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I am attempting to be the first independent Member of Parliament for East Worthing and Shoreham. I am a husband, father and teacher who lives in the constituency and am passionate about championing public services, infrastructure and the needs of the people of East Worthing and Shoreham.
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FROM East Worthing & Shoreham, FOR East Worthing & Shoreham -          A FAIR DEAL FOR OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION -        ...

Sunday 21 May 2017

My Thoughts On: Education Funding



A synopsis:

3000 headteachers from 14 counties have written to parents to highlight some issues that they may want to ask their electoral candidates about during the campaign. They include:
  • £3bn cut in funding for schools.
  • The difficulty attracting quality teachers.
  • The difficulty recruiting in some subject areas.
They haven’t mentioned the £6bn spent, over the market rate, on potential free school sites because they are the preferred school type of this government.

They haven’t mentioned that the conditions (marking, planning, continual exam tinkering) teachers work under are driving them away, with recruitment in some subject areas not hitting targets for 5 years in a row.

Party politics is harming our children’s education and that is a major part of why I am standing as independent candidate in this election.

If you want to read the whole article, then read on.

All my thoughts:

My daughter’s school, as well as around 3000 other schools from 14 counties, have sent a letter to all their parents explaining why schools are facing financial difficulties.

The government and Department for Education are claiming two things:
  1. Education funding is at record levels.
  2. They are introducing a “Fairer Funding Formula” to redistribute the record funding more equally around the country.
Along with the letter there is a list of suggestions that parents can challenge parliamentary candidates with. These include, in no particular order:
  • £3bn being withdrawn from the schools budget in England, which will mean a fall of around £400 per pupil per year for many school according to the banners many schools have hanging on their gate.
  • Recruitment, especially in subjects such as Maths, Science, English and Computer Science is becoming problematic as schools can’t compete financially with business for these teachers’ skills.
  • Class sizes increasing as the number of teachers a school can afford are falling.
  • Reduction in the subjects a school can offer meaning that students find it increasingly difficult to choose an education path that enthuses them.
  • Extra-curricular activities can no longer run as schools must save money.
These are all extremely valid and this issue is a major driver behind my decision to stand as an independent candidate in this election. What is not included is the following:
  • The Department for Education have spent £6bn on paying over the odds for potential free school sites. These schools don’t actually exist, but £6bn has been spent because the current government like free schools. Free schools can be very good; they can also be very bad (some have been forcibly closed). Free schools have just as much chance of succeeding as any other type of school but cost, according to the National Audit Office, around double what other schools cost.
  • Increased class sizes mean extra work (marking, setting tasks and so on) for teachers who are already hard to recruit. Whilst the hours may seem great (and the holidays of course) many hours outside of the perceived school day are taken up with marking, planning and preparation with this becoming an ever increasing issue as class size grow, and remember this happens for no extra pay and this eats in to family and social life.
  • With diminished funds to attract staff the only teachers schools can afford are inexperienced ones because they are at the lower end of the pay scale. Inexperienced teachers can be brilliant but the general consensus in the profession is that 10 years experience produces a “good” or “outstanding” teacher.
  • The continual changes in curriculum based upon nothing other than the current incumbent of Minister for Education’s preferences is demoralising for teachers and is another reason why schools are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit.
  • Targets in teacher training for maths, physics and design technology have not been met in 5 years, yet figures are boosted by over-recruitment in other subjects meaning that maths, physics and design technology lessons are regularly taught by non-specialists.
Party politicians only give the version of facts that favours their party’s policy, and omit facts that show them in a poor light, therefore the general public never get the complete story. This doesn’t help anyone.

This is why we need independent candidates, if only to keep party politicians honest.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Andy, great blog post. Your policies sound exactly like those laid down in our Green Manifesto! Any civilised society sees education as a public good and invests in it accordingly. Failure to do so is not only dereliction of duty towards individual children, whose opportunities to learn and thrive are greatly reduced; it is also extremely short-sighted, as the UK relies upon a well-educated population for its workforce and its global reputation.

    The Green Party would ensure that real terms spending on schools increases and is protected; and we would reduce class sizes, with a long-term goal of 20 per class at both primary and secondary level.
    We would return all schools to local authority control, ending the disastrous experiment with free schools and academies, which has fragmented the school system and directed money to where it is least needed while failing to improve children’s education.

    I can see your views on party politicians, but I think it only fair to note that our Green MP Caroline Lucas has a strong record of standing up for children and teachers in Parliament, including calling for a debate on the school funding crisis, supporting campaigns to protect schools in her constituency from forced academisation, and leading the calls for compulsory PSHE. Electing more Green MPs as well as independents interested in education (not all are) will mean a stronger voice on these issues.

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