All normal, apart from the fact that no one has been told how much the pay rises are going to be or ig there will be any money to pay for them yet. Given that the majority of schools have an in year deficit and a large chunk of them are going to completely run out of funds in 2 years time even without this, you can see how stupid a situation this is. Even better, academies have to submit a 3 year budget forecast by the end of the month when they don’t have a clue about the biggest cost in there.
Education: officially not a government priority it seems.
It has become fashionable over the last few decades for government to find ways of putting some distance between itself and the various agencies which deliver public services. There seem to be two main reasons for doing this:
When services deteriorate because the government is too mean and stupid to fund them properly ministers can burst into tears, bleat that they’re no longer responsible for anything and point the finger of blame at the ‘independent’ bodies which are now saddled with the delivery. This has benefited politicians on both the right and the left.
It provides an opportunity to divert public money into the pockets of big corporates, especially their executive directors and shareholders. In return big corporates have quite often provided financial support back to political parties. The Tories in particular have benefited from this.
It seems that public service of any kind is no longer a government priority. Having to deliver stuff for the people has become a tiresome nuisance.
My pet hypothesis is that governments intentionally keep education relatively shit because their main priority from it is drone level workers to man the various factories, call centres, classical professions etc. that are the backbone of the economy. People that can actually think for themselves tend not to cope with the boredom.
Last day of the current sitting of Parliament. It will be interesting to see if Ian Paisley Jr gets 30-days in the naughty corner for being a bit corrupt about the edges with his holiday arrangements. Also, today is the traditional day for releasing a deluge of bad news/stuff you have denied/obfuscated/lied about at about 4:53 in the afternoon.
So, good news for Teachers, members of the Armed Forces, Police and Prison officers and Doctors, Dentists and Specialists who almost all get consolidated pay rises of 2% which is below the rate of inflation (the unconsolidated bit really should be included as it is a one off) and also
“today’s increases are funded from departmental budgets”
Having been reduffed by Barnier, May will try and see national leaders individually in an attempt to divide and rule. No way are any of the counties going to break ranks. The whole ethos of the EU is unity (A clue is in the name) and collective bargaining.
What a shock 