More nonsense from the Beeb:
Many parents want kitchens in England's state schools so children can be taught how to cook, a survey suggests.
Is it now beyond the realms of possibility that children might learn to cook at home? Is there nothing for which school is not the only answer? Will schools be to blame when, in ten years' time, 97% of children fail to correctly identify a mixing bowl and a spatula?
This was top of a resources wishlist for 63% of the 739 parents who took part in a PCP poll for the practical learning foundation Edge.
Ah, "practical learning foundation Edge", proud partners with the DCSF. I wonder what could be in it for them?
Almost as many wanted a business unit and computers in every classroom, while 45% chose a swimming pool, 25% a theatre and 19% a recording studio.
Where else one might find businesses, swimming pools, theatres and recording studios? Could it possible be in the real world? And if this is the wholly reasonable explanation for state schools lacking such facilities, then why do we continue to perpetuate the belief that school attendance is the only way of adequately preparing children for adult life?
The government says there has been record investment in school facilities.
Although the parents polled by Edge might not agree.
Edge sees the parental aspirations as seeking to narrow the difference in facilities between private and state schooling.
There is always going to be a palpable difference between the two. If there was not, private schooling would cease to exist. Who would pay for something they could get for "free"? An inefficient and ideologically centralised state monopoly will never be able to offer anything like the quality and choice offered by the private education sector. Even if one believes that government funded education should be a universal right, why not give parents the £5k+/annum each child currently costs the state education system and allow them to purchase educational provision of their own choosing? Then watch "the difference in facilities" narrow...
Chief executive Andy Powell said: "Parents quite rightly want the best learning environment for their children and that includes facilities that in the past have only been available in the country's private schools.
Facilities that in the past have only been available in the country's private schools as well as in all of our local communities, all of the time. Parents may well want "the best learning opportunities" for their child, but expecting a private school to take full responsibility for this is foolish. Expecting the state to do it is dangerous.
"If designed and managed correctly, with a clear vision and with dedicated staff and sponsors, new-build academies offer an opportunity to give pupils the type of learning they need, using the right facilities."
Is this where Edge comes in? Andy Powell sounds likes a man with a "clear vision"...
Edge is sponsoring two academies which will open next week in Nottingham and in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.
Ah.
In his 2006 Budget, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown set out a long-term goal to raise state school spending per pupil from £5,000 a year to the independent sector average of £8,000.
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Schools in England have never had such massive, sustained investment in facilities - with an eight-fold real terms rise between 1997 and 2011.
"Around 4,000 schools and tens of thousands of classrooms have been newly built, rebuilt or largely refurbished thanks to our £36bn capital over the last 12 years.
"We are committed to rebuilding or refurbishing the entire secondary school estate and half of all primary schools - giving parents, teachers and pupils outstanding classroom, music and sports facilities."
This increase in spending will not result in the state system offering anything like what is available in the independent sector, although rest assured it will no doubt pay for new "charities" and foundations, more pointless managerial and administrative positions, idiotic research and and ludicrous stating-the-bloody-obvious initiatives.
The recent builds and refurbishments are not thanks to the government's £36bn capital over the last 12 years. They are thanks to our £36bn capital. So - are you now happy with the state education system? Are the teachers? And the children? Where would you rather invest your "independent sector average" of £8k/child/annum?
Regardless of how or where education takes place, learning lies best and safest in the hands of individuals and their families. That is lesson number one.
