Prime minister announces plan to create the “best education system in the western world”:^1
>Mr Sunak attempted to head off criticism about how teachers are supposed to deliver the changes, after [he] insisted that he wanted pupils to do more subjects and more hours.
>Teachers in “key subjects” will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000, tax free, over the first five years of their careers to “attract and retain” more people.
>There was no clarity on exactly when the changes are supposed to happen, but No 10 emphasised that it was a long-term reform project.
>Pupils starting primary school this year are expected to be the first to take the new ABS.
1. Ditch existing qualifications
2. Increase the number of subjects
3. Require even more teaching
None of these things is going to work without more teachers, who, let’s not forget:
1. have been striking forever over pay and working conditions
2. risk being stabbed
3. work ridiculous amounts of unpaid overtime already
4. don’t have enough hours in the day for existing prep and marking, let alone personal development, and
5. make far less money than equivalent private sector employees in the areas they are most needed (maths, IT, science)
This dog ain’t gonna hunt, Rishi.
I was in the first year to do GCSE’s, it was fucking chaos, so expect this to be a massive clusterfuck.
Oh come on, I did 4 A levels and it was an absolute stress fest! How can you expect people to do MORE?!
There’s a part of me that things policies like this only exist so they can force “British” into the name because it must play well with a certain voter demographic who need to continually see “British” to believe were the best in the world at everything.
This feels like something they’re going to start rolling out until it has too much momentum to stop and then sit back and laugh as Labour try to deal with the inevitably chaotic outcome.
Lame, he could have called it:
“Supreme Imperial British Standard”
“Elite British Sovereign Benchmark of Distinction”
“Exalted British Benchmark of Celestial Supremacy and Noble Grandeur”
Children in Scotland won’t be doing advanced British standard.
Forgotten about again.
Bruh. Studying maths until you’re 18 will only cause more problems in schools and this is coming from a former Maths teacher.
Students already tend to dislike Maths (another discussion entirely but this won’t help) and many are disinterested in lessons. I can only imagine this getting worse.
You’ll need more maths teachers to cover these teaching hours, at a time when there’s a current shortage of maths teachers already and a difficulty in retaining the existing ones. Good luck with that.
A policy that’s easily cooked up on paper to win votes will cause further disruption in schools. These Tory government education policies have caused planning nightmares and confusion for parents too.
If you are going to do something monumental to children’s education you kinda need competent people to do it not talentless morons that just say shit to get attention without thinking through what their plan actually means.
Sunak wants out, but doesn’t want to look like a quitter. He’s going to suggest insane policy after insane policy until it’s unfeasible for him to stay. Then he can claim he was ousted and it was out of his control.
>Sixth formers will now be required to study five subjects rather than three under the new ABS qualification, said the PM – explaining that he wanted students to spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher.
nope, not happening. Some students struggle to get the 3 A levels worth of worth/study down, going to 5 is going to kill them. It means that they won’t have any spending/purchasing power. You can’t go to work 5-9 /6-10 after school or get a saturday job when you’ve got 5 subjects to study for. You are going to have fewer free peroids to study/research in. Never mind teachers
they’re going to be working nonstop trying to make this 195 hour mark
FFS just introduce the International Baccalaureate.
Learners will inherit the world, whereas the learned will find themselves beautifully prepared to deal with a world that no longer exists.
This is never going to happen. It’s years away, he’s got 12 months left and nobody gives a fuck what he thinks.
<end thread>
And we know they’re better than A levels and worth more because they have ‘British’ in the name.
Oo-ra!
Though I’m sure upgrading to ABS will probably not lead to an automatically broken system, though I guess it depends on how much traction it gets
I thought A levels were pretty sound as a qualification. GCSEs are a bit of a mess
Oh good, it’s got the word ‘British’ in it. Then it’s guaranteed to be ‘world leading’.
Why are the tories obssessed with sixth-form qualifications. It is like they peaked in college. I would think it would be easier to push forward the IB qualification.
