[Closed] A poke in the eye for Mr Gove

Biggest poke in the eye for him recently is his insistence that all schools must be above average.

The man's a fool.

Biggest poke in the eye for him recently is his insistence that all schools must be above average.

The Institute of Physics recently released a report complaining that as many as 49% of schools were below average in getting girls into science.

Was hoping this was a link to an ebay auction where the winner can do the poking... is disappointed.

Wow, a failing school having their funding pulled and the teachers losing their jobs

When did you last see that in the public sector?

I'd like him to come into my lesson, trying to explain to an apprentice why he needs to use capital letters and full stops in a project report (the lads 18+) just baffeled me this week.

Trouble is he'll have to pass, as the company (customer in our new jargen) will complain that it's my fault he's not passed.

bigdean - Member

I'd like him to come into my lesson, trying to explain to an apprentice why he needs to use capital letters and full stops in a project report (the lads 18+) just [s]baffeled[/s][i]baffled[/i] me this week.

Trouble is he'll have to pass, as the company (customer in our new [s]jargen[/s][i]jargon[/i]) will complain that it's my fault he's not passed.

B- must try harder.

Edit: actually your an internet no one, i dont care.

The trouble with the ideological free market zealots like the half-wit Gove and the incredibly dense IDS, is they're so utterly convinced that they're right, that nothing as inconvenient as the glaring evidence to the contrary will convince them otherwise. They just plough on regardless, shouting down everyone who dares to point out the disaster their pet projects have become

The public accounts committee has just reported that the costs of Goves project are over double their original budget, and spiralling out of control! While the results are nothing like those predicted.

Will this cause him to stop and think? I reckon I could hazard a guess

LOL @ predictable Zulu as ever.

Neos the country over are feeling flaccid this evening.

Don't diss Michael Gove,at least he gives Zulu a hard on.

I hope that Im 1,2 or 3 in the queue otherwise there will be no eyes left
Promoted way past his real pay grade ****

Edit: actually your an internet no one, i dont care.

You don't care that you're teaching someone to write English properly, with a skill set that doesn't appear to be up to the job. That B- should be an E and see me after class. Shame on you!

Edit: actually [s]your[/s] [b]you're[/b] an internet no one, [s]i[/s] [b]I[/b] dont care.

ninfan - Member

Wow, a failing school having their funding pulled and the teachers losing their jobs

When did you last see that in the public sector?

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/guide-post-middle-school-set-6393472

they're so utterly convinced that they're right, that nothing as inconvenient as the glaring evidence to the contrary will convince them otherwise

neither is as talented or the expert they think they are either.

Actually I'd like hmie to go to bigdean's lesson.

Using "nor" would make Junkyard's statement less ugly.

But it would make less sense 😉

Its a horrible sentence to be fair.

Good on you, after if YOU can't spell or have awareness of basic grammar, what hope is there for your pupils? Oh no wait, there's an education minister you can blame for you being useless.

****. Did i spellerise that right for you?

In education everyone can be above average, as we are measured against previous years data. Nigh on impossible, but worth de-motivating 90% of the profession to achieve. The rise I've seen in stress and mental health issues due to the increased pressure is alarming - and thats just the sixth formers

Oh look if we do away with the requirement to have trained teachers do the teaching the standard of teaching falls. Gove is a complete mindless zealot as is Hunt. The conservative party is intent on running the country into the ground for the benefit of a few . They remind me of the classic venture capitalists of the 80s buying a busines flogging off all it's assets letting it go bust while hiding their profit outside of the company then feeling all smug at the money they had made while looking down on the unemployed and creditors they left behind.

If there was an eBay auction to poke Gove in the eye with a stick I would bid.

Hardly a poke in the eye is it? Out of 174 schools, 2 are shut down? Hardly a high fail rate for a new scheme in its first couple of years is it.

Hurrah for Michael Gove is what I say!

Shurrrrup Joe.. Gove is a prize effling twunt.

