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UK politics general discussion

Sadly I know people of all ages who’ve ended up in exactly the same boat as well @rob666. Plenty want to do the actual job, just the rest of the crap that’s dumped on them is the problem.
 
I am a (primary) teacher of 15 years and the change in the education landscape in that time is staggering. There are so many things that you could add to the reasons why there are issues in education.
  • Most schools have converted to academies in the last decade due to a behind-the-scenes push from government and many Tory councils. Whilst this makes great headlines "be autonomous" - actually what it means is that schools are now in charge of their own HR, kitchens, grounds, maintenance and are required to have all manner of audits. All of this was previously done by the local authority. Cue - more workload for leaders and teachers.
  • The loss of local authority support now means that "schools support schools". In other words - good teachers go and help other schools to solve their problems, rather than an advisor from the local authority. Are teachers paid extra for this? No. Does it add to workload? Yes.
  • Wider public service cuts over the last ten years has a knock on effect for schools. Where 15 years ago, a child with serious health needs may have had an NHS nurse in school on a daily basis for their care, this has now been removed and schools themselves just have to use their own support staff for this. Examples could be specialist feeding, diabetes care or other. CAMHS (Mental Health Services), Speech & Language, Alternative Provision - all have seen drastic cuts in the past 12 years. The fire service no longer visit once a year to co-write our fire risk assessments. Now, the boss goes on a course once a year for 'compliance' and we write it ourself. Are we really fire experts? No! There are many more examples like this I could think of.
  • OFSTED pressures - regardless of the inspection framework's merits, the fact is there are always 'buzz' words in education and fashions of the day. The current one is sticky learning and ensuring curriculum maps are in a particular order with a reason for every little thing and why it is taught, when. Call it fads.
  • Pay. The value of my pay is currently c24% less in real terms than it would have been in 2010 based on my current pay scale point. A decade of pay freezes/1% and only 1 year in the past 12 has seen an inflation related rise for me, and this year my rise is less than half the rate of inflation. Eventually, this starts to really cut deep.
  • Covid. Like many sectors, the rapid change was insane. Constant risk assessments, plans and online provision. It finished some teachers off.
  • Wider workload issues - I never really had an issue with the long hours in teaching, the governors meetings every month (Monday nights 6-8pm), the school discos, the residentials - you just sort of give everything you can. But the problem is, the job is never completed. There are so many accountability issues - writing subject reports for governors, CPD reviews, health and safety assessments, audits, parent meetings, special educational needs reviews - many of these things have to happen after the end of the school day and take up lots of time.
There are a great many other things that I could talk about but think of it like this. This is just education. When you add up the issues in policing, health, social care, local authorities - Britain really is in crisis mode.

I love working with the kids, but I do feel trapped in my job. I do question whether it's right to continue given the above issues.
 
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AstroDan said:
I am a (primary) teacher of 15 years and the change in the education landscape in that time is staggering. There are so many things that you could add to the reasons why there are issues in education.
  • Most schools have converted to academies in the last decade due to a behind-the-scenes push from government and many Tory councils. Whilst this makes great headlines "be autonomous" - actually what it means is that schools are now in charge of their own HR, kitchens, grounds, maintenance and are required to have all manner of audits. All of this was previously done by the local authority. Cue - more workload for leaders and teachers.
  • The loss of local authority support now means that "schools support schools". In other words - good teachers go and help other schools to solve their problems, rather than an advisor from the local authority. Are teachers paid extra for this? No. Does it add to workload? Yes.
  • Wider public service cuts over the last ten years has a knock on effect for schools. Where 15 years ago, a child with serious health needs may have had an NHS nurse in school on a daily basis for their care, this has now been removed and schools themselves just have to use their own support staff for this. Examples could be specialist feeding, diabetes care or other. CAMHS (Mental Health Services), Speech & Language, Alternative Provision - all have seen drastic cuts in the past 12 years. The fire service no longer visit once a year to co-write our fire risk assessments. Now, the boss goes on a course once a year for 'compliance' and we write it ourself. Are we really fire experts? No! There are many more examples like this I could think of.
  • OFSTED pressures - regardless of the inspection framework's merits, the fact is there are always 'buzz' words in education and fashions of the day. The current one is sticky learning and ensuring curriculum maps are in a particular order with a reason for every little thing and why it is taught, when. Call it fads.
  • Pay. The value of my pay is currently c24% less in real terms than it would have been in 2010 based on my current pay scale point. A decade of pay freezes/1% and only 1 year in the past 12 has seen an inflation related rise for me, and this year my rise is less than half the rate of inflation. Eventually, this starts to really cut deep.
  • Covid. Like many sectors, the rapid change was insane. Constant risk assessments, plans and online provision. It finished some teachers off.
  • Wider workload issues - I never really had an issue with the long hours in teaching, the governors meetings every month (Monday nights 6-8pm), the school discos, the residentials - you just sort of give everything you can. But the problem is, the job is never completed. There are so many accountability issues - writing subject reports for governors, CPD reviews, health and safety assessments, audits, parent meetings, special educational needs reviews - many of these things have to happen after the end of the school day and take up lots of time.
There are a great many other things that I could talk about but think of it like this. This is just education. When you add up the issues in policing, health, social care, local authorities - Britain really is in crisis mode.

