Extra payments for teachers who cover is being looked at as a last resort. We would not want pupils to miss lessons because of the teacher shortages.”A Department for Education and Skills spokeswoman said: “We have yet to see the full guidance, however we understand that it does not present a threat to pupils’ right to a full education. We have no reason to believe that the proposals involve schools moving to a shorter working week, which we have always said would be irresponsible.”Providing pupils with the full education to which they are entitled remains paramount. We welcome sensible proposals to increase efficiency in local supply teacher markets, such as improving advertising and recruitment processes.”. There’s more than a wee fuss going on north of the border about the cost of building the Scottish Parliament’s new home at Holyrood. THERE’S MORE than a wee fuss going on north of the border about the cost of building the Scottish Parliament’s new home at Holyrood. The original estimate of the cost – about £40m – was exceeded a long time ago, and last year the Scottish legislature voted to cap the cost at some £165m That too has proved an underestimate Public opinion is enraged It’s a disgrace.
Which it is.
Such projects are always expensive monuments to the vanity of those who commission, design and build them.But the Edinburgh building compares rather well with some other examples. Not just the Dome, the world’s first £1bn tent; anything looks good value beside that bauble.Let us take Portcullis House, the Palace of Westminster’s new outhouse for MPs, lavishly appointed and built to last for 200 years – as it should be for £230m. Or the European Parliament at Brussels which came in at £800m. Or the original Palace of Westminster, commissioned in 1834, which took some 26 years to complete, by which time its architects, Barry and Pugin, were dead.
Who now would deny that it commands respect as a building of global stature? Scotland too deserves a building of which she can be proud.. One of this Government’s many big ambitions for its second term is, as the Queen put it in her speech, to “reform education” and to “promote diversity and higher standards; particularly in secondary schools” That is a laudable objective: the devil is in the delivery. One of this Government’s many big ambitions for its second term is, as the Queen put it in her speech, to “reform education” and to “promote diversity and higher standards; particularly in secondary schools”. That is a laudable objective: the devil is in the delivery.
Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, made a start yesterday, with her announcement of 400 new specialist schools. This is one of those initiatives which seems to be more about presentation than substance, but on this occasion the presentation is the substance. So far, specialist schools have not been a form of backdoor selection: although such schools are permitted to select up to 10 per cent of their intake by what is coyly called “aptitude” in languages, sport, arts, music or technology, hardly any of them do so. Yet the mere act of declaring an institution as a specialist school seems to raise morale and standards.
It is not just the relatively small amounts of extra money; it seems to be a further proof of the law that productivity increases in response to any cosmetic change in the work environment.The creation of more specialist schools should therefore be welcomed, but it is not the kind of radical reform that is capable of producing the sort of step change which the electorate might notice by the time of the next election.For that, Ms Morris should listen to the wisdom of Kevin Satchwell, the headteacher of Thomas Telford School in Shropshire, who was knighted by her Government in the recent honours list. He suggests that the role of teacher training colleges should be downgraded in favour of training teachers in schools. It would be going too far – although it is tempting – to advocate the abolition of teacher training colleges. But the Government should, in effect, reconstruct from scratch the way we teach our teachers, with schools being seen as the main location in which it takes place. This fits with its plans for some of the best specialist schools to become “training schools” and to be given extra money to pay people with a mission to teach the training that matters – in the classroom.Ms Morris must not shirk from extending that experiment throughout the system, ensuring that at least some of the extra resources being poured into the education system over the next few years goes into more effective ways of teaching teachers how to teach..