Economic Crises hits the Public Sector (by sarah)
I'm very happy with Jean's school but yesterday we get a letter say that they do not have enough money to replace the teacher who retired nor to keep all the current stuff on full time. So the teachers have had to take an hours cut and the afternoon will see two classes instead of three.
They do not think there will be an increase in funding and infact there are cuts and expenses will continue to rise. Friends who are teachers are finding they are loosing their jobs as departments in secondary schools are honned down to a minimium. Graduate teachers are being employed as they are cheaper but as soon as they become experienced they to will find there are no jobs.
It would appear that 20 years experience is not needed and everybody will be fine with inexperienced teachers who though maybe good teachers are still very much going to be learning the ropes and now those colleges that could guide them through it are being turffed out of the system. Am I the only one who sees this as dangerous and damaging to our children's education?
More - if class numbers are rising in the village then what of the already stupid class sizes in the towns and cities? Are they going to be doing the same?
Large classes means that children can be lost in the mass and struggling or excelling get lost and not noticed. The children themselves see the school and teachers as a system around them rather than being apart of it - this leads to disruptive behavoiur as they develop the old US and THEM complex. Then we come to the safety issue - more children means more furniture cramped into the rooms and this means that regurdless of the fire door not being obstructed - there are more things to crash into, less room to move about - more territory disputes amongst the kids.
And of course the larger numbers results in a breeding ground for bullying - I am talking about education in general here.
I thought it was telling that the school can't see a change to these circumstances for the next 3 odd years.
I am wondering how Nurses, police and fire departments are fairing? I have already found out that most of the fire fighters are sort of part time hobbyist - ie they do it because they want to save lives on top of their actual job 🙁
Thu 27th May 2010 8:48 am 
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By Maurice Snell, Wed 30th Jun 2010 @ 11:39 am
Sorry Sarah - too many people voted Tory, and this is the natural consequence. You are welcome to set up your own school, (ha ha), or pay a private school to get better education than the Government thinks your children are worth. "There is no such thing as Society" - Margaret Thatcher, 1987.
So far, there's no sign of budget squeeze at our excellent local village primary school, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. They've improved enormously over the past decade, (buildings, resources, staffing levels etc.), and I can't believe this is unrelated to the massive budget increases that all state schools have experienced. One very experienced teacher is leaving this summer, so it will be interesting to see if/when/how she is replaced...