Following on from the last blog, I said I would talk about funding in schools in layman’s terms and not try to bluff parents with educational jargon. Right now the topic of underfunding is all over the news and more so on social media as heads and parents join the throng to protest to their MP about budget cuts.
Schools are public sector service industries and although we are small businesses we are largely reliant upon taxes. We are a non -profit making organisation and until the Government funds schools properly and in a fair way we are going to see:
- a shortage of teachers,
- schools unable to sustain present work force resulting in redundancies,
- schools with growing budget deficits making recruitment hard,
- schools short of leaders to mentor new recruits to the profession
To put it bluntly until this country improves the image/ profile of our teachers then we can’t recruit enough quality. Teachers in India, South Korea, Japan , Singapore and Thailand all enjoy huge respect from their parents and the public. Their teachers are much more valued in their culture. We need to make the job more attractive along with other Key workers such as Doctors, Nurses, Policemen and women, to our own young British talent. Recruiting from abroad is not a long term strategy nor is it fair to rob other countries. This country needs to have teachers to produce Doctors, Engineers, and Computer analysts and we need to grow our own.
Next week I’ll be talking about “the road crossings” which Wokingham are planning to cut. I have written to the press and Wokingham and expressed my dismay.
Bye for now Gordon Davies