UK has the same "schools are failing" charter school talking points as US

It may come as a surprise to many people, but state schools aren’t failing. You won’t read that in the papers, or hear it from the mouths of the new coalition ministers...Fewer fail their Ofsted inspections, under a much tougher regulatory regime; achievement is higher; more young people, including those from less well off backgrounds, go to university; and – guess what? – most parents are happy with the education their children receive, according to recent research from RISE (Research and Information on State Education).

It is important to hang on to these facts just now, because we are facing a wall of propaganda from both media and politicians claiming the opposite is true. It is a dangerous game, as it unsettles many parents. But it has a driving purpose: to pave the way for and justify the most ideological and reckless set of ‘reform’ proposals for a generation.

...the ‘review’ of school capital spending has a clear agenda: to bring as many private, and profit-making, providers into the state education system as possible; to build ‘free schools’ for individual parent groups; and to encourage a massive expansion of academies – independent state schools that are answerable directly to the secretary of state, not their local communities, via a commercial contract.

These plans risk several things. Creating surplus places in areas where they are not needed will damage existing schools, which may lose pupils (often taking the most challenging in their place) and revenue funding, which in turn usually leads to cuts in staff, difficulties in recruitment and a downward spiral...They will also increase the number of schools with ‘freedoms’ in areas such as admissions, special educational needs (SEN) and exclusions. There is evidence of academies already operating unofficial quotas of SEN pupils and very high exclusions....The new proposals will lead to more profit-making companies involved in state education. Most parents won’t actually be able to set up schools on their own, which is why the New Schools Network, run by a former adviser to Michael Gove and already given £500,000 by this government, is pointing them in the direction of private ‘partners’...


http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Academy-alarm


The talking points on all this neo-lib crap are the same, & being wielded across europe.

Which demonstrates that it's not about local or national conditions -- it's a coordinated global class war.

And I see some are already unreccing. That's a shame, really.:-(

Not the first time a Tory government has promoted this sort of crap, either. The 'academies' idea is basically the 'opt-out' scheme of the Thatcher era under a new name.

Not sure about 'co-ordinated class war' (across countries), however - though the situation in the UK certainly has roots in the longstanding class wars over education here. As stated, the UK is returning to Thatcherite traditions, not starting anything particularly new.