to have BEd degrees but independent school teachers more likely to have MScs and PhDs and postgraduate qualifications in the subjects they teach.
Twisting words is not the same (or as bad) as imputing false motive. Not that I was twisting your words. I was merely seeking to condense.
If you say so...
I will admit that is the most unconvincing statement I have heard since a student when I was on teaching prac did actually say they couldn’t hand in their homework ‘because the dog ate my USB pen,’ but it isn’t ultimately very important. You have shown that your position on this is not based on reasoned arguments so reasoned arguments are unlikely to move you.
Have a good evening.
Bollox. I do logic and reasoning. You do banalities and waffle.
Mr. kinabalu, their financial sector is inferior, their handling of the migrant crisis was incredibly stupid, and they increased energy costs massively by Merkel's ridiculous reaction to the Fukushima[sp] meltdown and banning of nuclear power in a country not necessarily renowned for earthquakes and tsunamis.
You can point at any country and find good and bad aspects.
Still, those arguing Germany's magnificent will have fun making the case for banning the niqab and completely changing the way the NHS works.
You supply more supporting evidence -
Their financial sector is VASTLY more fit for purpose and value added. The welcoming of the refugees was an act of great vision and compassion. They got ahead of the curve on nuclear. It's not the future. Banning full face covering is a great example of tolerance without cultural cringe. Their healthcare system knocks the NHS into a cocked one.
And a few more for the pot -
Their education system is tons better. And no silly fetish for privates. The way that top level football is run. Exemplary c.f. our rich man's toy model. They devolve power so much better. They are a true democracy. They make quality things and look after the people who do the work. The approach to housing over there. So much more rational than ours.
One could go on. One has, really.
Deuba...Coba...DKW....WestLB....HVB.... sorry what were you saying about their financial sector...? Did I forget IKB? Or BerlinLB?
But compared to our bunch of desperadoes ...
We do ok. the Scottish banks were basket cases, as were some of the provincial mortgage banks.
Lloyds and Barclays did ok as did Abbey and MCHC.
Barclays were OK through the sheer dumb luck of being outbid by Fred for ABN.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
Jesus, do you have any policies where the answer is to improve, rather than drag everyone down to about the same level?
Yes but all that stuff - "levelling up" - is motherhood and apple pie. It's boring to talk about things everyone signs up to. It's just platitudes and waffle most of the time if you go that route.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
Good schools don't appear out of thin air, they appear because of competition and academic selection.
Wealthy parents might be prepared to send their children to an outstanding state comprehensive or grammar school, they will always go private over an inadequate or requires improvement state school
But we don't want any good schools. The very term implies the need for bad ones. We just want schools.
Have you ever come across the No True Scotsman fallacy?
Yes. Nice one. But I'm not anti private schools in principle, I'm anti our ones. The way WE have things arranged. However after yesterday people have heard enough from me on this topic until at least Sunday.
It seems to me that you’re more anti a caricature of private schools based on a few particular examples. If I match what you say about private schools to the ones in Staffordshire, the only one I recognise is Denstone and possibly Abbotsholme (which is a business so probably doesn’t come under your particular pet hate). Lichfield, St Dominic's Brewood, Chase Academy Cannock, Stafford Grammar, Newcastle under Lyme all operate in much the same way you describe German private schools, with this crucial difference - they take no money from the state.
You're getting bogged down.
7% of kids go private. Almost half of Oxbridge places go to them.
Oxbridge supplies our elite.
We start there.
Did you know the civil service now bans applicants from stating their alma mater?
I didn't. First instinct, I like it. I also like the idea that top tier unis should limit private school places to 10%. That would be an exocet to the sector, I think.
Jesus, do you have any policies where the answer is to improve, rather than drag everyone down to about the same level?
Yes but all that stuff - "levelling up" - is motherhood and apple pie. It's boring to talk about things everyone signs up to. It's just platitudes and waffle most of the time if you go that route.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
And anyway- in terms of competent access to teaching that will get your child the grades they deserve, there's not that much in it between state and private sectors. (Seriously. Unless your local comp is one of the small number of very worst, it's better that they spend 1 hour a day doing extra reading than spending that time travelling to and from a more distant but better school.) It's the other stuff- the studious classmates, the networking and so on which is much much harder to do in the context of a state comprehensive. And that problem, which is real and huge, is much harder to fix with money.
Yes. The 2 big advantages. Funding. Intake.
The most advantaged pupils have the most spent on them.
A source had told the Guardian: “The new guidance will say ‘this is what you do if you don’t have any gowns’. Wear an apron instead – that will be the new policy for the foreseeable future, though the medical organisations will go mad about that.”
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
This is universal credit all over again. You think the government will take a hit, but most people won't notice.
No this is the dementia tax. It feels like that anyway.
The policy where the government were going to "steal your house"?
It's like sending soldiers into battle with a pocket knife. The first nurse to die because of the revised guidelines is going to be ok the front page of The Sun and all over social media.
