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[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Does anybody have a view on this subject?

[biggriffin]

Politicians have  breaked, the health service, they've  just about knackered the emergency services, so looks like education is next.

[Nick W]

Seems a backward step to me.
'Academies' aren't the answer either; making the school do all of its admin does not help what actually happens within it.
The massive amount of testing that goes on, both of pupils and schools leads to a rigid and limiting approach to education that cannot accept that people have differing needs.

[Bigron]

It wasn't broken 50 years ago, so why did we try to mend it? 

Ron.

[Sir Tigger KC]

I think there's a lot of political dogma surrounding Grammar Schools.  There's selection in many other areas of life like sport and the work place, so why not in education?   

The challenge in my view is to make sure that a selective system works for all kids and not just those who pass the 11 plus.  I went to a Comprehensive School and I'm not sure that the 'one size fits all' approach works to be honest. 

[Doctor Gollum]

I think there's a lot of political dogma surrounding Grammar Schools.  There's selection in many other areas of life like sport and the work place, so why not in education?   

The challenge in my view is to make sure that a selective system works for all kids and not just those who pass the 11 plus.  I went to a Comprehensive School and I'm not sure that the 'one size fits all' approach works to be honest. 

The alternative approach costs £600+ per week

[2boxerdogs]

We were discussing this at work yesterday, one colleague mentioned that he son had said there will be much fewer jobs around as technology advances further , so why am I being encouraged to get all these qualifications, perhaps he has a valid point. And yes I agree these politicians seem excellent in changing things and f**king them up completely.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I was a grammar school boy. The system worked well in the sense that anybody could go provided they passed the 11+.

Plenty of working class kids from poor families went to grammar school.

[Mister Rog]

I was a grammar school boy. The system worked well in the sense that anybody could go provided they passed the 11+.

Plenty of working class kids from poor families went to grammar school.

One of the arguements against them and "selection" is that better-off parents can afford to get the kids tutored to pass the entrance exams. I'm not sure 

[STEMO]

When I was a lad, the clever ones went to grammar schools and the others went to comprehensives. The clever ones got the best jobs and the others went on to do manual work in factories and the like. It's the natural order of things.
This system didn't debar people who failed at eleven from going on to great things. Nor did it mean that all who went to university were successful. Different people mature, intellectually, at different times and, if you are a go-getter, you will succeed no matter what.
When I look at a lot of young people who go to university these days, I wonder wtf has gone wrong. They are just not university material and have only gone there because 'it's everybody's right'.

[Mister Rog]

When I was a lad, the clever ones went to grammar schools and the others went to comprehensives. The clever ones got the best jobs and the others went on to do manual work in factories and the like. It's the natural order of things.
This system didn't debar people who failed at eleven from going on to great things. Nor did it mean that all who went to university were successful. Different people mature, intellectually, at different times and, if you are a go-getter, you will succeed no matter what.
When I look at a lot of young people who go to university these days, I wonder wtf has gone wrong. They are just not university material and have only gone there because 'it's everybody's right'.

And also because a certain Mr Blair wanted everyone to go to university in order to get the unemployment figures down. The result is that today you need a degree in anything in order to get a job doing anything. This means that just having a degrees is almost meaningless, you need a relevant degree from a "good" uni not a polytechnic "newer" university.

Both my kids went to Uni in the Blair years. Cost me an absolute fortune. Both got degrees, neither are using those degrees in what they now do. However, there is no doubt that "going to Uni"  is a great life experience and get them out of home 

And. I completely agree with STEMO and the "order of things".

[Kevin Wood]

I have no doubt that what would really benefit our education system is a period with minimal political meddling where the professionals whose job it is to teach can get on and sort it out.

[Mister Rog]

I have no doubt that what would really benefit our education system is a period with minimal political meddling where the professionals whose job it is to teach can get on and sort it out.

We l l l l , yes. sort of. Providing the professionals set about it without being influenced by their own personal politics

[Nick W]

I have no doubt that what would really benefit our education system is a period with minimal political meddling where the professionals whose job it is to teach can get on and sort it out.

That is a solution, one that politicians are incapable of allowing. Leaving experts to actually get on with their jobs?

[STEMO]

My missus is a headteacher so I kind of feel I can comment on that. The government should be involved in as much as they should set the curriculum, but then the teaching profession should be left alone to deliver it. But it's not just the curriculum that is the problem. It's health and safety, female genital mutilation, radicalisation, sexual abuse, feeding breakfast and a multitude of other stuff that the government seems to think is a teachers job.
Every time something nasty happens to a child, and there is a serious case review, then it is decided that schools should do something about it.
In the light of events which have happened recently in certain places in the north of England, senior staff are duty bound to make social care aware of any suspicions they have. Trouble is, there is a massive shortage of social workers, who can only prioritise the worse cases. The rest are ignored.....yes......ignored.
It's not an easy job.