How could the state education system improve?

ban expensive uniforms.
have no uniform or a basic national one, bought at supermarket.
no stupid logo-ed sports socks.
i heard a woman from northern ireland whose 9 year old's sports shirt had gone from £5 to £18, because it was now carrying local business's brand.

Smaller classes, but better discipline. It doesn’t matter how small the class is if there is an element are is so disruptive that the teacher has to spend all her time trying to control them before any educating can take place. There is also a problem in some state secondary schools where pre-teen and teenage children who have arrived from outside the country come to school unable to speak or write the language and unused to any formal school system, even in their own country, but are lumped into mainstream education and expected to learn. Not fair on them and certainly not fair on teachers.

Sago

I have always felt SAT’s interfere with teaching.
A good teacher will tell you exactly how your child is progressing.
Have any teachers, ex teachers got an opinion on this?

Totally agree. Sats are a waste of time.

In secondary education, hire subject specialists who love their subject. In too many schools it’s a case of ‘I know you did PE for your qualification, but I’m sure you could manage Y7 English’ or ‘I know you teach Geography, but you go to church, don’t you? You can be head of RS’ (yes, that’s a real one).

Give the schools the money.

You can't reduce class sizes without huge expense; extra teaching space and extra teaching and support staff for a start.

You're all just ignoring the elephant in the room.

Bring back discipline and I don't mean corporal punishment. But teachers have become more like the pupils' friends in some schools - some on first name basis with their teachers. So, I think that general teachers have lost respect of their pupils and parents alike. Added to that, when they do try to discipline their pupils someone is filming them on a mobile to be used against them later and I think sometimes teachers are afraid of their pupils or their pupils' parents. My school was so strict we didn't dare not do what the teachers asked.

To me, it's always seemed as if school doesn't really prepare young people for the world of work.

They go from an 8.30 start with a 3.30 finish, with 1 hour for lunch and 2 breaks a day, not to mention all the holidays, to 8.30 start with an average 5.30 finish, 1 hour for lunch if lucky, some places only 30 mins, no breaks and 4 weeks holiday.

We need to not only educate them, but prepare them for earning a living.

It can be quite a culture shock for some young people when leave school and start work because they don't know what to expect.

But that's just my opinion.

As eazybee said, look at the Finnish model, where, incidentally, they spend less per child than in the UK, where teachers are educated to Masters level, and are then trusted to get on with the job without constant testing, either of the children or the schools. The emphasis later in school life is that the academic student is no more valuable than those who wish for a more vocational education, and equal resources are put into both. University for all is a ridiculous and expensive aim.

MaizieD

Give the schools the money.

You can't reduce class sizes without huge expense; extra teaching space and extra teaching and support staff for a start.

You're all just ignoring the elephant in the room.

I think we were all answering the OP who said she was not interested in talking about the money side of things, more in an ideal world.

Having the stamina to do a long day's work Savvy is a good point. They should certainly stay in school until 4.30pm, maybe 5pm. I'm not saying they necessarily need to be taught during that additional time, but maybe homework could be done or research projects.

Our school definitely didn’t have an hour for lunch ! 50 minutes as I recall

1. Start later - say 6/7 after required pre-school from 3.
2. Make it all inclusive for children of all needs.
3. Treat Teachers like Royalty. Fewer hours, higher pay, no class inspections, no standardised testing. Teachers to have Masters degrees.
4.Teachers teaching appropriately for the lesson, not the test.
5. Only one test at 16 (Matriculation) which spans across subject areas and requires multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills.
6. Each 45 minute class in Primary School to be followed by a 15-minute break.
7. No private schools, no streaming but very small classes.
8. Generous maternity leave policies and gender equality policies for all.

Then we would have Finland's success perhaps.

Yes to all those Pippa except number 7 ... but I would say that, wouldn't I!
Can you explain the advantages of number 6 please?

Sago I'm, trying to think of anything else as I agree with so much that has been said regarding Primary.

There should be more families of schools where so many ideas/training could be shared. Good way to support each other.

Greyduster has mentioned secondary children with no English. This applies throughout. I supported a school 10 years ago that a high number of Eastern European children. Support for them from the LA was almost NIL due to funding.