Gove was bleating this week about how standards and behaviour wasn't as good as Asian countries - where corporal punishment and parental beatings are the norm and there's little evidence that students show any great individuality - where's the art, music etc?
Shoplifting is less of a problem in Saudi Arabia and stoning reduces adultery in Iran.
Where I work has seen big improvements, but involved £25 mill + investment in a new Academy and a lot of turmoil. The turmoil without the new building and resources would never have worked.

Strange that the first thought is not that, first and foremost, it is a great shame for the children that education (in its many guises) is letting them down (again) and their lives are being disrupted. When will governments stop doing this?

Yes there is an embarrassment to Gove but in any walk of life you can have a correct idea and structure (whether that is the case here, we can leave open to debate) but if you have the wrong people running things, they will fail.

But before this is turned into a misplaced idealogocal rant, it was good to see that R4 coverage made it clear that this was one of a number of schools in the same area that was failing to meet the required standards, hence my comment about different guises. It is also argued on the BBC that the standards for free schools were set higher than in other schools.

So what is happening in this case, the school is being closed. And in the other cases of poor performance in the same area........?

Where was the correct headline - "in West Sussex many schools of different types are all doing a poor job!" ?

Doesn't make for such good headlines though, does it?

We were promised excellence. They failed. I feel for the kids. They have no control over the poor choices made by their parents.

If you allow people with no qualification or experience to set up schools should we be suprised when they fail. A free Steiner school has opened recently, what next a homeopathic hospital?

They promised us thrift. They have failed miserably in that respect. Yet the STW defenders of neo-conservatism will ignore this and try to spin the story. Just like Gove ignores his own appointed experts. He's a failure and should have resigned ages ago.

What has the failure of one school got to do with Gove?

Internet whine FAIL

I was kind of wondering that myself...

Gove has spent vast amounts of money on a scheme that allows schools to be set up where they are not neededand run be people who are not qualified and even his own attack dogs have said this ones shit and needs to close. But you are right its nothing to do with him. I blame the teachers they are all shit.

So, are there any other than just this one school that have failed since Gove took over?

Dont know. But I am not aware of any brand spanking new schools that have been invested heavily in and then closed. What happend to the Al Medina school in Derby?

@DD - closer to home, I'm sure you're aware of the Cathedral Primary School's campaign to [url= http://www.bristol247.com/2013/12/06/mayor-approves-free-school-plans-for-bristols-central-library-43493/ ]annexe the lower floors of Bristol's Central Library[/url]. A public asset is - effectively - being handed over (bargain-leased for 125 years) to a free school, despite huge public and political opposition. Such is the anger, it's actually resulted in a [url= http://www.bristol247.com/2013/12/13/bristol-councillors-call-approval-central-library-school-plan-88709/ ]Green-Tory alliance[/url] to 'call-in' the decision!

[url= https://twitter.com/LoveBristolLib ]Friends of Bristol Library twitter[/url].

Indeed noteeth!! That is a shocker. More reasons to add to the many for Gove's big fat FAIL.

It is also argued on the BBC that the standards for free schools were set higher than in other schools.

So what is happening in this case, the school is being closed. And in the other cases of poor performance in the same area........?

In addition to this [ two primary schools ignored here] The Academy Selsey *was judged to have serious weaknesses, Sir Robert Woodard Academy** requires special measures and discovery Free school requires special measures.

So both improving
I think you are over egging the pudding again/shooting from the hip/ blustering /spinning whatever but the reality is not as you suggest

Where was the correct headline - "in West Sussex many schools of different types are all doing a poor job!" ?

Doesn't make for such good headlines though, does it?
Nor does it accurately reflect reality, only one has not improved and shows no hope of improving and has been closed , well except yours.

DD, very important that you bought up the idea of certain STWers spinning the story. A very pertinent observation. But did you target the correct culprits?

So the National Audit Office concluded that the DOE had "achieved clear progress on a priority policy," and that "‘Many new schools have been established quickly and at relatively low cost"

So who is spinning who here????

As to the accusations and conclusions on whether excellence has/has not been achieved they conclude that it is far to early to say...."The department aims to open high quality, sustainable schools. [b]The programme’s success and value for money depend on how free schools perform in the future.[/b]"

Ie, far too early to tell. Makes one ask again, who is spinning who here? Headlines, headlines, where can we create the next headline?

