[Politics] Is £22 per primary school pupil enough to make up for the Covid impact on education?

[Is it PotG?]

Well this was always going to be a balanced one and hard to call.

 

[Swansman]

committed £1.4bn, almost half of the £15bn

 

[Chicken Run]

Well I’ve certainly been had then

More fool me. I will have to look out for case sensitivity in future dealing with the PPF

Do a HWT and out the PPF on ignore then you know the spoof [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[studio150]

So about one hour of a private tutor per pupil to make up for the lost education.

Of course it's not enough,

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

The government’s Covid education ‘Tsar’ has quit over the issue. The government has committed £1.4bn, almost half of the £15bn that Sir Kevan Collins recommended to make up for lost education, especially in poorer areas of the country.

Who is right though?

Before any accusations, yes I have worked in education for over 30 years.

Doesn’t sound enough but I suppose it depends what they want to buy with it. I think that tuition is a good idea but additional teacher training is a waste of money. Teachers already have to submit to an incredibly oppressive training course which results in high drop out rate and bullying. I would never subject them to any more of it.

 

[El Presidente]

In tests only half the people in this country can calculate fractions, the other third are hopeless at it.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

That’s the problem with schemes, even if they work, new and more fashionable things come along and replace others before you’ve had time to really see if they actually work. The amount of times we as a profession have flip flopped between individual reading, whole class reading and grouped guided reading is ridiculous.

I think that is a very good point. I would argue though that different schemes suit different children as it depends upon how they learn. It is quite difficult to have an effective one size fits all solution. Also (and please don’t take this the wrong way) teachers are often not best placed to make this judgement. Speech Therapists are fully trained in brain function and identifying individual strengths and weaknesses so perhaps their input into this kind of spending would be useful.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It's enough to buy one text book each.

What more do you want?

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

I think that is a very good point. I would argue though that different schemes suit different children as it depends upon how they learn. It is quite difficult to have an effective one size fits all solution. Also (and please don’t take this the wrong way) teachers are often not best placed to make this judgement. Speech Therapists are fully trained in brain function and identifying individual strengths and weaknesses so perhaps their input into this kind of spending would be useful.

I completely agree. Unfortunately that’s how many mainstream schools operate (one size fits all) and you can differentiate 6 ways from Sunday but there will still be children who aren’t getting what they need to help their learning. S&L specialists are worth their weight in gold. It’s a shame (and at a massive detriment to the children) that the budgets for such things have been slashed to the bone. The waiting list to see a S&L specialist at my school is quite depressing

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I completely agree. Unfortunately that’s how many mainstream schools operate (one size fits all) and you can differentiate 6 ways from Sunday but there will still be children who aren’t getting what they need to help their learning. S&L specialists are worth their weight in gold. It’s a shame (and at a massive detriment to the children) that the budgets for such things have been slashed to the bone. The waiting list to see a S&L specialist at my school is quite depressing

I can imagine. My wife is a S & L Therapist by background although she is Head of Therapy in a Special Needs school so runs the Therapy department. I also have some limited experience as a few years ago I decided on a career change to teaching. I lasted half the course before deciding to work instead as an Unqualified Teacher on supply in mainstream and full time at a local special needs school. Really enjoyed it for a while before returning to my original occupation. As you say, there is an inevitable one size fits all approach in mainstream which teachers do their best to make flexible. My experience suggests to me that therapist input is crucial in both settings. One big problem is pay. Many therapists go private at quite an early stage in their careers and schools end up buying in therapy, which can be costly. The state offering is certainly much reduced from the one in which my wife began her career in the 1980s.

 

[drew]

In tests only half the people in this country can calculate fractions, the other third are hopeless at it.

You joke about it but I'm now concerned about all the stats I hear on your podcast!!!!

 

[El Presidente]

You joke about it but I'm now concerned about all the stats I hear on your podcast!!!!

I've told you a million times before they are exaggerated!

 

[zefarelly]

They have been for some time. When I trained 6/7 years ago, we were told that 1 in 5 leave within the first 3 years. Covid has made things much worse with many feeling even more overworked and under appreciated.

A friend of mine has been teaching over 30 years, has retired as a head, early, just can't take it any more. Lifes too short. Very sad. My cousin and his wife moved and continue to teach, overseas, where they're appreciated/respected and justly rewarded.

There has been a seismic shift in what is considered a respectable profession in the last 50 years. Seems the only really valued ones are now the superficial vacuous ones that make hard cash and high profit.