But that's happening already. The Six O'Clock News had a whole section on NHS staff dying.
Now the government has changed the rules to make them more likely to die. Before this it was still all under the "well it's come out of nowhere" now we're 8-10 weeks in and still haven't resolved the shortages.
Everyone wants the government to succeed in getting to grips with the virus for all our sakes.
Unfortunately I have a growing feeling that we have a largely inexperienced and second rate cabinet handling this crisis. I don't consider Johnson a politician with much gravitas himself and his cabinet was largely selected on the grounds of their willingness to see through a no deal Brexit if necessary.
Of course the current crisis could not have been foreseen at the time but the upshot is we are led by people like Raab, Patel and Hancock who I'm afraid are all beginning to look out of their depth.
I really don't understand why such a frenzy is now being whipped up by the media other than their desperation to try & find a sensational story & if not to fabricate one..
I spent my entire career working for the US multinational that invented & patented the SMS (Spunbond Meltdown Spunbond) fabric that is now globally used for surgical gowns.There are other workable options.
For example industrial coveralls (boiler suits)which again due the barrier properties of SMS are widely used for protection purposes in a variety of industries. The main difference is the colour of the fabric, blue for surgical gowns & white, grey for coveralls. I alerted my MP to this option a couple of weeks ago as there must be literally hundreds of thousands of coveralls sitting in industrial companies warehouses & at their distributors.
The UK market is under developed in terms of single use surgical gowns (currently used as PPE gowns). With reusable linen gown still being widely used in Operating Theatres throughout the UK, they should be readily available for use with a plastic apron for additional protection.
Twisting words is not the same (or as bad) as imputing false motive. Not that I was twisting your words. I was merely seeking to condense.
If you say so...
I will admit that is the most unconvincing statement I have heard since a student when I was on teaching prac did actually say they couldn’t hand in their homework ‘because the dog ate my USB pen,’ but it isn’t ultimately very important. You have shown that your position on this is not based on reasoned arguments so reasoned arguments are unlikely to move you.
Have a good evening.
Bollox. I do logic and reasoning. You do banalities and waffle.
Is that an irregular verb? I do logic and reasoning, you do banalities and waffle, he is a Civil Servant at the Department for Education?
As for the rest - it’s a long while since I’ve seen anyone have a meltdown like this over a subject they have so little understanding of. Are you sure Dominic Cummings hasn’t possessed you?
Twisting words is not the same (or as bad) as imputing false motive. Not that I was twisting your words. I was merely seeking to condense.
If you say so...
I will admit that is the most unconvincing statement I have heard since a student when I was on teaching prac did actually say they couldn’t hand in their homework ‘because the dog ate my USB pen,’ but it isn’t ultimately very important. You have shown that your position on this is not based on reasoned arguments so reasoned arguments are unlikely to move you.
Have a good evening.
Bollox. I do logic and reasoning. You do banalities and waffle.
Is that an irregular verb? I do logic and reasoning, you do banalities and waffle, he is a Civil Servant at the Department for Education?
As for the rest - it’s a long while since I’ve seen anyone have a meltdown like this over a subject they have so little understanding of. Are you sure Dominic Cummings hasn’t possessed you?
Look, I can't restrict my comments to matters of which I have great knowledge, otherwise it's game over for me. It would be goodbye and god bless.
Anyway. Perfectly satisfactory late night exchange and many thanks for it. All insults recalled to the pavilion.
Comments
Critics of our government would say that they have shamefully neglected social care, with disastrous consequences for care home residents.
I couldn’t give a fig about the international league tables in this respect.
I want every child in this country to receive that without parents having to make sacrifices.
I wish someone had told me what Uni's wanted.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/17/nhs-staff-to-be-asked-to-treat-coronavirus-patients-without-gowns?CMP=share_btn_tw
Yeah the government's popularity is going to take a hit.
* I am sure that we all agree that poor teachers who are not improving should move on, I suspect that the good ones are as likely to quit. That sort of reflective self doubt in a professional is both a key to being an inspiring teacher, but also to that crisis of faith.
All the best doctors that I know came close to dropping out. Indeed one of my colleagues is quite a competent roofer, having done that for a year before his mates on the site persuaded him back into medicine.
https://twitter.com/johnestevens/status/1251049661265297408
https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1251232243927986185
Now then. Let's argue properly. No distractive waffle.
If private schools exist primarily because of state school failings, how does this square with the evidence which indicates that having adjusted for their advantaged intake, private school results are not materially better than state? That most of the kids who do well there would do just as well at a typical state school.
If your answer to the above is that it's mainly about class sizes (which I think it will be since we have agreed this point before) then the main state school relative "failing" we are looking at is FUNDING. Funding per pupil.
So, what should we do about that? Triple the education budget?
The angst over the production of them is significant, and unnecessary.
