Elections: Snapshot of the education policies
We are counting down! Everyone (well almost!) is talking about the election. I am actually glad we don’t have a long drawn out process like the States – I will be bored, irritated or quite possibly both! So the 3 main party leaders are up and down the country making serious pledges, and for once I am paying more attention to what they are saying – especially about education and family (that blog to follow next week). I am not sure I will be swayed one way or another because I have made up mind who will get my one vote come May 6th; nevertheless it is important to be engaged.
The BBC has done a snapshot of what the ‘big 3s’ policies are on key issues – with education being one of them. I thought I separate them on commonalities: Academies, Standards, Teachers, Apprenticeships, Higher Education; and identify which ones I prefer. But before I get to that, I have to say that I know we live in a democracy and all that; but it bothers me that politicians seem to have lost the essence or reason why they went into public service – to serve the public. Is it really impossible for politicians to work together for the benefit of ordinary citizens? Or I am an idealist? Anyway here goes, and let me know if you are swayed by this or you’re like me has made up your mind.
Academies
Conservatives:
• Allow charities, parent and teacher groups, and co-operatives to establish Academies – schools which are state funded but independent of local authority control; allow every existing school – including primaries – to seek Academy status
Labour:
• Encourage universities to set Academies up as well as private organisations
Lib Dems:
• Replace Academies with “Sponsor Managed Schools”, to be run by educational charities and private providers, but under local authority control, not Whitehall
My preferred policy: Conservatives
Standards
Conservatives:
• Allow state schools to offer the same international exams as private schools;
• Give head teachers power to pay “good” teachers more;
• Scrap exclusions’ appeals process
Labour:
• Give school pupils guarantees of one-to-one English and Maths tuition if they fall behind
• Encourage comprehensive schools to pool budgets in school “chains”, allowing stronger schools to raise standards in weaker schools
• Introduce school “report cards”, which would rate schools on a wide range of data, including exam performance, behaviour and parents’ and children’s views of a school
Lib Dems:
• Replace National Curriculum with a Minimum Curriculum Entitlement to allow teachers more flexibility
• Create a General Diploma made up of GCSEs, A-Levels and vocational qualifications
• Create an Education Standards Authority to monitor school standards independent of government
Preferred policy: Bits of all 3
Teachers
Conservatives:
• Raise teacher training entry requirements
• Make it easier for teachers to use “reasonable force” to deal with violence
Labour:
• Introduce a renewable “licence to teach” for teachers
Lib Dems:
• None supplied
Preferred policy: Bits of the Conservatives
Apprenticeships
Conservatives:
• 100,000 additional apprenticeships and training places a year
Labour:
• Status quo
Lib Dems:
• Increase the apprenticeship numbers
Preferred policy: All
Higher Education
Conservatives:
• Give bonuses for early repayment of student loans
Labour:
• Consider ways to widen access to universities, while retaining tuition fees; create 20,000 extra undergraduate university places in 2010-11
Lib Dems:
• Increase places on university and vocational higher education courses; scrap university tuition fees over six years
Preferred policy: Bits of all 3
Not much difference between them and are you swayed by any of the above?
Original source: BBC Website
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