Ninety-three percent of children go to state schools, only 7 percent attend private schools, so why do so many politicians continue to attack the independent sector?

Surely it would be best to fix the larger part of the equation first.

Perhaps it’d also be quite useful to see what works in the independent sector (or even the grammar school sub-sector of the state schooling) and see how that could be used.

Never admit an error

Oh, wait, we can’t do that, because that’d mean a politician would have to admit they’d ‘got it wrong’.

It seems that every week there’s a selection of articles published in the mainstream media calling for the private schooling sector to be abolished.

It’s as if simply by removing independent schools from the options ‘those’ parents have, the children of all the remaining parents would somehow receive a better education.

Fix the bigger sector first

But what that argument fails to take into account is that only 7 percent of children attend fee charging schools (a proportion of which are there only because they receive a bursary to reduce their fees).

A much bigger issue, one that affects the remaining 97 percent of school children, is the inequality present throughout the state schooling system.

Yes, people, The State System Isn’t Fair (Shock, Horror!)

So what makes people think that killing off independent schools will ‘fix’ this issue?

The state schooling system is a hotchpotch of cobbled together initiatives that have evolved over time and with a variety of Governmental minister’s hands on the tiller.

Shifts in direction, changes in exam formats and increasing reliance upon commercial companies to drive forwards schooling has lead to significant differences in how good the schooling is across the country.

This is explored in more detail in a recent TES article by By Yvonne Williams.

In this she outlines just a few of the issues that need to be addressed within the state education system.

The areas outlined are those that I would suggest are much more important to focus upon rather than the ‘vote grabbing’ suggestion to do away with the old public schools we have in the UK.

It’ll be interesting to see what new initiatives are suggested to address some of the concerns mentioned in her article, and whether any create any positive results.

Is schooling important if it’s outside London?

One of the many issues touched upon in the article is how the state sector within London is funded more generously than those located along the coastal areas of our country.

Examples cited include Teach First, The London Challenge and inner-city regeneration as having had money handed over in far more substantial quantities than those needing a similar coastal challenge.

It would be incredulous to suggest that it’s only within London that educational issues exist.

Question:

If you could change one thing in the state schooling system in your location, what would it be, and why?

Are any of your children affected by poor state schooling?

Post below and let’s hear about some of the common themes and problems