Scottish Referendum / Independence - Vol 7
Discussion
technodup said:
r11co said:
The problem is though that more money is not what is needed to fix what is wrong with the Scottish Education system.
The problem is all parties believe the solution to any problem is more money. Even the ones who might not really believe it know it's what a lot of people want to hear- I'm thinking Tories matching Labour's NHS spending for example.'More money' is irresistible to politicians. Even better if it is 'other people's (i.e. 'the rich') money. They get to dog whistle the plebs and preside over a bigger budget, all the while not really having to achieve anything because after all 'they' put more money in so they've done their bit.
The sooner someone comes along and says money isn't always the answer, that individuals need to change their ways, that public organisations need to act more business like or that actually having multiple pointless layers of government is an obvious drain on 'more money' the better.
While I wait for that I suppose I'll have to stump up the extra.
technodup said:
r11co said:
The problem is though that more money is not what is needed to fix what is wrong with the Scottish Education system.
The problem is all parties believe the solution to any problem is more money. Even the ones who might not really believe it know it's what a lot of people want to hear- I'm thinking Tories matching Labour's NHS spending for example.'More money' is irresistible to politicians. Even better if it is 'other people's (i.e. 'the rich') money. They get to dog whistle the plebs and preside over a bigger budget, all the while not really having to achieve anything because after all 'they' put more money in so they've done their bit.
The sooner someone comes along and says money isn't always the answer, that individuals need to change their ways, that public organisations need to act more business like or that actually having multiple pointless layers of government is an obvious drain on 'more money' the better.
While I wait for that I suppose I'll have to stump up the extra.
There is a reason people work there
The irony of the education 'fix' though is that it would be extremely cheap to implement with potential for large on-going savings too.
Scrap the 'experiences and outcomes' approach to measuring attainment (aka. "throwing them over the hurdles" as it is known in the profession - a tick box exercise stating that each child has achieved something ONCE), remove the superfluous content that has been jammed into the curriculum since the reforms began that requires teachers to be 'trained' in nebulous crafts such as 'Health and Wellbeing', ditch the National 3/4 courses completely and introduce new lower bands to the National 5 awards (renaming them in the process). Scotland then ends up with a three-tier assessment system like the one it had in the decades leading up to when it was top Home Nation in the PISA rankings rather than the overcomplicated and bureaucratic five-tier system it currently has.
The causal link is obvious to everyone, except the politicians.
Scrap the 'experiences and outcomes' approach to measuring attainment (aka. "throwing them over the hurdles" as it is known in the profession - a tick box exercise stating that each child has achieved something ONCE), remove the superfluous content that has been jammed into the curriculum since the reforms began that requires teachers to be 'trained' in nebulous crafts such as 'Health and Wellbeing', ditch the National 3/4 courses completely and introduce new lower bands to the National 5 awards (renaming them in the process). Scotland then ends up with a three-tier assessment system like the one it had in the decades leading up to when it was top Home Nation in the PISA rankings rather than the overcomplicated and bureaucratic five-tier system it currently has.
The causal link is obvious to everyone, except the politicians.
Edited by r11co on Thursday 15th December 11:21
technodup said:
don't have a problem with a drastic cull... 
What local government? The UK is one of the most centralised developed nations in the world. The supreme "British values" are now a strong centralised state and the free market. If it works for the Chinese, it's good enough for Britain. Suck it up, comrades.B210bandit said:
technodup said:
don't have a problem with a drastic cull...
What local government? I'm pretty sure that if we abolished Holyrood (aside from the inevitable politicking) none of us would notice anything different.
technodup said:
ell we could start with the Scottish Parliament and work from there. The Welsh Assembly, local councils, mayoralties, the list is long and getting longer.
I'm pretty sure that if we abolished Holyrood (aside from the inevitable politicking) none of us would notice anything different.
You're probably right. The powers of Holyrood are pretty limited (and Stormont and the Welsh Assembly.) They were never intended to have any guts, but just stop the bleeding of Labour support in Scotlandshire and Wales etc. The powers of all local authorities have been drastically reduced since 1945. Don't worry, pretty soon you'll just have London contracting all matters to private enterprise. Northamptonshire Council now contracts all services to the private sector. They've gone from 4,000 staff to 150. The next step is the dissolution of such authorities. After all, London could just have a procurement team for the whole country. I'm pretty sure that if we abolished Holyrood (aside from the inevitable politicking) none of us would notice anything different.
