I remember when I was at school, there were many occasions when I got into trouble and I was told to go and speak to a man who had no arms, no legs and no body – he was called “the head”.
The role of the head-teacher is critically important to people’s education and future lives, the book ultimately stops with the head-teacher. Hence they can at times be accountable for up to 2,000 people’s education, it fosters a lot of responsibility and, a bit like Abu Hamza trying to tie his shoe laces – it’s not a very easy job.
A few weeks ago there was dismay after the head-teacher, Mr Mark Elms, of an inner-city London school was paid over £200,000 during the tax year. This led to calls from Education Secretary Michael Gove to cap take home pay for teachers, however, it should be noted that Elms did have a large amount paid to him as arrears, hence one of Elms’ failings was not demanding that his money be paid to him in the year he earned it. In any event, the parents of this school stated that Elms is worth every penny – presumably the opposers to Elms’ pay would rather employ an idiot to the post, pay them £20,000 and hope that by chance these children can somehow prosper.
The argument can no doubt be made that the Government needs to reduce its deficient and that is partly been done by cuts to public services and, there have been many criticisms of the current and previous Government and their spending: Was it wise to let John Prescott claim a food allowance on his expenses? Was there good value for money in the research and development of Boris Johnson? Was there really a need for 2 Millibands?
Certainly, the case can be made that no-one deserves to be paid more than the Prime Minister, however the large salaries that the private sector offers; make Mr Elms’ take home pay see rather meagre. In addition, one rather bizarre part of the story was for the GMB workers union to complain about Mr Elms’ pay, claiming it to be too high. It does make you wonder what the job of a union is, aren’t they meant to push for higher wages? To me it all appeared to be as bizarre as the occasions when Katie Price complains about press intrusion or when Simon Cowell criticises the lack of original and creative music.
Teaching though in general can be a tricky profession, you are the responsible person in the room, when a young child is neglected by their parents, hence it becomes the teachers’ responsibility to report this. This is a responsibility that continues right through to adulthood, when I was in a lecture theatre at university a few months ago, a girl fell down the stairs when leaving and even then, in a room full of adults, the lecturer was the person who walked to the front and checked if the girl was okay. Fortunately she was fine - therefore, everyone else in the room could continue with the feelings of: wanting to laugh, and regretting not recording the fall on their mobile phones.
Teaching is ultimately a skilled profession after all and the great saying goes, “Those who can teach; those who can’t… have to make do with less than 13 weeks holiday a year”. So it must be something of a kick in the teeth for teachers when the Conservatives announced their idea that parents and community groups can set up their own school if they feel their local school is underperforming. Aside from showing little care for the existing school, what do parents know about running a school? This idea I believe is quite popular in Scandinavia, where many schools are set up by parents and community groups. In Sweden, you can try to set up your own school – the school arrives flat-packed and you must assemble it with an alum key.
It would of course be useful if when you had a Government, which had some ridiculous half-baked ideas, then you could go and set up your own Government, however, there is no such possibility. The idea of having a choice is an interesting concept, and “choice” has become a buzzword in recent years. For example, there are plans to allow a patient the choice of which hospital they get have an operation in. To be honest, if I was due an operation, I wouldn’t really care which hospital I went to, as long as the job gets done, and furthermore, I know nothing about hospitals – to make a fully informed decision, I would probably have to go to medical school for 6 years, train as a doctor and then spend some time working in the hospitals I wanted to choose from, at which point I would probably have already died from whatever it was that left me requiring an operation.
As a way of transferring the power back to the people (or a way of making massive cuts in the public service, depending on your viewpoint) David Cameron this week announced his plans for a big society, where the community takes over the running of certain facilities, in a place where everyone contributes and gives their time for free. Cameron announced this last week and then went straight to America to speak to President Obama, that way he didn’t have to answer any questions about the “big society” that he appears to be forcing on to the nation – something which there doesn’t seem to be much choice in.
The trip didn’t run all that smoothly for Cameron though, he got into to hot water when asked if he’d, “packed his back himself,” to which he responded, “no… I got Nick Clegg to do it for me”… following on from that, the trip went from bad to worse… what with the cuts to services, and everyone being forced to make a contribution to society… Cameron was forced to fly the plane to America himself…
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