On 29 Nov 2014 at 9:47pm Mrs Hope wrote:
Learning should be a process of lifelong enrichment for community and individual, watering seed –potential for emotional and social wisdom, and valuing all equally. It should not, by practice and example, twist the child's natural communal instinct into a spiritually maimed aggressor, self-asserting by insatiably competitive consumption.
We believe that equipping one child to out-earn another, one country to out-grow another or one school, to outperform another, are not policy objectives but catastrophic policy failures perpetuating a sickness in Western capitalism.
This insight guides our plans. They include ending all testing and age related bench marking, replacing them with unobtrusive self-assessment in the interests of enhanced learning. League tables, SATS and selection by ability will cease, with L. A. s engineering a comprehensive intake across schools where social segregation is a factor.
Performance related pay will be abolished, for teachers whose de-skilling we will reverse. They will be rewarded with better pension arrangements. Student loans will be re-introduced until the birth right,“Citizen income”, can replace the entire structure.
Private schools lose all charitable status, pay VAT, corporation tax and contribute a levy for teacher training.The Free schools and academy programe will be ended with existing schools coming under the Local Authority. Grammar schools will be phased out. All such establishments foster a culture of selfish individual competition and inequality.
We celebrate diverse cultures and spirituality and a prayer space in schools for observance. No publicly funded school, however, may be run by a religious organisation and, without exception or "opt out", all schools will be forbidden from teaching adherence to a particular religion.
Our vision is of an inclusive democratic and local hub achieved by empowered local democracy, student presence on governing boards, parents forums and smaller schools that remain open all year round. A much diminished role for the secretary of state will be essential.
All core subjects will be taught of course, but we would encourage a shifted emphasis to, the arts, sex and relationships, practical life skills, IT, languages and political citizenship.
I have not mentioned adult learning, all through schooling models, food and advertising but I encourage you to visit the Green Party Policy website where a comprehensive overview is published.Lastly I hope you find the possibility a new kind of citizen for a new kind of future as exciting as I do.
On 29 Nov 2014 at 10:32pm Mavis wrote:
FFS !!!
On 30 Nov 2014 at 10:43am david wrote:
That word 'hub' rings a toxic recent bell.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 2:03pm Bob Hope wrote:
Get back in the Kitchen ,Woman . I`m on the Road to socialism - not Loony Toons - That`s all Folks
On 30 Nov 2014 at 2:05pm Mad Davis wrote:
Well said Dave and Mave
On 30 Nov 2014 at 9:26pm jo wrote:
the green party are a party of bull s###
On 30 Nov 2014 at 11:26pm lewes resident wrote:
the Green Party are a load of lunatics, Grammar Schools benefited so many especially the poor kids, mad idiots.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 11:41pm skeptical green wrote:
Funny how those advocating the return of grammar schools never mention how wonderful the secondary moderns were for the 80% of children written off academically at 11 and what proportion of those who got in to grammars were not the lucky few elevated from the working classes, but the children of the middle classes many of whom had been coached for the 11+
On 30 Nov 2014 at 11:41pm jo wrote:
just look what the green party has do to Brighton
On 1 Dec 2014 at 4:51am Zzz.. wrote:
Isn't it great! What a brave bunch they are, so unlike the other parties who were too scared to tackle the refuse collection problems.
Not to mention their courageous attempts to reduce the private car travel that so diminishes the quality of life for the City's residents.
On 1 Dec 2014 at 11:16am lewes resident wrote:
it depends what part of the country you come from regarding Grammar Schools , and the secondary moderns were good too.don't think that coaching isn't happening now and especially in a place like Lewes where numerous kids at Priory have private coaching. I went to a Grammar School had no private coaching, in fact none of us did .
On 1 Dec 2014 at 11:19am Old Bloke wrote:
@sceptical green - both my brother and sister went to Grammar Schools from their home in South London slums. My partner was the daughter of a Devon farm labourer family of 6 living in 2 bed home.
Hardly middle class just like hundreds of thousands of children who got the benefit of a wonderful Grammar School education.
Children were not written off academically at 11.
Once again you speak from your bottom and class warfare obsession
On 1 Dec 2014 at 2:22pm Spl00t wrote:
I went to a Grammar school. It was crap. And I had to travel a long way to get to it. I'd have been much better off at the local Secondary Modern (now a comprehensive)
On 1 Dec 2014 at 3:07pm Old Bloke wrote:
Another victim.
On 1 Dec 2014 at 3:51pm david wrote:
East Sussex is interesting statistically in terms of Grammar schools/Secondary Moderns. Its successful Secondary moderns were often cited in the sixties and seventies as evidence for the continuation of a bipartite (or tripartite in some parts of the country) system. What the statistical documentation failed to show was that its Grammar Schools had the lowest entry in the country - less than one in five I believe - so obviously its secondary moderns appeared to thrive in terms of attainment.
Working class children were thin on the ground in the Grammar schools then - compounded by this meagre entry gateway There was a 13+ but few transferred. It's worth remembering too that well into the sixties you could not study an arts subject at university unless you had Latin 0 level, a subject not offered at the secondary moderns. Few if any working class children made it to Oxbridge; the extra year at school was a major financial disincentive apart from ignorance even about such a possibility.
Uniform too was an unofficial bar for the working class. The cost of the clothing - provided by Burtons - was I believe quite prohibitive.
The 'middle class' ethos of the Grammar schools was off putting; for many working class families it was a voyage into an unknown world. I think our grammar schools may have been very 'county' in comparison with Northern and city schools.
On 1 Dec 2014 at 5:08pm Old Bloke wrote:
What a load of boll*cks
On 1 Dec 2014 at 5:49pm david wrote:
Old bloke, I think you would agree that any successful and effective education system tries to promote discussion rather than abuse.
On 2 Dec 2014 at 6:04pm Boris wrote:
What's wrong with free schools?
The only reason the left hate free schools is that they encourage free thinking and philosophy that don't all ways fit in with the mind set of the state. The left want state control where you have a box to tick for everything you say and do. Something along the lines of their beloved NHS.
On 10 Dec 2014 at 11:31pm skeptical green wrote:
It's a pity the grammar school education of its supporters did not teach them the difference between anecdote and evidence. Of course the minority of working class kids who were lucky enough to get into Grammars valued the chance of social mobility it gave them and I do not decry the achievements of those who grabbed the chance with both hands and made a success of their careers thereafter. I have no doubt that hard work and parents who were proud of their achievements helped many of them too. That doesn't change the facts. Most kids did not get that chance despite many of them having the ability to benefit from high academic standards and the secondary moderns limited their chances. Their is simply no evidence that creaming off a small portion of the brightest kids had an appreciable effect on social mobility across the population as a whole. Lewes comprehensives such as Priory and Chailey demonstrate that high academic standards can be achieved in such schools given the right combination of good leadership, good teachers supportive parents, enough resources to teach different ability groups at the level that is right for them and most importantly economic and social conditions for most parents which are relatively benign compared to the areas where you find so called failing schools.