Next Weeks Public Sector Strikes

[d000hg]

I believe there is no reason why EVERY school should not be as good as the best private schools in terms of quality of teaching and facilities.

If the private schools attract the best (on average obviously), how can the rest be as good. That sounds like the old claim that 80% of drivers say they're better than average, or whatever it is. Paying teachers more - even if it might help - isn't viable with no money.

I wonder how much is down to the headteacher... they obviously get the brunt of the complaints from the teachers. Like a sports team, how do you know how much of the performance is down to the individual players, and how much to the manager? The heads are certainly the closest thing to "highly paid, self-seeking" public sector workers, but how to solve that problem - being a good head must be a dreadful job!

[d000hg]

FTFY.

My experience of a couple of teachers in the family.

They were convinced nobody works as hard as teachers.

Sod that.

You just hit a nerve there, matey.

I don't get told that or see them whinging. I see evidence of it.

And "my mate" or "a couple" is not meaningful for drawing any conclusions. That's like Russell's friends telling everyone how contractors are thick, overpaid lazy gits.

[DodgyAgent]

If the private schools attract the best (on average obviously), how can the rest be as good. That sounds like the old claim that 80% of drivers say they're better than average, or whatever it is. Paying teachers more - even if it might help - isn't viable with no money.

I wonder how much is down to the headteacher... they obviously get the brunt of the complaints from the teachers. Like a sports team, how do you know how much of the performance is down to the individual players, and how much to the manager? The heads are certainly the closest thing to "highly paid, self-seeking" public sector workers, but how to solve that problem - being a good head must be a dreadful job!

You like everyone else is obsessed by "the best" pupils. Why dont you turn your whole premise upside down. there is no such thing as "the best" child/children. The ones who do well are the ones who grow up in the most civilised families which in turn relates to wealth and social background. Why is it we concentrate on giving "the best" the best schools and the best teaching and best facilities.? Why instead do we not take "the worst" and send them to schools with the very best teachers (smallest class sizes) , best facilities etc etc instead of consigning them into the heap of awful comprehensives.

If children are out of control then bring back Borstals and send them there but in turn kit those Borstals out with again the best teachers (or riot police) and best facilities.

If we bothered with education and spent money on building more publicly funded boarding schools then the fortunes we would save by having educated kids with confidence and a desire/skills to work would be huge. No more welfare, fewer police to name but a few - no sure start fewer social workers, less populated prisons. Finally socialists would be isolated without "poor people" as a useful class that they can pretend to care for.

And if anyone thinks that this would be too expensive then one does not need to look very far to see what it costs not to educate our children properly

[Old Greg]

You like everyone else is obsessed by "the best" pupils. Why dont you turn your whole premise upside down. there is no such thing as "the best" child/children. The ones who do well are the ones who grow up in the most civilised families which in turn relates to wealth and social background. Why is it we concentrate on giving "the best" the best schools and the best teaching and best facilities.? Why instead do we not take "the worst" and send them to schools with the very best teachers (smallest class sizes) , best facilities etc etc instead of consigning them into the heap of awful comprehensives.

If children are out of control then bring back Borstals and send them there but in turn kit those Borstals out with again the best teachers (or riot police) and best facilities.

If we bothered with education and spent money on building more publicly funded boarding schools then the fortunes we would save by having educated kids with confidence and a desire/skills to work would be huge. No more welfare, fewer police to name but a few - no sure start fewer social workers, less populated prisons. Finally socialists would be isolated without "poor people" as a useful class that they can pretend to care for.

And if anyone thinks that this would be too expensive then one does not need to look very far to see what it costs not to educate our children properly

If there are deeply troubled anti-social children who lack normal emotional and empathetic development, then perhaps we could channel them through a rigorous training programme that makes the most of their personality traits. They could easily become recruitment agents and other types of social parasites that lack the imagination to see that other people may actually possess the capacity to care about poor people.

[DodgyAgent]

If there are deeply troubled anti-social children who lack normal emotional and empathetic development, then perhaps we could channel them through a rigorous training programme that makes the most of their personality traits. They could easily become recruitment agents and other types of social parasites that lack the imagination to see that other people may actually possess the capacity to care about poor people.

Who says they need any training?

[doodab]

Wonder how teachers would react if it were proposed they had the same holidays as most other workers.

I suspect they would be quite pleased, letting them have 6 weeks they can take whenever they like would both allow them to avoid the more expensive school holidays and go some way to addressing the misconception among the general public that they do **** all during the school holidays. In general a significant chunk of half terms & holidays is spent dealing with things like marking and preparing lesson plans.

[Freamon]

Legally, the head teacher is not allowed to ask whether a teacher is going to strike or not, and they do not legally have to tell them until the day of the strike.

Most schools get around this by sending an email out to all teachers, asking whom among them is going to be showing up for work on the strike day. The ones who are not striking are generally anti-union and happily respond.

[Sysman]

These strikes epitomise the fact that public services are run for the prime benefit of the people that run and work in them. In the private sector if you dont like your job the saying is FIFO. The same should apply to the public sector.

When I was considering changing any move in my early career, my public sector parents always lectured me that LIFO was the way it worked, therefore I should stay put.

[Sysman]

I don't get told that or see them whinging. I see evidence of it.

And "my mate" or "a couple" is not meaningful for drawing any conclusions. That's like Russell's friends telling everyone how contractors are thick, overpaid lazy gits.

Try mother and sister instead of "couple" then. I.e. family I once lived with.

Incessant crap over the dinner table about it.

[Jeebo72]

Teaching is far too important a job to be left as a vocation. teaching is the second most important job there is. Teachers should be very well paid but at the same time they should be made fully accountable for their performances.

But they won't be accountable as long as they are in the public sector. And if you make it a high paid career, you attract the wrong people. Privatise!