Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Set up your own School

At the moment you can educate your child at home with only the odd visit from the Council to check up on what you are up to, but you can't get together with a group of like minded people, set up your own school and expect the Government to pay for it.

Lots of groups in little villages and inner cities where there are no decent schools, want to create their own school and over the next few months, I reckon that we will hear a lot more about it.

There are a few questions to be answered though; what happens when a group of nutters want to set up their own school, preaching the joys of Religious Fundamentalism, Crystal Healing or Flat Earthism? How do we decide who is 'suitable' and what happens when the founding group lose interest and don't want to run the school any more?

Mind you; in many areas, whatever is set up could hardly be any worse than what we have already, so maybe it is an idea worth considering.

7 comments:

Margaret English said...

You have raised some good questions here and there are of course many more, including: How exactly will such schools be regulated and by whom? (Ofsted is already a misguided shambles) and will the funding detract from current government funding for public sector education?

Anonymous said...

I can't wait. I'm not sure if it's going to be better or worse (probably both) but I have a gut feeling it's going to be hilarious.

Eunoia said...

Who sets the curriculum/exams?
If they is set countrywide, then surely it shouldn't matter who is teaching it?

Margaret English said...

Enoia- Is that a joke?! Of course it matters who the techers are. The better the quality of teaching, the better chance there is that students will know which part of the verb to use when writing a sentence.

Anonymous said...

Who is suitable? Anyone who can satisfy OFSTED inspections and pass enhanced clearance.

What will they teach? National Curriculum. (I know that currentlyprivate schools don't have to...but NC should be a minimum level of tuition).

Will they teach radical views? No more than many organisations, both religious and non-faith, already do.

What happens when they get bored? Exactly the same as when a Local Authority decides a school is "no longer sustainable". It closes, and the pupils are redistributed to other schools.

Tina Turner The Third said...

Of course it matters who the techers are. The better the quality of teaching, the better chance there is that students will know which part of the verb to use when writing a sentence.

The students may also have a better chance of knowing how to spell "Teachers".....

OK... I know it's a typing error, but I couldn't resist a leg-pull!

Anonymous said...

What short-term memories we have.

Until the passing of the 1870 Education Act, the British state was happy to leave education to the private sector, voluntary groups and the church.

The laissez-faire theories then prevailing meant any direct intervention by the state in education, and indeed in many other areas, was to be discouraged.

Economic development, the personal acquisition of wealth and its associated trappings, and a devil take the hindmost approach view of society saw education remain fragmented and focused on benefiting the few over the whole.

Does that sound familiar? Academic subjects are increasingly denied to those "who won't benefit", selection is firmly re-established in its many guises. and the state increasingly pushes the line that education is best left to others. Let's turn back the clock to nastier times—after all it doesn't matter provided I and mine get the opportunities. Who cares about those who missed out? Clearly it's their fault for not making the right choices.