Should academic years be pushed back a year

[the_holgate_roof]

With inevitable lock downs, university’s and schools potentially periodically closing and constant disruptions, this is a unique time we are living in, is there an argument to move school years back a year, so effectively school leavers now to be 17 yrs old and so on ???

 

[jeff_potato]

I think that there is an argument for the current Year 11 cohort, but there simply isn't the physical space to educate the children. Schools are bursting at the seams as it is.

Perhaps a better solution would be to scrap league tables and relieve the pressure on schools to churn out lots of kids with C grade equivalents. Instead, help those with potential to maximise that potential and for those who can't, help them find the paths into further education routes where they might find an outlet for any talents. The headline data wouldnt be nice, but the bright could still excel and the non academics could find themselves grateful for discovering their future prospects.

 

[Otto42]

This could be managed so much better if we had have a competent education secretary anticipating and planning for events rather than simply reacting to them. The education system is also not helped by the shambolic testing system.

 

[Frozen Horse]

I think you have to consider the knock on on the work force.

My job is training nurses, and if you were to tell the NHS there is going to be a year with no new nurses joining the work force, I'm sure they'd have a meltdown.

I'll admit it's a nightmare at the minute, but we have to remember education doesn't exist for education's sake. Our society needs to keep this process moving.

 

[r00fie1]

Jeff: agreed. The league table system is Grammar Schools by any other nam,e. disadvantaged kids still attend schools with other disadvantaged kids. Now they are effectively private on the Minister for Educations behalf, local authorities have no say in schools and therefore there is no accountability.

For those who years ago followed the ideological donkey of "free schools" we see an inequitous hierachy, payment by results [a la Victorian "values"] and a completely unbalanced curricula based on test outcomes. Uniform standards have become more of a focus than the practical value of a childs education.

This covid - era points to the need for a more inclusive education system - localised schools - where facilities and resources are geared to local kids needs. Those kids who are currently marginalised due to learning differences, neurological diversity, physical disabilities and behavioural differences need to be supported; academies appear to find such kids as a burden and a distraction from their league - focused "education".

It maybe that some kids can learn at home, but in some cases the absence of a decent mid-day meal and their household situation may make learning impossible. The emphasis being survival, not a grade C in English Literature!


There is no perfect solution - but why should there be? One size does not fit all. Whats the advantage or relevance to go to University to acru a massive debt to start your life off?
Those young folks who left school with little or no bits of paper ["qualifications"?] in the 1960 / 70s / 80s / 90s / 00s / 10s / 20s - are still no better off for all the private academy system boasts. "Equality" of opportunity is an alien concept in these days of "free" market economics [for the few].


Public money directed towards social housbuilding and new infrastructure would give practical young people the opportunities in their thousands to develop and train with new skills [for example]: electricians. Gas fitters. Plasterers. Drivers. Builders. Painters. Decorators. Glaziers. Carpenters. Roofers. Floor layers. Gardeners. Manufacturing of all those resources. Teachers of practical skills. Foremen. etc.

In times of austerity we build our way out of recession: we build houses to house families and single people. We re-equip the aging railway and public transport system by building and upgrading the local railways and roads. we focus on converting and building new day centres and providing youth centres and local hubs fore local communities.


We can find money to build bombs and the means of mass destruction in war time and use the state to effectively manage the commanding heights of the economy: we can use those same resources and skills in peacetime. The only obstacle are the politicians who represent vested interests and the privileged few.


There are areas of Middlesbrough and the rest of Teesside crying out for investment - like Grove Hill, Greasham, Whinney Banks, Brambles Farm, Southbank, North Ormesby...
Local people need to be given the money and tools to rebuild - not some planner or Mayor of a distant "Authority". What we create on the shop floor begins by a reflection of need in the school curriculum.

Local people know best what local people need most.

It really is time for a huge change. Its going to be a battle, because vested interests care little and will hang on for dear life to protect their power.

 

[ticker_tape]

Perhaps we could recognise and record those that have been disadvataged through this plague and offer credit for extra courses/ training as their career life progresses.

 

[r00fie1]

I think you have to consider the knock on on the work force.

My job is training nurses, and if you were to tell the NHS there is going to be a year with no new nurses joining the work force, I'm sure they'd have a meltdown.

I'll admit it's a nightmare at the minute, but we have to remember education doesn't exist for education's sake. Our society needs to keep this process moving.

Spot on Frozen.
If I lived in T-side you would have been my "teacher" (!) - my learning started in cleaning up body fluids and doing the dirty jobs caring for patients - and worked my way up. The shortages we face and the ridiculous degree - lead debt -ridden training regimes have devastated our resource base - including lecturers and peole with experience [I dont have to tell you, so forgive me].

 

[Frozen Horse]

I'm not Teesside-based and I'm only a few years off the frontline myself, so I think our paths probably wouldn't have crossed.

 

[Jedi boro]

The fact is that students now pay (and pay a lot) for their education so this muddies the waters as they want value for money.

 

[Juninho10]

Local people need to be given the money and tools to rebuild - not some planner or Mayor of a distant "Authority". What we create on the shop floor begins by a reflection of need in the school curriculum.

Local people know best what local people need most.

It really is time for a huge change. Its going to be a battle, because vested interests care little and will hang on for dear life to protect their power.

Yes, Middlesbrough has something like..... 22 out of 24 areas are classed as 'deprived' - but it doesn't stop a new building with a rooftop pool - circa £15 million

 

[r00fie1]

I'm not Teesside-based and I'm only a few years off the frontline myself, so I think our paths probably wouldn't have crossed.

Maybe not - I dont live in T-side either, but you could have been my "teacher" because you train nurses. Thats the context.
A large number of experienced colleagues have left the coal face because of paper-work, "pressure of beds" and the focus on "Management" of wards and budgets. Youth and enthusiasm has replaced experience - the balance has tipped so that patient - care is more difficult and more systemic than individual. Its sad, but true.