Dissolving Holyrood would be magical. Been a long time since anyone saw a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
r11co said:
The irony of the education 'fix' though is that it would be extremely cheap to implement with potential for large on-going savings too.
Scottish Government abandons 'flagship' plan to close attainment gap using higher council tax funds.Is Derek MacKay on PH and did he read my post?!?!
B210bandit said:
You're probably right. The powers of Holyrood are pretty limited (and Stormont and the Welsh Assembly.) They were never intended to have any guts, but just stop the bleeding of Labour support in Scotlandshire and Wales etc.
Gosh, that worked so well. 
I feel so much safer and empowered now Holyrood is forcing people to either dispose of air guns or pay to licence them. Meanwhile the trains don't f
king work, education isn't and the economy slumbers on. hidetheelephants said:
Gosh, that worked so well. I feel so much safer and empowered now Holyrood is forcing people to either dispose of air guns or pay to licence them. Meanwhile the trains don't fking work, education isn't and the economy slumbers on.
I feel safer with the nukes parked in Scotland rather than in London. Having obedient people in the nether regions of the Union is a good thing for us. I feel so much safer and empowered now Holyrood is forcing people to either dispose of air guns or pay to licence them. Meanwhile the trains don't fking work, education isn't and the economy slumbers on. Big Rod said:
hidetheelephants said:
The Helensburgh-Edinburgh line has been utter st since the dutch took over; it would bad enough just with the reduced service provision(loss of peaktime express services and many of the remaining services reduced from 6 cars to 3) but the chronic unreliability and skipping stations to make up time on delayed services are the stty icing on a st cake. Quite something that people are becoming nostalgic about when FirstGroup ran Scotrail.
There's a Helensburgh to Edinburgh service?!?!?!?t since the dutch took over; it would bad enough just with the reduced service provision(loss of peaktime express services and many of the remaining services reduced from 6 cars to 3) but the chronic unreliability and skipping stations to make up time on delayed services are the stty icing on a st cake. Quite something that people are becoming nostalgic about when FirstGroup ran Scotrail.I live 15 miles from Edinburgh as the crow flies but have to drive 9 of them to get to a train station.
The ironic thing is that a railway line runs about 150ft from my front door but I can't catch a train on it.
r11co said:
Well, this could be interesting. Opposition parties have said they will vote down Derek MacKay's proposed budget. Even the Greens aren't onside.
MacKay has threatened an election if they do.
Bring it on. Seriously. Bring it on.MacKay has threatened an election if they do.
I have a bag of popcorn there that could feed an army
Hainey said:
r11co said:
Well, this could be interesting. Opposition parties have said they will vote down Derek MacKay's proposed budget. Even the Greens aren't onside.
MacKay has threatened an election if they do.
Bring it on. Seriously. Bring it on.MacKay has threatened an election if they do.
I have a bag of popcorn there that could feed an army
Meanwhile, in other news Tasmina claims HMRC sequestration case is an 'an attempt to smear reputation'. Err, no dear. It's a consequence of not paying your tax bills you self-righteous cow.
The SNP chip-on-the-shoulder now also seems to apply to criminal activity, what with Tasmina and Humza with his failure to tax his car.
r11co said:
It won't happen though. The opposition are not united on what they disagree on so there'll be room for the SNP to do a deal to get this through, plus the Nats have more to lose than gain from another election.
Meanwhile, in other news Tasmina claims HMRC sequestration case is an 'an attempt to smear reputation'. Err, no dear. It's a consequence of not paying your tax bills you self-righteous cow.
The SNP chip-on-the-shoulder now also seems to apply to criminal activity, what with Tasmina and Humza with his failure to tax his car.
So she bashes bankers bonuses - who pay tax on them and she bashes tax avoiders but she herself is a tax evader illegal yet thibks it's unfair. Meanwhile, in other news Tasmina claims HMRC sequestration case is an 'an attempt to smear reputation'. Err, no dear. It's a consequence of not paying your tax bills you self-righteous cow.
The SNP chip-on-the-shoulder now also seems to apply to criminal activity, what with Tasmina and Humza with his failure to tax his car.
HOP along love.
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff