Politics – The Tory Party is to Fix Education
The Tory Party is going to Fix Education, Again.
Nicky Morgan, the Tory Education Secretary, has said that they are going to wage ‘war on illiteracy and innumeracy’. So that is good news. Pupils aged 11 should know correct punctuation, spelling and grammar. They should also know their twelve times table.
Who could argue with that? No one, certainly not me. Although it does raise a couple of interesting questions. The first and most obvious is; So, what have they been doing for the last 5 years? Is it only important for children to read, write and do sums just before an election?
The second question is; As the Tory Chancellor, George Osborne avoided answering a 7 year old who asked him what seven times eight is. Just what was he doing at school? OK, so the answer is working hard, the son of a 17th Baronet, poor old Gideon (Gideon Oliver being his given names although he now prefers George) had to slum it at schools for the underprivileged namely; Norland Place (£4,580 per term) , Colet Court ( £5,807 per term) and then St Paul’s School (£7,264 a term for a day boy, £10,880 for a boarder). Even with his education poor old George failed to get a place on The Times trainee scheme. So, luckily for us all, he did manage to squeeze into a place in the Tory Party in the Research Department.
Back to the point (I know I digress all too often) Nicky Morgan, the Tory Education Secretary – whatever Michael Gove still believes – says that “We (The Tory Party) will expect every pupil by the age of 11 to know their times tables off by heart, to perform long division and complex multiplication and to be able to read a novel.”
She also said that funding for education would be largely ring fenced. It would seem that funding for higher education is not included in that promise.
In The Sunday Times she went on to say “They (the children) should be able to write a short story with accurate punctuation, spelling and grammar.
“Some will say this is an old-fashioned view, but I say that giving every child the chance to master the basics and succeed in life is a fundamental duty of any government.”
So, what have they been doing for the last 5 years? The latest Pisa league table, which ranks the test results of 15-year-olds from 65 countries, puts the UK at 26th for maths and 23rd for reading.
Apparently, it is the teachers’ fault. This from a Tory government that is happy to have non qualified teachers teaching our children. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) described the new tests as a “gimmick” during the election season.
“Apparently head teachers will be sacked should any – yes, any – child fail the new test. We are all for aiming high but, remember, this is a short test taken by a young child,” he said.
“Mistakes happen, children feel under the weather or have a bad evening beforehand. This does not mean that teachers are not working as hard as possible.”
Mistakes like having a Chancellor who can not multiply 8 by 7.
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
