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Speaker notes: Schools in Crisis

Cuts

Key data can be found on .uk

with a facility to find data for each school.

Local newspaper reports etc. appear on the site's Blog page

Regional cuts are on the NUT spreadsheet agg_cuts_by_region.xlsx

2015/16 - 2019/20

9% NE, SE, SW 10% E Mid, East, Outer London, W Mid, Yorks 11% NW 13% Inner London

Details by Local Authority, based on NUT spreadsheet are on agg_cuts_by_la.xlsx

Teacher morale

Teacher working hours: most recent Government source DfE Teacher Workload Survey 2016.

DfE data SFR 21/2016 School Workforce in England (table 8) shows 25% leave within 3 years. A large survey by LKM / Pearson 'Why teach?' provides strong evidence of low morale: almost half of teachers regret their decision to enter teaching, and only 1 in 3 would recommend it to their own child. Nearly half complain of being "unhappy with the quality of leadership and management."

Poverty

Child Poverty Action Group says 3.9m i.e. 28% (2014-15) "As an average, that is 9 children in poverty in a class of 30."

(March 2017) says more than two-thirds of them have at least one parent working (i.e. 12% of lone parent families and 87% of two-parent families).

Super-rich: data derives from The Sunday Times rich list, showing a rise for Britain's richest 1000 people from £258bn in 2009 to £519bn in 2014 (doubled in five years of Austerity).

Guardian 18 May 2014

The attainment gap:

DfE statistics for 2015 GCSEs SFR 01/2016, 21 Jan 2016

Percentage of pupils getting 5 or more A*-Cs with Eng and Ma

FSM 33.1% Disad. 36.7%

Others 60.9% Others 64.7%

('Disadvantaged' = known to have been in FSM at any time in past 6 years, or in care / adopted from care)

DfE statistics for GCSE 2016 SFR03_2017.pdf

Average Average % getting % achieving

Attainment 8 Progress 8 A*-C in Ebacc

score score Eng and Ma.

Disad. 41.1 -0.38 43.1% 11.7%

Others 53.3 0.10 70.6% 29.7%

FSM 39.0 -0.46

Others 51.6 0.04

Progress 8 scores show children in poverty fall further behind during secondary. The exception is children with EAL, whose KS2 results are lower but they then make rapid progress.

First language

English 50.0 -0.09

not English 49.9 0.39

Few prospects for the young

Tuition fees (£9000 a year) and the maximum student loan for maintenance means a debt of £53,000 on graduating. According to the Intergenerational Foundation () interest accumulating could easily wipe out the financial advantage of a degree. Nearly 60% of graduates are working in non-graduate jobs.

Apprenticeships: there is serious concern at short-term apprenticeships with poor outcomes. Apprenticeships now sometimes last only one year. The National Audit Office (Delivering value through the apprenticeships programme, HC624, Sept 2016) states that "one in five apprentices reported that they had not received any formal training at all, either at an external provider or in the workplace." One in three don't complete.

Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, March 2016: Only about 1 in 20 16-19 year olds start apprenticeships (though nearly 1 in 10 in some Northern regions). Most apprenticeships for young people are in low skilled, low paid jobs, in industries such as social care, health and hospital and catering.

Testing 4-year-olds

The Government had to abandon baseline tests in Reception, but are aiming to restart them. Even the most experienced provider makes correct predictions for only 4 children out of 10 (CEM, discovered through FoI), but these tests are meant as the basis for judging schools. The emphasis on (limited aspects of) literacy and numeracy is narrowing what children do in nurseries as well as reception.

Half of 11-year-olds are told they are failures

Government statistics (SFR39_2016) show that in 2016 only 53% reached the 'expected' standard in all three main tests (Reading, Writing and Maths). Around a third failed Reading, ditto Maths.

2 out of 3 FSM children failed at least one test (51% failed reading, 46% maths, 41% writing).

Grammar schools for a few will mean low-quality schools for the rest

Historically and now, grammar schools take most of their pupils from better off families. The majority of children are relegated to secondary moderns (though often euphemistically called comprehensives.) Prime Minister Theresa May claims that grammar schools will help social mobility among 'just about managing' families ('JAMs'). (She seems to write off the poorest.) A recent study (Burgess/ Crawford / Macmillan) of areas with 11plus selection shows that 19 out of 20 of the poorest fifth go to secondary moderns, and 6 out of 7 JAMs (the next fifth). Only the richest 10% get more than half their children into grammar schools.

A mental health crisis among young people

A pupil questionnaire issued with the 2005 PISA tests places the UK 38th out of 48 countries for young people's satisfaction with life. It relates much of this to test anxieties.

The most recent Unicef study (2013) puts us behind almost all Western European countries.

Asset stripping: schools removed from democratic control

Most secondary schools and around a fifth of primary schools are now academies or 'free schools'. The Government backed down from forcing all schools to convert (as announced in the budget Spring 2016) but still drive towards that by putting intense pressure on schools with low attainment or progress scores.

Failing academies are 'rebrokered' into other academy chains (Multi-Academy Trusts or MATs) rather than handed back to Local Authorities.

Academy trusts are given 125 year leases on buildings and land, which future governments could turn into freehold.

Although supposedly 'not for profit', CEOs are drawing some very high salaries for a group of schools much smaller than Local Authorities (the record so far is £420,000, for the Harris group) (Schools Week 17 Mar 2017). Around a third of academy trusts recorded 'related party transactions' (i.e. with relatives), including 50 worth more than £250,000. (Wakefield City Academies paid nearly £450,000 to companies belonging to the CEO and his daughter, according to the Yorkshire Post 24 Oct 2016). The National Audit Office has expressed serious concerns about secrecy and financial malpractice. (School Week 10 Nov 2016 )

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