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• £3bn being withdrawn from the schools budget in England, which will mean a fall of around £400 per pupil per year for many school according to the banners many schools have hanging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.

My Manifesto

FROM East Worthing & Shoreham, FOR East Worthing & Shoreham

-         A FAIR DEAL FOR OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

-         SUPPORT FOR OUR NHS AND PUBLIC SERVICES

-         ACTION ON OUR TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE WOES

Your Member of Parliament is YOUR representative in Westminster and is YOUR voice in government. East Worthing & Shoreham needs change if the challenges our constituency faces are to be fully addressed in parliament.

I have lived and worked in East Worthing & Shoreham for most of my life. Your Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem candidates all live in other constituencies in the South East. A vote for me means you are backing someone who fully understands and has a stake in the issues we all face, and who can truly represent the constituency.

My policies are:

A better deal for our children and young people’s education

West Sussex has the fourth lowest funding per student in the country. Although the current government is introducing a “fairer funding formula” this has only meant so far that money has been siphoned away from London and more evenly spread around the country. This policy will lead to real term cuts, despite official government announcements.

We keep being told that there has never been more money spent on education. However, the part that’s left out in these statements is the record numbers of students and the record high costs faced by schools.

We need to enthuse young people with a curriculum that they can ALL engage with, which will then offer a future that young people can ALL aspire to. Someone needs to stand up for the many hardworking, decent young people in East Worthing and Shoreham. I don’t believe they are getting a fair deal out of the political process at present.

Improved funding and support to our public services 

The NHS is creaking under financial pressure. Our constituency’s hospitals have been judged outstanding recently, but without adequate funding how can this level of performance be maintained? The NHS is a source of national pride, and rightly so, but it needs more funding and we need to support the people who do such a good job within it to enable them to continue providing the exceptional service they currently do.

The police are struggling to respond to all the calls they receive due purely to lack of officers and funding cuts. Anti-social behaviour is on the rise as I have unfortunately experienced in my capacity as a committee member at Worthing Cricket Club, where our equipment has suffered at the hands of bored, young people.

Action on the transport and infrastructure problems which blight our constituency

I am forced to sit in the same traffic jams that you sit in every day, avoid the same potholes, walk past the same empty commercial units each weekend and see the same unkempt verges that you see. These things upset me, as I’m sure they do you.

Funding was promised by the Department for Transport to improve the transport infrastructure of the East Worthing & Shoreham constituency, but was withdrawn in March of this year. Seemingly there was no opposition from our representatives in Westminster. This is not acceptable to those of us who suffer the jams along the A27 and A259 each day.

The Southern Rail debacle seems to have become a party-political issue. We must solve this crisis to save what remains of the work-life balance of those whose family life and livelihoods depend upon a reliable rail network. This is not a party-political issue, it is a human issue; our political representatives should be looking to help solve rather than push their political message.

An informed choice on Brexit 

I voted to remain in the EU but Brexit was the preferred option for the majority, so we must aim for the best deal we can get.

Once a deal has been struck, the general public should have the chance to decide whether it’s acceptable. The campaign to leave was based around a hypothetical “life after Brexit” vision rather than facts. Those facts will become clear once the deal has been done. 

I promise that I will not be held back by the interests of a political party with national rather than local interests. I will do my best to represent the interests of the East Worthing and Shoreham community, which is the constituency I reside in and which I contribute to beyond politics.

Party politics rarely meets the needs of the people they are supposed to serve as people’s needs no longer align with those of the political elite. YOU CAN do something about this by voting for an independent candidate.

I am standing for election in order to get a better deal for constituents in East Worthing and Shoreham. I believe serving as an independent MP is the best chance we have for change.

About me: 
I am a maths teacher from Worthing. With 15 years’ experience in state education, I have seen at first hand the damage wrought by Conservative cuts. My wife is a local police officer and I am very aware of the extra pressures brought on by recent cuts. My daughter is about to enter a secondary school in the constituency which is struggling to attract staff, despite having been advised through the academy conversion process by local politicians. With extended family in Lancing, Shoreham and Southwick I am deeply committed to our community; I have served as a school governor and am a current committee member of Worthing Cricket Club, where I also coach juniors. A keen sportsman, I have played for Worthing Cricket Club, Shoreham Cricket Club, Worthing Football Club, Shoreham Football Club and Southwick Football Club.

