Right, so I’ve been trying to write this piece for a couple of days now, and like all things that I want to do, I either haven’t had the time or the will to do it. Until now.
Now before I start, I always said that I wouldn’t blog, but then there are certain things that you read, that really rile you up. One of those things for me is Peter Mandelson. Now I don’t have anything against the man personally (I’ve never met him, seen him, particularly been impressed by him), but when he comes out with things like this it really makes me want to scream.
Now I’m well known around the office for having a chip on my shoulder. A big hard Northern working class chip, and I’m incredibly proud of it. I’m from the town of Middlesbrough (Yes according to Channel 4, the worst place to live in the UK, but I defy you to actually come North, and not enjoy the experience), and only three schools across the whole LEA scored higher than the English average of 57.1% of children getting 5A* – C grades, one school scoring as little as 16%. Yet Mandelson’s suggestion that children from schools like the ones that me and my friends (Should that be my friends and I?) went to should get a two grade advantage when applying to University disgusts me in so many ways.
Admission of failure. That basically what it is. It is Labour, and this Government saying that they have not and cannot get the system up to scratch where it can provide every child in this country with a good education, so it can give children the skills to provide for themselves in the real world. If 84% of children from one school in Middlesbrough don’t have GCSE’s, what are they to do? University admission certainly isn’t for them (even with a two grade advantage, you’re going to struggle with A-Levels if you struggle with GCSE’s), apprenticeships aren’t for them (Do it, look for apprenticeships, and see how many will take you without a set of good GCSE’s), a good job (again try looking for a job above minimum wage that doesn’t want qualifications), you have basically written off a hell of a lot of children already, and they’re only 16. Good jobs are hard to find, any job is hard to find especially at the moment, and this is why, now more than ever, education is the single biggest tool we have for social reform.
So what’s the plan? Well I never said I had any solutions. I’ll hold my hands up and tell you that I like the Foundation Phase here in Wales. I like it, it was a good plan, absolutely terribly implemented, and probably the worst thought through plan ever. Lowering class sizes is incredibly important, training our teachers to be world class (Continuing Professional Development money for teachers ran out less than 6 months into the year here in Wales in 2008), and getting funding to the children that need it the most. That’s why I like the Pupil Premium idea, if it is done properly.
As we have seen with many things, you can plough money into something, and that thing fail to work better than before (Ok, so I’m thinking of the NHS). We need more teachers, more resources, better facilities, the whole system needs an overhaul, and targeting money at those who need it the most appeals to me.
So, I realise having read this back it is a bit of a mix mash of ideas. But what I’m basically saying is give every child a strong decent valuable education, give themselves the tools and the skills to be able to live hard working, solid, dependable lives (We can’t make all our children geniuses, but we can get them to the point where they can read a can of beans, and tell you how much 5 of them will cost). Do not as Mandelson suggests pick out the few who make it through the system to perfectly good A-Levels, and then make them the token poor kid. This does nothing for social mobility, does nothing for solving the elitism that can be found in many universities, and does nothing to end poverty. A good education for all, and a level playing field for all, can certainly go someway to putting some of society’s ills right.
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