[Malcolm Armsteen]

I've been looking for a long time to see what the government-in-waiting would propose for education, which is in the worst mess it has ever been in since state education began in 1870.

By 1997 the Blair administration had mature plans which they implemented, and were successful, increasing coherence, rewarding innovation and funding improvement.

Tim Brighouse has an important piece in the Guardian today which might give a hint as to the direction a Starmer government would take.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ns-schools

Key points:

Written with the curriculum expert Mick Waters, About Our Schools divides recent history into two eras: a postwar age of “hope and optimism”, in which teachers were pretty free to do what they liked, followed by a post-Thatcher age of “markets, centralisation and managerialism”, in which the influence of inspections and league tables became all-pervasive and individual ministers could decide how skills such as subtraction should be taught in every classroom in England.

This may explain why, amid all the “building back better” policy solutions that the book suggests, he instantly settles on a plan for the “open school”, a parallel version of the Open University, as his top priority.

The open school would build on the pandemic’s lessons about digital learning and create a national virtual school to help offset disadvantage, include children who are out of school, and provide enhanced opportunities for all.

It would wrap around a system guided by very different principles from the ones we see today: a new consensus on the purpose of schooling, a national cross-party commission to take a balanced 10-year view of education policy, schools being judged in groups rather than alone, with inclusion and wellbeing incentivised as well as exam results. Naturally there would be an enhanced role for the local authorities, which would be responsible for holding the new partnerships to account, in effect restraining central government power.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

After saying such a thing wasn't possible the government has tonight issued instructions that pupils in Year 7 and above must wear masks in classrooms. From 4th January.

However, no air purification equipment or the CO2 meters that were promised, no financial support to provide masks.

The usual last-minute climbdown and confusion. Zahawi still missing.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Ah! There will be air purification units in classrooms. Well, some classrooms.

[Cyclist]

The rest of the schools can keep their windows open.

Whaddaya mean it's January?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

[Cyclist]

But to the innumerate 7000 is a big number. And if schools really need these things why aren't they buying them themselves? Why does the taxpayer have to foot the bill? And so on ad nauseam.

[Watchman]

Just waiting for “our mates” to get into the HEPA business

[Malcolm Armsteen]

But to the innumerate 7000 is a big number. And if schools really need these things why aren't they buying them themselves? Why does the taxpayer have to foot the bill? And so on ad nauseam.

£350 a pop. Big secondary school has 100+ classrooms/offices/spaces.

£35k is a big slice of the budget. Would pay for a TA or 2 medium sized departments.

Matt Hancock can do a deal with his local sex shop to provide them to schools at £1250 each, payment up front, delivery the year after next.

[Watchman]

But I thought all these academy chains were shit hot in managing budgets and buying things, as opposed to LEA’s

[Cyclist]

From what I can gather academy chains are shit-hot at paring money from budgets that need it and paying it to their chief executives

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Yup.

Or 'superheads'.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Zahawi's suggestions...

Combining classes. He must think that schools are like offices, full of people doing roughly the same tasks, able to move about at will. Nah. Schools have specialised classrooms, so you could park a maths class in a modern languages room but you couldn't teach them maths, or at least not in a way that would satisfy Ofsted (and remember that all lessons are expected to satisfy Ofsted whether they're there to see them or not). Or suppose you had two maths classes coincidentally that needed combining - how do you do that unless they are each exactly half a class? Classrooms are finite in size and seating. You can't fir 40 kids into a 30-seat classroom and expect any teaching to go on (you could do it to show a video).

How about teachers? There are more likely to be shortages of teachers than empty classes of kids. The staffing formula allows for a 'bonus' - those teachers who are not teaching at any given lesson, usually less than 10%. You could use them, but they have other things to do. My non-contact periods were admin time for large groups of kids and development/training for staff as well as assorted jumping through hoops. Then there was prep time (although I never had time for that in school) - so you can see that taking teachers from those activities mean that other things get dropped and teachers get pissed off. Also, those things that aren't done will mean an Ofsted downgrade if they visit because they have said that 'Covid is not an excuse' in several recent inspections.

What you can do is collect three or four classes together and stick them in the hall and show them a video. There are however legal pupil/adult ratios to be observed. The days of a deputy head and 200 kids are gone. And even then showing videos is fraught, with cries of 'seen it' (possibly true) and 'can we see <insert unsuitable film here> sir?' Childminding at its absolute worst.

Then we have the idea of bringing in retired teachers - the group most vulnerable to Covid - to suddenly take on the workload of people 30 years younger who are leaving the profession in droves because of the workload... I might be able to do a lesson or two at my age, but nothing like a timetable. Teachers are generally finished by 60, and don't want to go back. Younger teachers who have left the profession did so because they didn't fancy it any more, so why they should change their minds when conditions are chaotic and dangerous escapes me. And supply agencies are offering £500 in 'shopping vouchers' for anyone who persuades an inactive teacher to sign up for them. Just as a side note, supply agencies pay supply teachers £80 a day whilst pocketing at least twice that from schools... And most schools' supply budgets ran out last term.

But schools can also buy one of 7000 air purifiers. That's for 500,000 classrooms. Schools will need to fork out between £7k and £35k for the rest. Whilst their budgets are under huge stress - the promised money to cover Covid expenses such as masks, sanitisers and extra cleaning has yet to appear, and many schools now find they won't get it at all until they have completely depleted their reserves.