Andy Lutwyche: From East Worthing and Shoreham, for East Worthing and Shoreham

VOTE INDEPENDENT, VOTE LUTWYCHE ON JUNE 8

My "Policies"

As an independent candidate from East Worthing and Shoreham, I have the constituency’s best interests at heart. I live in Worthing having moved from Shoreham around 10 years ago. My career so far has, in the main, been in the public sector, as has my wife’s. Most of my social circle is in and around the constituency, so I would hope that I have a fair understanding of the day-to-day issues that most of the people of East Worthing and Shoreham face.

Education

As a teacher who worked for 15 years in the state sector, spending some of that time as a staff representative on a governing body, I recognise the current funding issues that are being widely reported in the media. West Sussex has the fourth lowest funding per student in the country. Although the current government is introducing a “fairer funding formula” this has only meant that money has been siphoned away from London and more evenly spread around the country. We keep being told that there has never been more money spent on education, however the part that’s left out in these statements is the record numbers of students and the record high costs faced by schools. Schools need to be funded properly, as do all public services, and pressure put on the government to tell the whole truth about school funding rather than editing the inconvenient parts. I don’t want my daughter in a class of 40+ being taught mathematics, science or any other subject by an unqualified teacher because the school can’t afford to attract a qualified one or a qualified one is not available. It would be nice to think that an MP in one of the poorest funded school regions of the country would be demanding that the schools which their voters’ children attend be properly financed, yet we see a “fairer funding formula” that will lead to real terms cuts, despite official government announcements. My time as a school staff governor in one of East Worthing and Shoreham’s secondary schools showed me exactly how tight the margins are for headteachers and your representative in Westminster should be fighting yours and your family’s corner on this.

Young People

As a teacher I often hear non-teachers bemoan the “young people of today”, invariably using the phrase “in my day…” or something similar. We need to enthuse young people with a curriculum that they can ALL engage with, which will then offer a future that young people can ALL aspire to. Repeated political meddling in the curriculum tends to plough a furrow along the lines of “well it worked for me so everyone can do (suffer?) it” ideology and based upon rose-tinted memories of their own schooling rather than actual evidence, something that there is now plenty of. The half-true arguments from party politicians, toeing the party line, need challenging in parliament and they are currently not being; the public are being short-changed by many (not all, I should add) of these policies as education secretaries attempt to make their mark whilst climbing the political ladder. Do you blame young people for feeling a little pessimistic when their education, something that hugely shapes their future, is a political play thing? Someone needs to stand up for the many hardworking, decent young people in East Worthing and Shoreham, as I don’t believe they are getting a fair deal out of the political process at present.

Transport and Infrastructure

Every working day I drive almost the entire length of the constituency. It takes me around 15 minutes in the morning at 6am but at least four times that at 6pm. Funding was promised by the Department of Transport to improve the transport infrastructure of the constituency, but was withdrawn in March of this year, seemingly with no opposition from our representatives in Westminster. This is not acceptable to those of us who suffer the jams along the A27 and A259 each day. Have questions been asked as to why this money was taken away? If so, then I must have missed them. Could this be because East Worthing and Shoreham’s Member of Parliament rarely experiences the congestion that his constituents suffer every day? Lucky him; we do.

There is also the Southern Rail debacle, one that seems to have become a party-political issue rather than one that needs to be solved to save what remains of the work-life balance of those whose family life and livelihoods depend upon a reliable rail network. This is not a party-political issue it is a human issue that our political representatives should be looking to help solve rather than push their political message. Squabbling over political beliefs helps no-one, least of all the long-suffering commuters from the Sussex coast.

Influence

I’d be naïve to think that I can name every issue within East Worthing and Shoreham in this short piece and I may not have exactly the same views as everyone in the constituency but I do listen and am not averse to a different point of view or argument that might change mine. Even if I don’t agree I can respect someone else’s opinion. A Member of Parliament has huge influence in the corridors of power if they choose to use it. Thousands of voters have entrusted that Member of Parliament to use that influence for the good of the constituency to help resolve major issues affecting the members of the community.

Ultimately this general election is an opportunity for the people of East Worthing and Shoreham to vote for someone who lives in their midst and therefore understands and shares their requirements, worries and needs.