The schools in my hometown of Blackpool apparently have the fifth highest truancy rate in the UK.
Not a good statistic. Blackpool also has below average figures for GCSE passes and it can be said that the product of schools in Blackpool are low quality.
In true Labour style, their implementation of an education system is out in force blaming someone else: the parents. In this case it is for taking kids out of school for holidays, and apparently they are thinking of locking up parents of truants. Hmm. Stopping parents going on holiday by sending them to a holiday camp. Not sure about that.
I'm baffled as to how - even if the parents took the child out of school for the entire holiday - a few weeks missed can cause grades to be so poor and cause truancy to be so high. Well, unless the parents are extremely rich and they are constantly going on holiday. Call me a snob if you want but rich parents tend to know better than that.
Parents do try to take their kids out of school towards the end of term time, just before the holidays in order to save quite a bit of cash on the holiday itself, because clearly holidays are expensive when all the kids are off school. Toward the end of term, exams are done, the curriculum is basically complete. Why does it matter if someone takes a week off?
I think the schools are looking for an easy way out by passing on the blame. Kids skip school because they are bored, because they think it's cool to skip school, and in Blackpool at least, there's no inspiration or aspiration driving through the system to bring people back.
I was taken out of school a few times and I don't think I came out any worse off for it but I didn't skip school at any other time because I didn't want to and because my peer group was not doing it.
It's simply not feasible to blame family holidays for poor grades, and it's not feasible to say that families in Blackpool go on more holidays in term time. It's a bizarre statistic not linked with anything.
The boss of "childrens services" in Blackpool, David Lund, states the obvious when he says there is "a clear link between pupils with high attendance and those achieving well in exams". Is there a clear link between authorised absence (holidays) and really poor grades?
At Palatine School, or Palatine Sports College as it is called now, one in five pupils were persistently absent in 2008. That means they were absent for more than 20% of the term time. And they're trying to attribute that to too many holidays?
Try looking closer to home.
Boring lessons
Low quality teachers
No classroom control or discipline
No out of school activities
Low quality parents
...
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Skool iz kool
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Impressive post, Phil!
ReplyDeleteBlindingly obvious that taking kids out of school for two weeks of the school year isn't going to cause our Top Five position for absenteeism... Still, at least they're putting an effort in to blaming the wrong people. Just a shame they don't start focusing on the right people...
I've always found the argument against taking children out of school for ten days completely baseless. Whenever I was taken out of school during term time, I can safely say that it did me no harm. I could probably argue that I even learned something....!
Yup. I get a bit sick of the likes of Lund tossing up smokescreens to pass the blame about.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't they just accept the actual problems and implement programmes and funding to resolve them as best they can instead of coming up with draconian measures such as locking parents up, which as we have seen in cases past simply doesn't work!
If Lund wants to make comments about the effect of holiday absences he at least needs to quote relevant figures!
I gave your post a mention on my blog, which Jonbamboro's commented on... You might find it an interesting read, along with the link to the Marton School forum that he mentions.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the failure of draconian measures in the first instance is, as you mention, met with even more draconian measures - not as a proper solution to a problem, but as a sign of 'doing something', I reckon.
I wonder what would happen if we started to try novel ideas like using less restrictive and draconian measures? How about setting schools, teachers, pupils and parents free?
Although I think they're slightly diluted and not as far-reaching as they could be, I look forward to the Conservative proposals for handing control of schools back to those who have an interest in them and away from the bloated bureaucracies of pencil pushing local authorities.
I had a look at that Marton School forum. Wasn't really sure what I was meant to be reading, but it sounded as though a lot of drama was kicking off there.
ReplyDeleteIt's about time schools were empowered with the ability to control their own destiny, much like grammar schools are. Under Labour this wont happen, because for some reason they are determined to nanny us to the nth degree.
No gimmicks like paying kids with HMV vouchers for staying at school: they need to want to stay, and if they don't then there's a problem with the teaching, not necessarily with the child.
I think it's a perfectly reasonable position to have schools fully in control of their management.
ReplyDeleteCut out the LA - it's just a bloated middle man. Have you seen the size of their offices on Clifton Road?
I agree with the sentiment about scrapping the gimmicks. If I was skipping school, no amount of vouchers would encourage me to go back.