Re: Brexit Anyone? : Thu Jun 30, 2016 6:52 pm  

I will fully admit to being part of a broader conspiracy but I know of nobody but Borisconi who has taken to their bed.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:27 pm  

Roy Haggerty wrote:

No. Gove will win. Welcome to fascist England.

I wasn't convinced when I first read that. On further reading, I am. Kinda. Or at least, he'll be Murdoch's man. I can't completely see him being Dacre's man yet, despite Vine. I'm inclined to believe, based on nothing but my own deep seated prejudices, that he'll prefer the vicar's daughter.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:44 pm  

If someone could gently press the key to the mace cupboard into Heseltine's hand, that would be great. Thanks.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:38 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Having one's taddies removed, which parts are essential to the complete pr/ck as was designed by the sky pixie.
Unless I am mistaken.
It was meant in levity ... just to lighten the gloom on here a bit.
It failed.

I'm afraid nothing can lighten my mood right now, maybe the odd embolism directed at certain individuals.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:32 am  

Roy Haggerty wrote:

Note Gove's role at the DFE was to privatise the schools system and hand it over to the private sector. Every democratic part of the system which provided any control or accountability for citizens was removed: teacher governors, parent governors and LEA oversight were all based in local democracy. Gove has removed all three, and replaced it with a model of private companies, called MATs, which are intended to run all schools. These are not answerable to teachers, parents or their local communities.

I had to pick up on this; you're right in one way, in that the circumstances required for all of that to happen have indeed been created by Gove and his legacy at the DfE - but it's not inevitable in every case. Thankfully, not all MAT's have the aim of removing local accountability, or of hoovering up as many schools as possible and becoming a for profit entity - I can say that with certainty, as I chair one, and it has none of those aims; and we constructed our articles in such a way as to ensure that they can't be introduced later.

That aside, you're right - if we wanted to, we could remove parent governors, ignore the LEA, install a CEO on mega-bucks, and obtain private sector funding (and all that comes with it) without fear of breaking any of the new rules.

Gove is a snake - the fact that he's the favoured candidate of the media barons who control the national conversation, should be enough to convince anyone with an ounce of integrity to avoid him like the plague.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:34 am  

bren2k wrote:

I had to pick up on this; you're right in one way, in that the circumstances required for all of that to happen have indeed been created by Gove and his legacy at the DfE - but it's not inevitable in every case. Thankfully, not all MAT's have the aim of removing local accountability, or of hoovering up as many schools as possible and becoming a for profit entity - I can say that with certainty, as I chair one, and it has none of those aims; and we constructed our articles in such a way as to ensure that they can't be introduced later.

That aside, you're right - if we wanted to, we could remove parent governors, ignore the LEA, install a CEO on mega-bucks, and obtain private sector funding (and all that comes with it) without fear of breaking any of the new rules.

Gove is a snake - the fact that he's the favoured candidate of the media barons who control the national conversation, should be enough to convince anyone with an ounce of integrity to avoid him like the plague.

Bren, I know not all MATs have to be ARK, but they're essentially a structure which is entirely reliant on the integrity of the people within them. If the people change, the methods and remuneration can change immediately. No public service should be so removed from local accountability and legal checks and balances. My own school is forming a MAT, which I fought at great personal cost as a staff governor. When it was approved, I resigned. Not because I think my current governor colleagues are crooks or greedy, but because quite clearly the staff, parents and local council would have no way of ensuring that future appointed local oligarchs wouldn't be. It's a fundamentally undemocratic and dangerously unchecked structure, compared to the model of checks and balances it replaces.

And without question, many MATs are already going a long way away from the sort of selfless dedication your own organisation has currently chosen.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 10:31 am  

Roy Haggerty wrote:

Bren, I know not all MATs have to be ARK, but they're essentially a structure which is entirely reliant on the integrity of the people within them. If the people change, the methods and remuneration can change immediately. No public service should be so removed from local accountability and legal checks and balances. My own school is forming a MAT, which I fought at great personal cost as a staff governor. When it was approved, I resigned. Not because I think my current governor colleagues are crooks or greedy, but because quite clearly the staff, parents and local council would have no way of ensuring that future appointed local oligarchs wouldn't be. It's a fundamentally undemocratic and dangerously unchecked structure, compared to the model of checks and balances it replaces.

And without question, many MATs are already going a long way away from the sort of selfless dedication your own organisation has currently chosen.

There is no doubt that all of that *can* happen; in many ways, we chose to create a locally focused MAT, with aims based on educational pathways for all students in the pyramid, to prevent it from happening to our local schools, rather than to enable it. The recent announcement that all schools would be forced to become Academies, and that parent governors were no longer a requirement, hindered us, as it created a different attitude from schools who were considering joining - to feeling that they could be taken over.

We ended up going with an unconventional legal advisor, to ensure that we could write our articles and governance handbook in such a way that prevents future leaders from subverting what we're trying to do.

I respect your position though - it's a dangerous situation, and very much open to abuse.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:06 am  

bren2k wrote:

There is no doubt that all of that *can* happen; in many ways, we chose to create a locally focused MAT, with aims based on educational pathways for all students in the pyramid, to prevent it from happening to our local schools, rather than to enable it. The recent announcement that all schools would be forced to become Academies, and that parent governors were no longer a requirement, hindered us, as it created a different attitude from schools who were considering joining - to feeling that they could be taken over.

We ended up going with an unconventional legal advisor, to ensure that we could write our articles and governance handbook in such a way that prevents future leaders from subverting what we're trying to do.

I respect your position though - it's a dangerous situation, and very much open to abuse.

I wish there were more like you. I'm in a traditional Tory area, and the most vociferous governors are classic Tory businessmen. While I was there, I persuaded the whole governing body to vote to retain staff and parent representatives on the MAT Board. After I resigned, the businessmen revoked that decision and ejected any staff or parent members, who they said could stay on the powerless LGBs. Every time anyone argued that we actually had discretion over how to do things, we were met with those governors saying "the DFE wants...", and that would be that. Then they started inviting people they knew on to the MAT Board who had no connection with the school(s). I fear for the future, so I decided to leave teaching altogether, as I don't want to work for some random businessmen who happened to be in the right place at the right time when Gove started handing out schools. I wanted to work for my own community. It makes me feel rather sad, to be honest.

Anyway, back to Brexit. John Curtice has a good article in the New Statesman today, pointing out the silliness of the universal media narrative about how it was working class Labour voters wot lost it, instead of the real reason : middle-class Tory pensioners. Likewise, David Hare wrote a beautiful, if vitriolic, piece in the Guardian which is worth reading.

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 5:14 pm  

Same as yesterday , ftse's up , pound down

Re: Brexit Anyone? : Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:21 pm  

GUBRATS wrote:

Same as yesterday , ftse's up , pound down

Is an eight percent fall against the Euro in a week supposed to be encouraging?

If Carney carries on cutting, we'll have negative interest like Japan.