If there is one area that policitans will most naturally fall down on, and Gove is among exalted company here, it is in execution or we should say failure in execution. They area where the NAO was very clear was how priorities had been set in execution....

To date, the primary factor in decision-making has been opening schools at pace, rather than maximising value for money.’

Which is quite a different line of attack but suggest that Gove like many before him will utlimately screw the whole thing up! And Toires wasting taxpayers money, the very thought!? Perhaps he will introduce a new type of exam when an better alternative already exits? Oh wait a minute.....

Now again, looking at the coverage (or lack of it) of the full list of failing schools in West Sussex, the real story is......?

The Institute of Physics recently released a report complaining that as many as 49% of schools were below average in getting girls into science.

Nope. Read the report please.

teamhurtmore - Member

Yes there is an embarrassment to Gove but in any walk of life you can have a correct idea and structure (whether that is the case here, we can leave open to debate) but if you have the wrong people running things, they will fail.

The point here, though, is that academy/free schools are by design more likely to have the wrong people running things, with their lower qualification requirements.

The point here, though, is that academy/free schools are by design more likely to have the wrong people running things, with their lower qualification requirements.

Given Sir Wilshaw is also advocating the employment of unqualified teachers, I don't think we're going to stop this from happening.

Ofsted are just the governments attack dogs.

Your quote in full.

The programme’s success and value for money ultimately depend on how Free Schools perform [b]but lessons must be learned systematically from problems that have arisen in a few early wave schools, especially where these have revealed failures in governance and control.[/b]”

It may be too early to tell but there are warning signs

Anyway the stats still dont support your trouble in the area view and that quote was cropped when it highlight major concerns as noted by Northwind - Why do you do this?

the results so far are

The Department is responsible for monitoring Free Schools’ educational performance. New Free Schools do not yet have a track record of exam results. Ofsted inspects all Free Schools within two years of opening, and judged four Wave 1 schools to be ‘outstanding’, 14 ‘good’, five ‘requires improvement’, and one ‘inadequate’: the Discovery New School. In October 2013, Ofsted inspected Al-Madinah, a Wave 2 School, after concerns raised with it and the Department. It was judged ‘inadequate’ (paragraphs 3.1 to 3.3 and 3.9).

Good on you, after if YOU can't spell or have awareness of basic grammar, what hope is there for your pupils? Oh no wait, there's an education minister you can blame for you being useless.
Way to gain some popular support there, spelling boy

You don't care that you're teaching someone to write English properly, with a skill set that doesn't appear to be up to the job. That B- should be an E and see me after class. Shame on you!

Wow the trolls have appeared from under the bridge.

I don’t teach people English, I teach engineering and am quite good in the classroom. The current system means that I also have to promote basic spelling and gamer 😉 one of which I have genuine issues with, that have to overcome in my day to day job and manage it as best I can. This puts me in a good position to offer support strategies for others with dyslexia and difficulties with their English skills.

It’s funny how individuals can form an opinion on my suitability for the role from a few hastily typed posts.

BTW Sandwich “Shame on you!” had me laughing, you might as well have put “wont someone think of the children!”

ChubbyBlokeInLycra- please re-read and correct the first part of you post. It does not read easily.

Free schools are Gove's vanity project,and an experiment in undermining the teaching profession. As JY says he has done it fairly cheaply,has he done it well? Indeed:l would question the relative cost as well. Thank Dog they are an English affection (affliction?)

That is a shocker

As a post-script to this thread, Bristol City Council has [url= http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/School-plan-Bristol-Central-Library-cleared/story-20410464-detail/story.html ]cleared the plan[/url] to convert the basement of Bristol City Library for use by a 'Free School', despite significant public opposition.

The lease terms (a bargain rent for 125 years) effectively allow the land-grab of a public asset. I'm not one for tin-foil hats, but the self-styled city fathers (i.e. "business leaders") have their fingers all over this. It stinks.