I love working with the kids, but I do feel trapped in my job. I do question whether it's right to continue given the above issues.
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Haven't you heard? Vladimir Putin is the reason your pay has been cut by the government that has been in power for 13 of the 15 years you've been educating. It's "the same pressures other countries are facing". So if I was you, I'd stop complaining about it and happily accept your rights to strike being removed via legislation.
 
The thing about the right to strike being removed...there might just possibly be a lot of people going off sick on the same day...
My last local government employer was far more concerned about a lengthy work to rule, that lasted two whole years, than a few strike days.
And that is impossible to ban.
Teachers working to rule...all those voluntary, unpaid roles, might just go out the window.
 
I look forward to if the "no strikes allowed" law to come into place that every single public sector worker suddenly (and mysteriously) is struck down by a disease that causes them to march on Parliament.

Bonus points if they go Guy Fawkes on it.
 
I saw that earlier and nearly put my TV through the window.

Gaslighting the public on how all our problems are the fault of Putin and Covid, and all the economic issues in this country are just the same as other countries don't you know. But don't worry, Rishi is here to fix the mess*.

* he didn't explain who created it
 
AstroDan said:
This Conservative Party Political Broadcast went out tonight. Don't vomit.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewp2eo7Z-m8
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Sorry, but is this really Rishi Sunak or is this a parady video made by comedian impersonators?

Translation into English for anyone who doesn't want to bring their tea back up tonight:

"We've messed up the country, it's completely broken. Everywhere you look, something is broken. We're barely functioning as a western country in fact. Our economy is sinking, the NHS is on its last legs because my mates want to privatise it and there's nothing positive to report. But it's not my fault, it's the fault of Vladimir Putin and Covid (well that's who I'm blaming it on anyway). As the most competent Prime Minister of the 5 you've had in the last 13 years, I'm your best hope. I'm the slap in the face after you've been kicked in the balls. I'm the hedge fund that buys your business after it's already gone bankrupt and has palmed off its pension liabilities to someone else. I'm the guy who pisses on you when you're on fire. I'm the black track and Call of Duty theme of new Nemesis. I'm the lesser of the 5 evils and you should be grateful you've got me. I promise you that in 2 years time things will be slightly less worse than they are now. Your completely broken health care service will be slightly less broken by then. The crashing economy will only happen in slow motion under me. I'll limit the damage slightly and you should all feel grateful for that also. Now let's all vote Tory, blame Putin and Covid for 13 years of poor government and please, always remember, that I'm not as bad as Cameron, May, Johnson and Truss despite my participation in government under one of them and being a paid up party member who campaigned for all of them and their associated ideology. If 4 of my drunken mates, egged on by me, drove your car and wrapped it around a lamp post would you give me your car keys again? No? Well maybe you should consider it because I'm whispering sweet nothings in your ears and I promise, I won't crash it like my mates did. Pinky promise, 2 punches, no rutruns."
 
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Personally, I have avoided all party political broadcasts for thirty years.
At least there are now enough alternatives to avoid them, in years gone by it wall on all channels at once, and I had to turn the telly off for five minutes.
 
How come there are Party Political Broadcasts being shown when there isn’t an election until 2024?
 
Matt N said:
How come there are Party Political Broadcasts being shown when there isn’t an election until 2024?
Click to expand...
They're offered at least one slot to broadcast them in Autumn, Winter and Spring according to Ofcom rules. Party Election Broadcasts are the ones during election periods. It's up to the individual parties whether they want to use them or not, I'd assume for the Tories, this is a desperate push for damage control - the usual "blame everyone else for the problems" angle that they always go for.
 
The irony of pay restraint in all the public sector areas is it ultimately costs more.

In my NHS department we can’t fill all the vacancies, we are therefore having to staff scanners with agency provision. This costs 50% an hour more than an NHS employee professional with the same skill.

The private providers and agencies are offering huge pay incentives for professionals to work for them (as well as access to parking which is an expensive luxury if you work for an NHS service) and a lot of people who would never have dreamed of leaving the NHS for private providers have now given up resisting and making the move, increasing the vacancy rate and staffing pressures.

It’s a vicious circle.
 
Isn't that what the Tories want though? "Look at all the money we've invested in the NHS and it's still not enough. Looks like we need to reform it..."
 
There is barely a Trust in the country that isn’t outsourcing MRI and CT scans to the private sector. Plus most are paying private companies to staff their scanners as they can’t fill vacancies and the private companies are offering radiographers salaries 20-30% more than the NHS.
 
I find more and more nurses are leaving and joining agencies. You get x3-x4 the wage for the same workload. There’s an abundance for shifts available, travel and hotel costs can be covered, you get a private pension and you don’t have to worry about any hospital management breathing down your neck.

I’ve worked on some wards in hospital where the entire nursing team consists of agency staff.

I’m currently training to become a nurse. I have to work for 2 years in the NHS once I qualify. I have no doubt that unless there’s any major changes, I will likely get my 2 years experience and then go down the agency route. If not I’ll go abroad, or to a private hospital.

The government often refer to more and more students enrolling into nursing in universities, unfortunately most of those students/graduates are already planning their get-out plans before they even start in the NHS!

I think particularly with nursing, the culture has changed incredibly, nurses have far more duties than they used to, the workload is incredibly high, and in a role where you trained to treat others with compassion, you often do not get that treatment yourself!

Higher wages may make nursing/health care roles more appealing, but it’s more of a culture change we need to see and the NHS changed with the way it works.
 
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