[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17478828

The Association of School and college leaders says morale has reached a new low

Over half of secondary heads are considering quitting because of "toxic" government rhetoric, a survey suggests

ASCL general secretary Brian Lightman said heads felt angry, frustrated and on the verge of being bullied.

Mr Lightman said ASCL's members were professionals who were absolutely committed but could only take so much of what he called "toxic rhetoric".

He added: "The government has cherry-picked international statistics, made sweeping generalisations and painted a caricature of schools as failing in order to justify its policy decisions."

A great turn of phrase from Mr Lightman - it sums up the total presentation style of the current Cameron administration - lie, lie again and then lie some more .....

[Ammi]

Hmmmm...I'll look at this later

[fruit_cake]

It seems to me that there definitely needs to be a move away from local and central government control over schools, but tbf to Cameron he is the one who has pioneered the new 'academies' that run their own budgets. Whether later on that translates to rich kids going to academies and poor kids having to make do with the bog standard comp remains to be seen.

I think I blame the Labour government for the mess and the 'rights' culture that has meant teachers have little to no power over students other than their own good will. I don't think the cane should be brought back but when you hear stories about how teachers were sacked because they removed a naughty child from their lesson it's disgraceful.

[Kizzy]

There needs to be school reforms, this funding schools based on exam performance is not working.
It just forces schools to give up on those who won't attain the A-C grades required.

[Marc]

Bring back strict teaching, beating and hitting kids will solve everything.

[Kizzy]

Hey that was great, when that board rubber whistled past your ear you knew you had to turn round and shut the hell up!

[Omah]

A good spanking never hurt anyone .....

[lostalex]

i have no idea what "toxic rhetoric" means. there must be more to this story that i'm not familiar with, so i'll stay out this one...

[Kizzy]

An update
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17478828

[Omah]

Originally Posted by kizzy

An update
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17478828

President of the Association of School and College Leaders Joan McVittie said expectations of heads had never been higher.

Ms McVittie told the conference in Birmingham that heads were required to be moral leaders, risk takers, media experts, creative accountants, prophets and networkers.

Earlier she told journalists that heads were also leading schools that were the last bastion of "old fashioned values and discipline", teaching children "rational and restrained ways of dealing with conflict".

In the area of London where she is head, four fifths of pupils have English as an additional language and different ways of settling disputes.

A shocking indictment of lax government .....