*…Downing Street admitted that it may take 10 years to introduce.*
20 comments
Prime minister announces plan to create the “best education system in the western world”:^1
>Mr Sunak attempted to head off criticism about how teachers are supposed to deliver the changes, after [he] insisted that he wanted pupils to do more subjects and more hours.
>Teachers in “key subjects” will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000, tax free, over the first five years of their careers to “attract and retain” more people.
>There was no clarity on exactly when the changes are supposed to happen, but No 10 emphasised that it was a long-term reform project.
>Pupils starting primary school this year are expected to be the first to take the new ABS.
^1 ^https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rishi-sunak-a-levels-scrapped-b2423832.html
1. Ditch existing qualifications
2. Increase the number of subjects
3. Require even more teaching
None of these things is going to work without more teachers, who, let’s not forget:
1. have been striking forever over pay and working conditions
2. risk being stabbed
3. work ridiculous amounts of unpaid overtime already
4. don’t have enough hours in the day for existing prep and marking, let alone personal development, and
5. make far less money than equivalent private sector employees in the areas they are most needed (maths, IT, science)
This dog ain’t gonna hunt, Rishi.
I was in the first year to do GCSE’s, it was fucking chaos, so expect this to be a massive clusterfuck.
Oh come on, I did 4 A levels and it was an absolute stress fest! How can you expect people to do MORE?!
There’s a part of me that things policies like this only exist so they can force “British” into the name because it must play well with a certain voter demographic who need to continually see “British” to believe were the best in the world at everything.
This feels like something they’re going to start rolling out until it has too much momentum to stop and then sit back and laugh as Labour try to deal with the inevitably chaotic outcome.
Lame, he could have called it:
“Supreme Imperial British Standard”
“Elite British Sovereign Benchmark of Distinction”
“Exalted British Benchmark of Celestial Supremacy and Noble Grandeur”
Children in Scotland won’t be doing advanced British standard.
Forgotten about again.
Bruh. Studying maths until you’re 18 will only cause more problems in schools and this is coming from a former Maths teacher.
Students already tend to dislike Maths (another discussion entirely but this won’t help) and many are disinterested in lessons. I can only imagine this getting worse.
You’ll need more maths teachers to cover these teaching hours, at a time when there’s a current shortage of maths teachers already and a difficulty in retaining the existing ones. Good luck with that.
A policy that’s easily cooked up on paper to win votes will cause further disruption in schools. These Tory government education policies have caused planning nightmares and confusion for parents too.
If you are going to do something monumental to children’s education you kinda need competent people to do it not talentless morons that just say shit to get attention without thinking through what their plan actually means.
Sunak wants out, but doesn’t want to look like a quitter. He’s going to suggest insane policy after insane policy until it’s unfeasible for him to stay. Then he can claim he was ousted and it was out of his control.
>Sixth formers will now be required to study five subjects rather than three under the new ABS qualification, said the PM – explaining that he wanted students to spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher.
nope, not happening. Some students struggle to get the 3 A levels worth of worth/study down, going to 5 is going to kill them. It means that they won’t have any spending/purchasing power. You can’t go to work 5-9 /6-10 after school or get a saturday job when you’ve got 5 subjects to study for. You are going to have fewer free peroids to study/research in. Never mind teachers
they’re going to be working nonstop trying to make this 195 hour mark
FFS just introduce the International Baccalaureate.
Learners will inherit the world, whereas the learned will find themselves beautifully prepared to deal with a world that no longer exists.
This is never going to happen. It’s years away, he’s got 12 months left and nobody gives a fuck what he thinks.
<end thread>
And we know they’re better than A levels and worth more because they have ‘British’ in the name.
Oo-ra!
Though I’m sure upgrading to ABS will probably not lead to an automatically broken system, though I guess it depends on how much traction it gets
I thought A levels were pretty sound as a qualification. GCSEs are a bit of a mess
Oh good, it’s got the word ‘British’ in it. Then it’s guaranteed to be ‘world leading’.
Why are the tories obssessed with sixth-form qualifications. It is like they peaked in college. I would think it would be easier to push forward the IB qualification.
*…Downing Street admitted that it may take 10 years to introduce.*