[Closed] The Academies announcement...

you go first

Is this about the Oscars?

Privatisation of education, with the only winners being the financiers. Next.

Are they touring again? I didn't like their last album as much as the earlier stuff though.

who bloomin gives a monkeys. Its just baby sitting. Make em all pay if the wants tha spawn ejicated. Kids the just ere to replace you.

OK - so I see it as a decision not based on robust evidence.... what Academies there have been have been mediocre... Further, the privatisation model favours decions based on competitive tendering ahead of experts/what's best for the service users.....so I think it's a rubbish decision...hopefully it won't go ahead..

Huge reductions in over staffing, and school building sell offs, following the privatisation of schools,and like most privatisations , some people are going to make a lot of money and a lot are going to be out of jobs.

Clearly specialists in education are the last people you want to run schools, much better to replace them with business managers with ideological crosses to bear.

the privatisation model favours decions based on competitive tendering ahead of experts/what's best for the service users.

Successful businesses manage to subcontract services and infrastructure to provide a good service at a fair price. If the public sector is incompetent, that isn't really a good argument against privatisation. That's not to say there aren't good arguments against privatisation but incompetent tendering shouldn't be one of them.

FWIW I agree with reducing council control over schools but disagree with the extent of the independence academies get and the involvement of sponsors. You don't want an accountant running the school, but neither do you want a politician or a union doing it...

What will the Torys do when there is nothing left to sell?

No more need for any teacher to be qualified will certainly help drive down costs!!

all schools.... sorry ...academies, now have a finance officer or someone in charge of the money, which they didn't need before. So that's 30k that was previously spent on education and materials which now isn't.

Private companies and sponsors in charge of education. Great.

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Removing LEAs will weaken arts services because music lessons, art services, sport provision comes direct as a service from the LEA so each academy trying to provide their own will be worse but the stupid d1,cks don't think beyond their own noses.

Disbanding the LEA is another way to have a pop at councils that are invariably non tory

^^ Probably the most sensible thing I've read in a long time on here grumpysculler.

The elephant in the room for the entire public sector has always been tolerance of incompetence at all levels and lack of action to get rid of incompetent people and institutional waste, so if this helps break that, then it's a good thing.

On the other hand, I'd hate to see it go too far. With luck, a natural balance will ensue. Dead wood will be rooted out, standards will rise as a result of increased accountability, and net result is better education.

Harry_the_Spider - Member
What will the Torys do when there is nothing left to sell?

The wonderful thing about our current economic system is that irrespective of which part of the political spectrum, the very last blade of grass left on this planet, will get sold. It's utter genius.

balance will ensue. Dead wood will be rooted out, standards will rise as a result of increased accountability, and net result is better education.

So I have some of the most expensive energy in Europe coming from a privatised company now owned by the French govt. I can choose from 1 railway operator to get me to London from Reading and for £5k pa season ticket I may have to stand all the way home. Choice in water supply? Nope just leaky old Thames Water (in part owned by the German govt). Have standards really risen?

The elephant in the room for the entire public sector has always been tolerance of incompetence at all levels

Happens in the private sector too.

lack of action to get rid of incompetent people and institutional waste, so if this helps break that, then it's a good thing.

As does this.

So I have some of the most expensive energy in Europe coming from a privatised company now owned by the French govt.

uswitch

I can choose from 1 railway operator to get me to London from Reading and for £5k pa season ticket I may have to stand all the way home.

National express and megabus both run coaches on that same route.

Choice in water supply? Nope just leaky old Thames Water (in part owned by the German govt). Have standards really risen?

without widescale metering its unlikely to happen.

Clearly specialists in education are the last people you want to run schools, much better to replace them with business managers with ideological crosses to bear.

You are actually correct. Specialists in education should do just that. Well run MAT's should free them up to focus on Teaching and raising standards as oppose to trying to be experts in HR/Finance/FM and IT, Making decisions they are unqualified to make which is what happens now.

The elephant in the room is that there is no evidence to justify making all schools Academies...and what evidence there is is decidedly mixed...goes to show that ideology/money is the driving factor, not what's best for the pupils....

#ihavenokids

I think it's an excellent idea. Take out all the bureaucratic/pension providing/snafflng £'s overlays and get down to providing quality education.

The only really bad feeling I have in this is that certain subjects such as Arts or Music will become minority subjects and for your kids to attend, the parents will pay to support "none core subjects"

Other than that, great.

Over bloated, over funded gravy train until you retire/then s**** whilst eating off your final salary pension pot MAWCB's.

My Sisters a Headmistress BTW.

What they are ignoring (quite wilfully) is that there is already a massive teacher shortage, which is only going to get much worse over the next 10 years or so! It is easy to say that you will route out poor teacher etc, but when the only people who are willing to stand in a classroom are those poor teacher, you are a bit stuck!

