[News] Conservative think suggests teachers pay doubles

[somabc]

A council could decide to attract
parents who care about education by
spending its money on schools. It may well
be the case that doubling teachers’ pay and
cutting class sizes substantially would
transform schools and attract new people.

http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/ima...images/413.pdf

In a rather interesting publication from a Conservative Think Tank published today they suggest that councils have more authority over how they spend their money including the above possibility?

It also reports that Northerners should all move South as their cities have 'failed' which is a whole other story.

Thinktank says northerners should head south | Reuters.com

[Ric_]

So the suggestion is... "pay teachers twice as much and hire twice as many of them"? I can see this being economically viable

[tmcd35]

So the suggestion is... "pay teachers twice as much and hire twice as many of them"? I can see this being economically viable

I can see it working, all they need to do is cut non essential expenditure to pay for the teachers. I mean whats the big idea of all these computers and laptops in schools? In my day maths was taught with a pen a bit of paper, surely cheaper than 30 laptops, wifi, etc.

It'll mean we'll have leave, join the dole queue

[somabc]

So the suggestion is... "pay teachers twice as much and hire twice as many of them"? I can see this being economically viable

Actually re-reading that perhaps they meant doubling government expenditure on teachers pay i.e. hiring twice as many teachers but on the same pay?

[somabc]

I can see it working, all they need to do is cut non essential expenditure to pay for the teachers. I mean whats the big idea of all these computers and laptops in schools? In my day maths was taught with a pen a bit of paper, surely cheaper than 30 laptops, wifi, etc.

It'll mean we'll have leave, join the dole queue

Nah we can be all one of the 100,000's of new teachers! In fact the only people working in the country will be those who are either at school / college / uni studying and those teaching them!

[Andrew_C]

It'll mean we'll have leave, join the dole queue

Yerrighhht... I'll believe it when I see it. Tories delight in cutting expenditure on local services to pay for backh... sorry, arms deals and the like. I'll not be holding my breath!

[dhicks]

It also reports that Northerners should all move South as their cities have 'failed' which is a whole other story.

Hearing about this on the radio this morning, I got the impression they were going for a make-people-take-notice approach rather than anything they realistically thought would actually get implemented. Hence, I felt, why they particularly mentioned Oxford and Cambridge - both lovely towns, with a high percentage of people associated with them who would protest at the idea of tens of thousands of Liverpudlians being dumped on top of them. Therefore, you get more effort put into people trying to figure out how we can actually regenerate the north.

My bet would be on improved transport links - but properly improved, not just "improved transport links" like we have at the moment. I mean a proper TGV-style train line or bullet-train style link direct from London (or Cambridge) to Liverpool - make it so you can realistically commute from Liverpool to London of a morning.

Aside: the spell checker in Firefox actually knows how to spell "Liverpudlians". But why?

--
David Hicks

[beeswax]

Actually re-reading that perhaps they meant doubling government expenditure on teachers pay i.e. hiring twice as many teachers but on the same pay?

I think they actually tried something a little like this in Ohio. They made sure that primary class sizes were no bigger than twice the child's age, i.e. a class of 5 year olds would have no more than 10 pupils, and plenty of one to one time with the teachers. At age 7 they would be in classes of no more than 14. What it did, if I recall correctly, was ensure that pupils could read, write and do maths, felt confident and behaved better, with all the subsequent knock-on effects (less time lost through unruly behaviour etc) further down the line in secondary school.

As for all the poor people moving south, I think that's a great idea, with house prices falling now is a good time for the work shy northerners to go and populate all the remaining green belt land down there.

[Geoff]

Aside: the spell checker in Firefox actually knows how to spell "Liverpudlians". But why?

The creator of the enGB dictonary for Firefox is from Liverpool.

[Andrew_C]

- make it so you can realistically commute from Liverpool to London of a morning.

Why in the name of FSM would you want to do that? Much cheaper and better for the economy of the north to move a few big employers back up t' north. That way the cities up there regenerate, the people are happier, what is left of the countryside down here stays green, and the roads get quieter.

They made sure that primary class sizes were no bigger than twice the child's age,

I like that; it makes total sense. I wonder if Ed BallzUp would go for it?

[Geoff]

I wonder if Ed BallzUp would go for it?

I don't think he can count that far up.

[tmcd35]

Why in the name of FSM would you want to do that? Much cheaper and better for the economy of the north to move a few big employers back up t' north. That way the cities up there regenerate, the people are happier, what is left of the countryside down here stays green, and the roads get quieter.

Super Large Corporation PLC moves their factory from Kent to Merseyside. Great for employment in Merseyside, bad for employment in Kent. Also Super Large Corporation PLC's customers are in the south, maybe even on the continent. Those quiet roads are now full of lorries transporting Super Large Corporations PLCs Totally Pointless White Goods Product, from the north back to the south. I guess that'll help out with the inflation problem?

Although that said, I suppose Call Centers and Software houses could move north without ill effect. Infact it's a good idea, unemployment in India will be up and so would immigration to this country from said India!

[Geoff]

Last time I checked, Liverpool had a sizeable freight port.

[torledo]

I can't get behind something that recommends giving more money and autonomy to those loons in council hall.

We all know LA's have their own agenda and local politics that often dictate how money is allocated - not always for the benefit of the educations system locally - it's a tory pet project to want to sort of devolve power away from the centre and into local authorities which in many cases is a bad idea imo.

As for the north vs south thing, i don't think the Policy exchange was advocating everybody from the north converging on berkshire and the home counties....

it seems to dislike the regeneration plans for many northern cities as a gigantic waste of money. It seems to suggest places like liverpool and sunderand are feeder towns in the shadow of bigger, more affluent neighbours [e.g manchester, newcastle] and would struggle to sustain themselves as prosperous cities. I have no idea if they have a point...i always thought of liverpool as being this quite hip, up and coming place. But then again it wouldn't surprise me if most of the major employers and employment were in manchester rather than liverpool - in which case people move to wear the jobs are. Manchester being more strategically important on the road and rail network.

We know much employment and ecommerce is focused in london and the M25 commuter belt with places like reading important as a result.

Cambridge and oxford is mentioned because they being important for other reasons, with both being both these centres of educational excellence and within commute of greater london - they could well explode in size. I would certainly focus on house building where there was likely to be a build of people needing homes. So it makes sense if you are going to prioritize to focus resources on those areas rather than places up north where the projects won't make much difference to the success of the region. Not barmy at all.

[dhicks]

Why in the name of FSM would you want to do that?

Because the attention of the country tends to be focused on London and the South.

Much cheaper and better for the economy of the north to move a few big employers back up t' north.

Yes, absolutely. But the idea this think-tank seem to be trying to get across is that it doesn't seem to have worked for some reason. There's probably a less radical solution than transplanting the population of Liverpool into Cambridge, mind.

--
David Hicks