Pippa As well as the 15 min break in the morning, we did "time out" sessions at any time. Might have just been a few minutes. There were a list of activities we could do.

Why is a masters necessary? I do think all teachers, especially primary should have a B.Ed hons (4 years).

Inclusive schools. Some have ERF units for specific needs. There should be more. I managed such a unit in large primary. We had on average 10% deaf or partially deaf children, some with additional needs.

Sizes: KS1 20: KS2 25
Teacher and TA for every class.

More support for SEND. Specialist teachers and TAs

Designated HLTA + own room to enable one to one or small groups for behaviour /discipline support.

Bring back the one to one tuition programme for primary.

Less teacher talk more pupil talk. Assessment isn't just through marking work. Listening to what pupils say about their work is a far superior way of assessing.

Bring back Sure Start, an excellent scheme. No more rigid curriculum but a much wider curriculum over a longer day. Don’t need lessons, as such, all day but allowing clubs, sports and vocational subjects to be included within the day.

Ellianne

Yes to all those Pippa except number 7 ... but I would say that, wouldn't I!
Can you explain the advantages of number 6 please?

Apparently, increasing time spent out of the classroom has the effect of creating a positive learning environment for all students. Researchers (who don't appear to be Finnish) have found “Positive school climate has been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement,”. So that's why the Finns do it.

Just another little factoid, once the Finnish children go to school they all get a free meal each day.

Smaller classes.

Teachers teaching less lessons.

Stop pushing older, experienced teachers out, in favour of cheap NQTs.

Less government interference.

No mandatory after school meetings for teachers.

No mandatory administration for teachers (other than once or twice a year reports).

Allow teachers more choice in what and how to teach. One size fits all, fits no one.

More SEN teachers.

More SEN provision.

More teaching assistants.

Return to having specialist schools for students with specific needs.

Free school meals.

Free school breakfasts (lots of children aren't able to eat breakfast at home).

Thank you PippaZ for explaining it was time spent physically out of the learning environment and not just relaxation in the same room.
An hour and half of breaks daily, plus a lunch hour sounds excessive, but I guess it's about the quality of the learning and not the quantity.

This gets better and better. In Finland the compulsory eduction (after compulsary pre-school) is from 7 to 16 and is compulsory basic comprehensive school. It's at the end of this they do the one exam I described earlier. You can then choose to go on into post-compulsory "upper secondary" which splits into a choice of general academic and vocational education but these are made easy to switch between. Ninety percent of children go on into this but, because Finland want no "dead ends" in educaton, if you don't you can choose to return to education later at no cost.

In 2013, the Finnish government spent 10.5% of it’s total funds on education, compared to the United States (11.6%), Australia (13.8%) and the UK (12.1%). This is also lower than the OECD average which is 11.3%. Only Japan has a lower spending average at about 8%.

Finland spends less on the education sector compared to almost every other country on this list. Public educational spending accounts for only 5.7% of its GDP. Though this is higher than the OECD average of 5.2%, it is still lower than that of the United States (6.2%), United Kingdom (6.7%) and Canada (6.2%). Japan and Australia spend about 4.5 and 5.6 percentage respectively in the same category. (This does not take the cost of private education into account. Little in Finland but more elsewhere).

On average, OECD countries spend ~10,500 USD (adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity). Finland spends about 11,200 USD on a given student every year. This includes spending at all education levels (primary, secondary etc.). This is, again, lower than all of the countries mentioned here. United States tops the list, spending ~15700 USD on a student every year. The UK and Canada are close behind, each spending about 13.6K and 13K annually per student.

PippaZ

Just another little factoid, once the Finnish children go to school they all get a free meal each day.

and all school trips are free too.
there are no extras to pay for. and no uniform.
so no one is left out.

Thanks Welbeck. I put the costs relative to what other countries spend in because you do start to think it must all cost so much more - it doesn't.

I'm sure we could do better than we do; it just takes the will doesn't it.

Ooo that's a really good one to add to the list welbeck.
Lots of school trips and residential stays for pupils to experience different environments. At the end of the day that's what they will remember most.

i never went on any overnight trips at school as i wouldn't have asked my parent to pay out more.
each year they went for about 10 days coach trip to europe.
i din't have a passport anyway, so it never occurred to me to go.