This was Tony Blair’s slogan back in 2007, but it serves as a useful title for exploring government policy today on the three different streams of education – state, private and home.
Most education of children in this country is provided by the state-controlled schools, where the curriculum is set and delivered by state-funded teachers and institutions. This means that it is ‘free’ to the ‘end-user’ – the school children and their parents. Sounds good, but the problem is that what they teach our children is out of our control as parents.
Today many schools have strayed away from education into indoctrination. Having abandoned traditional teaching, we now have a generation of confused children who are punished or ostracised for criticising this woke campaign.
State-provided education has largely failed, particularly in cities. So, is there a choice? Well, if you can afford it, there is always the private school. They can set their own teaching curricula without being slaves to the state’s woke ideology. For our socialist government that possibility is a distinct threat, so private education has become another socialist target. School fees will now be subject to VAT in order to discourage this option.
Here in North Wales we have a private school which specialises in teaching children who are on the ADHD spectrum. Most state schools are ill-equipped to support these children and the resources required put undue strain on their budgets. Now, the parents of those children will have to pay increased fees to the private schools that specialise in teaching children with additional needs.
So parents who want the best for their children, who will be saving the government considerable sums by having their children educated privately, are being penalised by the government for doing so. Thanks for nothing!
The third ‘education’ of our heading is home education, where parents take it upon themselves to educate their children in the way they want them to be taught. During the Covid-19 lockdowns many children had to learn at home rather than attend school. This was home-schooling, which I distinguish from home-education. Home-schooling is state teaching in a home environment. Home-education is where the parents set the curriculum and deliver it to their own children.
Parents will know their children better than any external teacher, and can therefore tailor the teaching to that individual child – impossible in any school system, whether state or private. Teaching resources are available to parents in a wide variety of styles, from set curricula to child-led learning, so there is something for every unique family to use. There are also support networks throughout the country where home-edders and their children meet and share experiences. This personal approach to learning means children can thrive in their individual learning styles, with the opportunity to spend more time outdoors in nature, to travel abroad and experience other cultures, and to receive practical life lessons preparing them for adulthood as they watch and learn from their parents in everyday life.
Home-ed is a real threat to a Socialist government, because they cannot control it. Home-ed has also grown rapidly, particularly since lockdown. That is why we see governments trying to enforce control upon those families by insisting on registration and regular inspections.
Our children are too important for their education to be left to the state, particularly one bent on socialist woke indoctrination. It’s time to reform education!