Plus he tells schools that they have a legal requirement to provide on-line education to kids at home isolating. Even if a teacher is away themselves they are expected to provide work and video lessons, or face sanction. If they are at school they have to do that plus teach their normal classes and any extra classes due to combining and so on. Or face legal sanction. And the online lessons have to be 'appropriate' so no generic stuff.

And people wonder why teachers feel insulted. But the hate pile-ons have started - I saw the comment that teachers do nothing all day on the Mail.

>edited<
Mrs A has informed me that I am out of date. Supply teachers now get £100 a day or a little more in shortage subjects, whilst agencies charge £200 a day (2019). That is considerably less than an employed teacher.

[Andy McDandy]

Thanks for the analysis. They really don't have any clue, do they?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

More brainfarts from the DfE - this from the Times Ed Supplement:

Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi has also written to schools urging them to maximise on-site education, but acknowledging that staff absence might make this impossible.

The DfE's email to schools recognises that high rates of Covid "may cause difficulties with the availability of staff".

It suggests schools use existing teaching staff alongside temporary or support staff "more flexibly" to ensure pupils continue face-to-face education.

It adds: "As pupils do not need to be kept in consistent groups, you may wish to consider combining classes."

Live streaming 'preferred'
The DfE adds: "Where there is a need for remote education, live streaming is the preferred method for providing this wherever possible. There should be regular feedback and checking in with students and pupils."

It also said that the government is working with school leaders to share case studies about developing flexible learning.

To date, only one case study has been published by the department.

This case study includes a series of tips for schools on delivering hybrid learning where some pupils are learning remotely and others are at school.

It concludes: "Isolation or an inability to attend school should not preclude a pupil or student from being part of their normal timetabled lessons, except perhaps PE and the practical element of some subjects.

"It is not simple, but neither is it particularly difficult and need not come at the expense of those in school."

The advice includes the following:

Retrain teachers in remote learning
The guide says some retraining will be required to help teachers "understand the limitations and considerations around capturing their voice with sufficient clarity and volume" and on the most effective ways of using screen sharing to deliver their explanations.

Test remote lessons with other teachers
The guide also says that ensuring schools understand the pupils' experience of remote learning "can easily be done by delivering a test lesson to colleagues in the next-door classroom".

It adds: "Taking on the roles of a teacher and a remote pupil is important so that the teacher can understand the limitations and possibilities of the tools they are using, and departments and schools can work collaboratively on how to make the experience as beneficial as possible without adversely affecting the classroom experience."

Be consistent across departments
The case study says there is a need for consistency across all departments and staff where possible.

It adds: "Pupils understand that it is not easy but get very frustrated when some staff can do it and others do not seem to try. If there is a consistent approach the pupils know when they should be able to ask questions or seek support, reducing interruptions to the class teacher and improving lesson flow."

Recording lessons
The case study also says that recording lessons enables the teacher to make these available to pupils who were unable to connect.

Teachers can also focus on key concepts by cropping a copy of the recording down to the salient points to share with the whole class.

It adds: "This enables those who did not fully understand in class to revisit it, as well as a resource for revision in the future. It can also be used as evidence should there be any behavioural issues from remote pupils."

Quite how that is to be done in reality is left open. You can't live-stream a lesson if there are kids in the room (GDPR) and if the teacher has classes in school as well, when do they do this? It effectively doubles the workload. It just makes no sense and shows zero intelligence.

[Cyclist]

The advice includes the following:

Retrain teachers in remote learning
The guide says some retraining will be required to help teachers "understand the limitations and considerations around capturing their voice with sufficient clarity and volume" and on the most effective ways of using screen sharing to deliver their explanations.

Test remote lessons with other teachers

Right. Ok. And just how long is it until the start of term?

And, of course, who's paying for this extra training? And will it be during working hours or on the teacher's own time, and if not during normal working hours will overtime be paid?

I'm sure Mr Zahawi has already thought of all this.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

It happens by magic.

Working people are just expected to do more and more by people who have never done a day's work in their lives.

Zahawi has a degree in Chemistry - let's see him in front of a class - or two*


*One of the things I promoted at the DfE was that all civil servants spend five days a year in schools. Some did, and enjoyed it, but the Glorianas** modified it to 'five days talking to people who do the same admin job as me.'

**Civil servants who never spent a day finding out what happened in schools. One bothered to tell me what teachers think... They spent, on average, two weeks a year putting up Christmas decorations.

[Cyclist]

Johnson seems to have a knack for making incompetents SofS for Education. At least Zahawi isn't coming across as an arrogant snidey shit like his predecessor. At least, not yet.

Still woefully incompetent, mind.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

It's of no importance to people so heavily invested in private education.

[Andy McDandy]

When your core support despise teachers, and think all kids except their own are feral hooligans, why should you give a shit?

[satnav]

Today both Johnson and Zahawi have both stated that pupils will not have to wear mask a day longer than is necessary but they have not said what conditions will need to be met before masks are no longer needed. Do infection rates need to be lower than they were at the start of December or will the government just pick some random day when they believe that the virus no longer poses a threat to the NHS.

Without criteria in place it just an empty promise designed to placate Tory MP's who oppose any form of restrictions.