Using unqualified staff sounds like a simple fix....until they get crap grades because they aren't qualified (and you have to ask if you wanted to be a teacher why wouldnt you put yourself through qualification) or they realise that teaching really isn't easy street and they go and work in another sector!
It is amazing how many people leave teaching for an easier life in another career.....but so many slate teachers for having an easy life!

I think it's an excellent idea. Take out all the bureaucratic/pension providing/snafflng £'s overlays and get down to providing quality education.

That's not what has happened with academies so far, why do you think it will suddenly start working now?

You are actually correct. Specialists in education should do just that. Well run MAT's should free them up to focus on Teaching and raising standards as oppose to trying to be experts in HR/Finance/FM and IT, Making decisions they are unqualified to make which is what happens now.

Frankly I haven't met a manager with those skills in 30 years working in the private and public sector, where are they all going to magically appear from? There will just be an extra layer of overpaid incompetent bureaucracy in schools with no oversight.

Maybe the local authority could provide those services to schools in their area allowing schools to get on with teaching.

There will be a crisis in 15-25 yrs when the schools are falling down...... As they'll have failed to budget for the upkeep of the buildings.... And spent the money on fancy carpet for the 'business manager'

Take out all the bureaucratic/pension providing/snafflng £'s overlays and get down to providing quality education.

And replace it with share holders and CEO's being paid lumps to go when they fail.

Frankly I haven't met a manager with those skills in 30 years working in the private and public sector,

I have met lots and with a statment like that you are clearly not objective.

Maybe the local authority could provide those services to schools in their area allowing schools to get on with teaching.

They have failed in the past.

with a statment like that you are clearly not objective.

😆

They have failed in the past.

Academies have been better funded and failed to provide a better outcome so the evidence points to a more successful delivery of service under LEA controlled schools.

There will be a crisis in 15-25 yrs when the schools are falling down...... As they'll have failed to budget for the upkeep of the buildings....

So much the same as previous then. The school I went to in late 80's was built in 2 phases in the 60's on the cheap and was completely falling apart with leaking roofs and failed heating to name a few issues.

There's no evidence that private sector organisations are any better run than public sector ones. All large organisations have incompetent staff, duplication of resources. inefficient processes, etc. It's a factor of scale, not whether there are shareholders or not.

The motivation is 100% based on ideology and a hatred of LEAs / local councils.

Worse... All the investment in The BSF school programme will be squandered. The academies will sweat the estate and it will end up costing Joe Public a fortune in the decades to come

The elephant in the room for the entire public sector has always been tolerance of incompetence at all levels and lack of action to get rid of incompetent people and institutional waste, so if this helps break that, then it's a good thing.

On the other hand, I'd hate to see it go too far. With luck, a natural balance will ensue. Dead wood will be rooted out, standards will rise as a result of increased accountability, and net result is better education.

Of course it would work if the private sector was any better. Former public services now privatised would suggest otherwise.

Over bloated, over funded gravy train until you retire/then s**** whilst eating off your final salary pension pot MAWCB's.

So I have some of the most expensive energy in Europe coming from a privatised company now owned by the French govt. I can choose from 1 railway operator to get me to London from Reading and for £5k pa season ticket I may have to stand all the way home. Choice in water supply? Nope just leaky old Thames Water (in part owned by the German govt). Have standards really risen?

It doesn't matter about standards. The Government is so ideologically opposed to anything publicly owned.

Everything that was won for ordinary people after WW2 is being undone by the type of people who ran the country prior to that conflict.

Turning a school into an academy is actually nationalisation, it is transferred to the central government balance sheet.

What's the difference between academy and school? Very lazy to google ... 😛

The motivation is 100% based on ideology and a hatred of LEAs / local councils.

If academies were going to improve things we'd have noticed by now wouldnt we?
Willshawe was banging on about them wasting money the other day.

Drac - Moderator
Take out all the bureaucratic/pension providing/snafflng £'s overlays and get down to providing quality education.
And replace it with share holders and CEO's being paid lumps to go when they fail.

If you like, yes.

But that's not what I said now is it.

You seem to promote CEO's being paid large salaries, why?

Did I?

I didn't.

Fancy some argument ?

Or just picking me out, trolling perhaps?

You next....

It's just Cameron continuing the policy his mentor started

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The EBD school my friend teaches at went to the absolute shit after it was turned over to an investment fund. Overcrowding, increased number of incompetent poorly paid staff, continual hiring and firing of management staff and ofsted reports that went through the floor....all to chase as much government funding with the least amount of overheads.

Ninfan, must admit, the bit in that video about giving local councils 100 million each to defend themselves made me laugh a lot. 😀

Brilliant!

Yes Prime Minister! Timeless! 😀

They have a bad rep amongst teachers of having a high staff turn over due to burnout.

It seems to be motivated by the philosophical idea that private >public