Teachers: Are Gove and Cameron listening?

[jean]

I thought the whole point of becoming an academy was that you could set your own admissions criteria and exclude the children who were likely to run riot.

[subcontrabass]

I thought the whole point of becoming an academy was that you could set your own admissions criteria and exclude the children who were likely to run riot.

"Academies" and "Free Schools" are STATE schools, controlled from the centre, as distinct from the local authority controlled schools that people usually refer to as "State Schools". The only freedom they have is to do whatever the current Secretary of State dictates.

[VodkaDilc]

"Academies" and "Free Schools" are STATE schools, controlled from the centre, as distinct from the local authority controlled schools that people usually refer to as "State Schools". The only freedom they have is to do whatever the current Secretary of State dictates.

Like employ unqualified teachers in order to raise standards?

[Mandryka]

The original poster praised Obama for having vision and charisma. I'm not sure that he has a vision - certainly no more of a vision than most other extant politicians. In fact, of all the politicians of my lifetime, the only one who clearly had a vision....was Thatcher.

As to Obama's charisma....well, yes, I can see what is meant, but is charisma (in a politician) necessarily a good thing? Many people thought Blair was charismatic in 1997 and look what happened.....

As a (half) black man who has achieved the highest office in the political world, I suppose Obama can lay some claim to being inspirational, though.

[jean]

"Academies" and "Free Schools" are STATE schools, controlled from the centre, as distinct from the local authority controlled schools that people usually refer to as "State Schools". The only freedom they have is to do whatever the current Secretary of State dictates.

Where did I say they weren't State schools?

What I did say is that, as mostly 'specialist' schools, they can select a proportion of their intake on grounds of 'aptitude', and there is evidence that they exclude more statemented children than your bog-standard comprehensive.

http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/consum/groups/public/@salariespensionsconditions/documents/nas_download/nasuwt_000196.pdf

[handsomefortune]

I thought the whole point of becoming an academy was that you could set your own admissions criteria and exclude the children who were likely to run riot.

the exclusion is of staff .....as well as any disruptive pupils, which affects general morale.

imo plenty of better quality educational assistants have no desire to be teachers themselves, but excel in supportive roles. perhaps the weaker assistants go for the teaching roles, meanwhile experienced, better qualified teachers leave the profession early. straddling the change from local authority run, to academy status seems to cause immense long term disruption despite media messages promoted, which i think amount to style over content: nifty websites, large glossy pics, extravagant claims, are all part of the hard sell in marketing a building (which might well be mistaken for a shopping mall, or an enormous discotheque, or perhaps a (posh) prison)?

"Academies" and "Free Schools" are STATE schools, controlled from the centre,

i notice a local academy website claims it 'is in the top 1%'!

like goldman sachs, or j p morgan then? :devil:

[handsomefortune]

the following causes problems, a distinct divide is engineered from the start ....

'Academies are exempt from national agreements on pay and conditions. Staff transferring
from predecessor schools are employed on the same terms and conditions, but new staff are
not covered by national agreements. Teaching and support staff unions have to negotiate on
a school-by-school or sponsor-by-sponsor basis'.

[subcontrabass]

Where did I say they weren't State schools?

What I did say is that, as mostly 'specialist' schools, they can select a proportion of their intake on grounds of 'aptitude', and there is evidence that they exclude more statemented children than your bog-standard comprehensive.

http://www.nasuwt.org.uk/consum/grou...uwt_000196.pdf

I was not trying to contradict you, merely to contradict the propaganda that is put out from central government about these schools being in some was "independent".

Selection for admission to a school, on whatever grounds, is no guarantee of the quality of that school. One selective ("Grammar") school in which I taught for some years (leaving in 1988) was placed in "special measures" in 2009. After weeding out the "senior management" the school appears to Ofsted to be making improvements.

[MrGongGong]

I was not trying to contradict you, merely to contradict the propaganda that is put out from central government about these schools being in some was "independent".

Selection for admission to a school, on whatever grounds, is no guarantee of the quality of that school. One selective ("Grammar") school in which I taught for some years (leaving in 1988) was placed in "special measures" in 2009. After weeding out the "senior management" the school appears to Ofsted to be making improvements.

I went to a selective Grammar school
Had I "failed" the 11plus
I would have been in Daniel Craigs class at the secondary modern .............. and had a much better musical education

:yikes: buggerit indeed

[Mandryka]

I went to a selective Grammar school
Had I "failed" the 11plus
I would have been in Daniel Craigs class at the secondary modern .............. and had a much better musical education

:yikes: buggerit indeed

Interesting.....I thought the 11+ had been done away with by the time Daniel Craig (born 1968) entered tertiary education.

I don't know ANY teachers who have a good word to say about academies.

Gove apparently told parents recently that 'you'll know when your child's school is approaching excellence, because the existing teachers will start leaving.' Apologies that I can't cite the source or the context, but this sounds very sinister.

[MrGongGong]

The "11 plus " is very much alive in Kent, Lincolnshire and the Wirral

[subcontrabass]

Interesting.....I thought the 11+ had been done away with by the time Daniel Craig (born 1968) entered tertiary education.

There are still 164 selective schools in England: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ols_in_England

[VodkaDilc]

The "11 plus " is very much alive in Kent, Lincolnshire and the Wirral

And Bucks!

[MrGongGong]

And Bucks!

more is the pity :sadface:

[ahinton]

more is the pity :sadface:

It was alive in my native Scotland when I took it, albeit not before I'd questioned the arithmetical abilities of those who set it and determined who should take it, since I was nine years of age at the time...