4 ms·

UK state schools absolutely suck. My experience mirrors that of the author in a lot of ways. I will say though, some of the content of this article appears out

UK state schools absolutely suck. My experience mirrors that of the author in a lot of ways. I will say though, some of the content of this article appears outdated, and the author doesn't seem to have checked to see if their memory lines up with the reality of how things work today. For example, about Ofsted inspections: > Now, you may imagine that these inspections would be unannounced, so as to best get a real image of how a school works. Not the case. They’re scheduled well in advance. This is absolutely not the case today. Schools have a general idea of when an inspection will be (i.e: what season of the year) based on when their last inspection was, but they're only told that an inspection will happen on the morning of the inspection [0]. Schools don't really have a window of opportunity to game the inspection in the way the author describes. > Another way the stats were gamed was by not recording bad behavior This whole section seems a little naive. Teachers in lower sets have an incredibly tough job, and have to try to support those students who genuinely want to learn, but are struggling, while also managing the behaviour of disruptive children. Sometimes, it is the better option to just allow some disruptive behaviour slide (e.g: swearing) rather than interrupting the whole lesson just to deal with one kid. A lot of the time, if behaviour doesn't provoke any response, it won't escalate. As the author says, if a student is actually aggressive towards other students, then obviously action is taken, but I'm not sure they quite appreciate how difficult it is to try to teach a struggling class. wrt cheating, it definitely happens. I'm not personally aware of any examples quite as extreme as what the author described, but I know my Spanish teacher turned a blind eye while I let my friends copy my work, for example, and I'm sure in the lower sets behaviour such as this was more widespread. I will say though, the exams the author is talking about here are GCSEs. They don't determine your ability to get into university, they're only used by 6th-forms (equivalent of US high school) to determine what subjects you can study. While they absolutely affect parents' perception of schools, they are not quite as serious as if students were receiving A-levels based on cheating. Also, students choose GCSE subjects. If someone only speaks 20 words of French, it's unlikely they would choose to study French. 0: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/828451/School_inspections_-_a_guide_for_parents.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...

bArray 6y ago
> This is absolutely not the case today. Schools have a general idea of when an inspection will be (i.e: what season of the year) based on when their last inspection was, but they're only told that an inspection will happen on the morning of the inspection [0]. I have family still in the school system in the UK - but they still get advanced notice. Essentially somebody at the school either knows the inspector or somebody very close to them, and gets a tip off about when it will occur. The system is still corrupt. One of the biggest things they do is to take a disruptive child and literally lock them up in a building called "room 101". The entire school would have an assembly on that morning at very first thing and told to behave or else. Half of the stories reflect exactly cases I know to have happened in my local secondary schools, where both students and teachers have acted badly, and in many cases illegally. Honestly, it really makes home schooling an attractive option if you can afford to do so.
- opheliate 6y ago
  > Essentially somebody at the school either knows the inspector or somebody very close to them, and gets a tip off about when it will occur. That's impressive corruption. My mother works in one of the local secondary schools, and they absolutely do not get know when inspections will occur, I guess that really depends on the school.
  - michaelt 6y ago
    I don't know anything about corruption - but I do know multiple inspectors turn up together, and most inspectors are themselves former teachers. So it's easy to imagine how occasionally an inspector would have an old friend at the school.

bArray 6y ago

> This is absolutely not the case today. Schools have a general idea of when an inspection will be (i.e: what season of the year) based on when their last inspection was, but they're only told that an inspection will happen on the morning of the inspection [0]. I have family still in the school system in the UK - but they still get advanced notice. Essentially somebody at the school either knows the inspector or somebody very close to them, and gets a tip off about when it will occur. The system is still corrupt. One of the biggest things they do is to take a disruptive child and literally lock them up in a building called "room 101". The entire school would have an assembly on that morning at very first thing and told to behave or else. Half of the stories reflect exactly cases I know to have happened in my local secondary schools, where both students and teachers have acted badly, and in many cases illegally. Honestly, it really makes home schooling an attractive option if you can afford to do so.

opheliate 6y ago
> Essentially somebody at the school either knows the inspector or somebody very close to them, and gets a tip off about when it will occur. That's impressive corruption. My mother works in one of the local secondary schools, and they absolutely do not get know when inspections will occur, I guess that really depends on the school.
- michaelt 6y ago
  I don't know anything about corruption - but I do know multiple inspectors turn up together, and most inspectors are themselves former teachers. So it's easy to imagine how occasionally an inspector would have an old friend at the school.