For example, it's utterly insane that many teachers are expected to source or create their own lesson materials, rather than using or adapting externally-produced ones. It's a mixture of craftsmanship (we all want to make personalised lessons) and lack of money, but it also limits how well things get taught and creates excess work which does horrible things for retention.
Finally, you got it.
In the state sector, Without checking, average pupil spend is around £4,000. In the private sector, it’s over ten.
Abolish the imbalance and private schools will either wither, or join the state sector.
And it would make it a whole lot easier to recruit and retain teachers.
For example -
We need to make state schools SO good that nobody in their right mind would fork out for private.
No doubt everybody agrees with that. I certainly do. But it's going precisely nowhere.
With reference to Covid 19 no mention of course that Scotland is sparsely populated compared with England, has approx. a third of UK landmass but with only 8% of population, only one city with i million population,no major airports etc. etc.
It's the other stuff- the studious classmates, the networking and so on which is much much harder to do in the context of a state comprehensive. And that problem, which is real and huge, is much harder to fix with money.
All of the UK teachers I know who gave up, did so because of the crazy out of hours workload not because of the pay. Comparing the working conditions between the two countries I see two differences. Thie biggest difference is that homework is not marked by the teachers in Germany. Exams are marked by teachers, but not the standard homework.
The other difference is the teachers in Germany are there to help the pupils learn as much as possible. They are not there to maximise the exam results. The difference might seem subtle to some outside of education, but the effect this has on job satisfaction is considerable. Once the job satisfaction gets wringed out of you that's when you leave the profession.
Of course with magic money tree all is possible - and we are perhaps about to shake it - so maybe now is the time.
Of course with magic money tree all is possible - and we are perhaps about to shake it - so maybe now is the time.
EDIT -
Twisting words is not the same (or as bad) as imputing false motive. Not that I was twisting your words. I was merely seeking to condense.
Wealthy parents might be prepared to send their children to an outstanding state comprehensive or grammar school, they will always go private over an inadequate or requires improvement state school
I don’t know much about the German system, but that certainly rings true for the UK.
https://youtu.be/6t1vaF50Ks0
Just read all TfL London buses will be free from Monday.
Instead, passengers will board and exit from the middle doors only and won't have to tap Oyster cards on any readers.
This is apparently to keep drivers as safe as possible after a number of drivers died from coronavirus.
Everything he said was spot on.
Politicians can only develop thoughtful answers if they are given the space to do so. Being respectful doesn’t mean giving them an easy ride
Lloyds and Barclays did ok as did Abbey and MCHC.
I will admit that is the most unconvincing statement I have heard since a student when I was on teaching prac did actually say they couldn’t hand in their homework ‘because the dog ate my USB pen,’ but it isn’t ultimately very important. You have shown that your position on this is not based on reasoned arguments so reasoned arguments are unlikely to move you.
Have a good evening.
What we are currently doing isn't working.
Would you rather they didn’t treat the patients?
Unfortunately I have a growing feeling that we have a largely inexperienced and second rate cabinet handling this crisis. I don't consider Johnson a politician with much gravitas himself and his cabinet was largely selected on the grounds of their willingness to see through a no deal Brexit if necessary.
Of course the current crisis could not have been foreseen at the time but the upshot is we are led by people like Raab, Patel and Hancock who I'm afraid are all beginning to look out of their depth.
A teacher is a far bigger figure in the life of a child than vice versa. And the imbalance is all the greater because it is also adult child.
This is why the profession is so important and why the quality control over entrants is so important.
Is that not a reasonable observation? Or should only teachers be commenting on this whole subject?
The most advantaged pupils have the most spent on them.
Should be the other way around IMO.
I really don't understand why such a frenzy is now being whipped up by the media other than their desperation to try & find a sensational story & if not to fabricate one..
I spent my entire career working for the US multinational that invented & patented the SMS (Spunbond Meltdown Spunbond) fabric that is now globally used for surgical gowns.There are other workable options.
For example industrial coveralls (boiler suits)which again due the barrier properties of SMS are widely used for protection purposes in a variety of industries. The main difference is the colour of the fabric, blue for surgical gowns & white, grey for coveralls.
I alerted my MP to this option a couple of weeks ago as there must be literally hundreds of thousands of coveralls sitting in industrial companies warehouses & at their distributors.
The UK market is under developed in terms of single use surgical gowns (currently used as PPE gowns). With reusable linen gown still being widely used in Operating Theatres throughout the UK, they should be readily available for use with a plastic apron for additional protection.
As for the rest - it’s a long while since I’ve seen anyone have a meltdown like this over a subject they have so little understanding of. Are you sure Dominic Cummings hasn’t possessed you?
Look, I can't restrict my comments to matters of which I have great knowledge, otherwise it's game over for me. It would be goodbye and god bless.
Anyway. Perfectly satisfactory late night exchange and many thanks for it. All insults recalled to the pavilion.