"Student fees may have to rise or be diverted from teaching."

[Hastings gull]

He was wrong as that research would have said he had a much better chance of doing better, if he'd gone to a better school he would have phrased it differently and been right.

That is quite possible. Thanks

 

[GreersElbow]

Teaching costs?

I've put about £37,000 into tuition fees and I've got a shit ton of powerpoint slides though...

 

[cloud]

Welcome to the real world, no doubt many have already experienced the closing of their final salary pension scheme and a transfer to one where the employee takes all the risks on future performance,
It must be time for such public sector schemes to end.

I work for a university and USS moved everyone off final salary pensions a couple of years ago. My understanding is that this deficit must have risen in spite of the move to the new, defined contributions pensions.

 

[cloud]

The apprenticeship scheme that is an alternative to A Levels/FE/HE is unfortunately shambolic, and offers relatively little incentive. .

Some of the apprenticeship schemes allow you to convert them to a degree, thereby getting a degree that the employer has partially or wholly paid for and in theory less student debt.

 

[cloud]

It's generally accepted the grammar schools are a better environment

It depends on the grammar school. In areas where there are lots of grammar schools, standards have fallen and they can't fill the places. Our local grammar takes children from outside the county, plus anyone who failed but appeals gets given a place. Staff and pupil morale is low and many of the pupils leave and go elsewhere.

 

[BadFish]

Welcome to the real world, no doubt many have already experienced the closing of their final salary pension scheme and a transfer to one where the employee takes all the risks on future performance,
It must be time for such public sector schemes to end.

By the real world, I assume you mean the world created by successive right leaning governments?

If only there were other options.

You get what you vote for.

 

[darkwolf666]

It depends on the grammar school. In areas where there are lots of grammar schools, standards have fallen and they can't fill the places. Our local grammar takes children from outside the county, plus anyone who failed but appeals gets given a place. Staff and pupil morale is low and many of the pupils leave and go elsewhere.

That's not indicative of grammar schools per se, but more of a poorly run grammar school, by the sounds of it!

As much as I hate them, the school league tables show that grammar schools out perform comprehensive nearly all of the time!

 

[El Presidente]

That's not indicative of grammar schools per se, but more of a poorly run grammar school, by the sounds of it!

As much as I hate them, the school league tables show that grammar schools out perform comprehensive nearly all of the time!

That's because the quality of the inputs is higher though. Surely the focus should be on the value added by the school? If you take on a higher achieving bunch of kids at age 11, it's only natural to expect them to be also higher achieving at age 16.

 

[BadFish]

It's generally accepted the grammar schools are a better environment (as so many Labour MPs put their kids in them if they can as well as the Tories). We need to accept that not all kids are academically minded, so maybe we should reconsider what education is for. How many people do jobs which don't really require much in the way of traditional education (apart from an understanding of the language and basic maths)?

I was unfortunate enough to go to Tideway. There were many kids there who had no interest in education and were disruptive. Also, the standard of teaching was poor IMO. So how do we address the issue of those who want to get on and study being in the same school as those who don't?

Our Education system was designed for a bygone age. As you say it needs to be rethought from the bottom up. Sadly the buzzwords of 'traditial values' 'back to basics' etc etc are harking back to this outdated model rather than creating something for today and the future. Listenig to politicians talking about education is painful.

 

[El Presidente]

Some of the apprenticeship schemes allow you to convert them to a degree, thereby getting a degree that the employer has partially or wholly paid for and in theory less student debt.

The best apprenticeships are excellent, but there's far too many that are either bogus, and simply organisations that are simply leeching from the system to access government funding, or underachieving ones.

 

[darkwolf666]

That's because the quality of the inputs is higher though. Surely the focus should be on the value added by the school? If you take on a higher achieving bunch of kids at age 11, it's only natural to expect them to be also higher achieving at age 16.

Yes that is true, and how the new school league tables are generated - by how much "progress" a child has made since they started at senior school...