Will your grandchild's school be affected by education cuts? Find out...

I really don't think that, at the school where my daughter teaches, class sizes will reduce because people will send their children to private school....

My GDs new school will lose 24 teachers. It really is ridiculous. Once the cuts are made it will take years to get a good education system back. In fact I would argue that the improvements in standards TM is talking about are because the last Labour government invested in education and the results are still being seen. You don't improve schools in one or two years it takes time. On the other hand a school can slip into chaos in no time at all.

Neither do I, Tegan. None of my granddaughter's friends have enough money to pay for the private schools round here.

lillie your grandmother was teaching at a time when the children of the working classes were drilled in basics (which of course there is a need for too!), because they were being prepared by the state to enter the factories which needed a massive workforce which were educated enough to do repetitive and minimally skilled tasks (whilst not being educated enough to start to question the status quo too much). They were not taught the skills or knowledge required in order to enter into higher education or leadership. The children of the upper and middle classes were being taught those skills in small classes in public schools or one to one with private tutors or governesses.

That kind of mass scale, minimally individualised, education is relatively easy to do in large numbers, especially when the only adult in the room is allowed to use a weapon to physically assault the naughty or the "stupid". And no one in government really cared if these children did not learn. Dyslexic? Disabled? Down syndrome? Deaf? Blind? Not worth the effort to even try and teach.

God forbid that our rose-tinted view of the past disguises the barbaric, socially unfair and sub-standard practices of the past.

Pardon? My grandmother was a clergyman's wife, not a teacher, or are you addressing dj? ..... Although, you're right Hellomonty, my grandmother's offspring all received free education at public schools which advanced them greatly in life.
dj may think I am flaunting my "privileged background", - just goes to show how wrong she can be about one's humble beginnings!

Except I didn't say anything about your background. I said flaunting your privilege, now.
Are you saying there is no privilege in class size and money?

Just started new thread 'Pollsters predict shock Tory Losses'. I wonder if a hung parliament would affect what the schools would get?

The last school I taught at will lose 16 teachers.
How many will yours lose, Lillie?

I rest my case dj. My privilege now is without doubt, related to my background, it's almost impossible to have one without the other. I have experience of being on both sides of the fence.

Of course we won't be loosing any teachers at our school. What does strike me as strange though, is that despite many teachers being made redundant, the number of applications for new posts we offer is very very low. Ok, so we are in the most expensive area of the country and a teacher's salary wouldn't go very far, ok, so not everyone wants to work in the independent sector, but I would imagine that many of these disillusioned out of work teachers are leaving the profession for good, never to teach again. What a criminal waste of yet more money.

Loosing? Setting them loose on the pupils? There's a picture.
Sorry, but my son would never apply to your school for a job; neither would any of the other teachers in the family. Teaching in a faith school is somewhat against our principles, but even I had to do that once, as did my son and daughter in law, simply because there were no jobs at schools other than faith schools at the time.

You've answered your own question anyway. Why do teachers working in your school not get paid enough to live there?
What a criminal waste. Do you not have housing to go with the job?

By the way, nowadays people pay for their degrees, so it's not the taxpayers money they are 'wasting'. Teaching skills are quite transferrable, so it's not a waste.

Coming from a teacher I am amazed that you consider any form of education a waste

I was educated during the war. Many lessons were taught in a shelter underneath the playground. We did not have enough pencils to go round, so writing was learned using sand trays. We had 48 pupils in my class. School hours were from 9 am to 4 pm. By the time we were seven we could all read, write and do basic mathematics. I believe that teaching would improve if the children were seated, as we were, in rows facing the teacher. At least our teachers could see if we were struggling. I understand that it is to make learning fun for children. First lesson - life is not necessarily fun. You need to work at it. Once you have mastered the basics, you can learn anything. Until then you are limited. I agree with a previous poster who said that children can be educated in a garden shed. Too many subjects - too soon. Guess I'm just getting old!

Ooh dear, haha "loosing"would be funny! Sorry, I wasn't alert enough to check my typos at 5.30 am.
Unfortunately even though the teachers may earn well over the norm, average properties are in excess of £1 million, rents are very high, as is transport etc. I could go on. It's not the job which puts them off, but the cost of living. It's the same problem for nurses in the capital, both in the NHS and in the private sector.
Of course, no education is ever a waste for the individual concerned.

So do you live on the job, like the head at my old school did, and my grandmother?
Even a head at a private school in London can't afford a million for a house, can she?

Experigran, yes desks, (proper ones with lids), in rows every time for me too! I taught for several years abroad and that kind of seating was de rigueur.

dj The most feasible way to recruit new staff in London is to draw from those already living in the area. The properties they are living in will be increasing far faster than their salaries ever will! Those from further afield considering the jobs are sadly always aghast at the cost of housing and daily living etc.

Lillie where are you coming from? People already living in London can get jobs far easier and better paid than teaching. Teachers can't afford to stay there. Very few young people can, they house share, pay exorbitant rents and eventually look for work and property somewhere cheaper.

"at least our teacher could see if we were struggling". Well not always. I know of at least one person in my school who was always struggling because their desk was at the back where, because of sight problems they did not want to bring to the teacher's attention, they were unable to see what was written on the board. When the problem was finally uncovered, a pair of glasses and a seat nearer the front revealed a child with the potential to do well, not one permanently at the bottom of the class because no-one realised she couldn't see.

Heaven preserve me from people who go on about how big their class size was and how everyone could read and write. First of all they couldn't there were many illiterate people they managed because it was easy to get factory or manual work when you didn't need to be literate. Secondly times have changed and teachers cope with all the ills of society, children who are emotionally damaged, children with complex special needs, children who have no family support, children whose families are aggressive and anti-social and children who are high flyers. Along with that are the demands of the parents. Personally I'd like to leave anyone who goes on about class sizes with 30 year 4or5s for a morning just so they know what it's like.

There was a discussion on the radio this morning about a school where the head couldn't afford cleaners so was getting the pupils to do it instead.

The school my children attended is losing over £1 million, which equates to 22 teachers.

I was horrified to see an ad in my local paper for volunteers to invigilate GCSE and A level exams. Firstly,I can't really imagine why anybody would want to invigilate for no pay. Secondly, although invigilating isn't a difficult job, it's an important and responsible one. There have been cases of maladministration and cheating, so it's important that invigilators have proper training. Unfortunately, some pupils have no respect for outside invigilators and won't obey instructions.

Some schools during the war were appalling. My mother was evacuated from an urban school to rural Herefordshire at the age of 10. She went to a village school for children from the age of 5 to 14. My mother had never excelled at school,but when she was in Herefordshire, she was moved to the top class and was one of the most advanced. There were children who couldn't read by the age of 14.

My grandmother was so horrified that she took my mother back home after six months, despite the bombs.

PS. The private school in my town has just announced that it's closing in September, because it can't attract enough pupils. Goodness knows what will happen to the 240 pupils, because the local schools haven't any places.

The answer to all your complaints is clearly to vote Labour next week. Labour is committed to free education of the standard we need to fill the jobs and run the country of the future from nursery to university level. Yes it will be expensive, yes it has been costed, and yes the money will be there when we change the iniquitous tax system that takes from those with low incomes and gives to those with large incomes. Let's change the current culture of greed and go back to a more inclusive society.

Agreed, Celia. Let's hope enough other voters do.