Education free-for-all will widen inequalities

In an attempt to avoid being sacked in the July re-shuffle, the hopeless education secretary for this miserable Tory government is coming up with wacky ideas.

Laudable as his ideas are (schools to be ‘mobile free’ areas and creeping academisation) they do nothing to address the current and future issues in our schools.

Notice how the plans for extending the school day and summer schools have withered. It is the inequalities in funding that are the root cause of unequal outcomes for pupils of equal ability.

So, instead of allocating any extra funds on a need index the Government is encouraging them to register for extra funds.

It is more than likely that those who need it least will take more than their share. One of the easiest inequality to remedy is that of reading.

The summer schools, in my view, should be crash courses aimed at improving pupils’ reading ages. This, and generous lessons in sport and creative subjects, will go some way to addressing the mental health issues that many teens are experiencing, backed up by free school meals.

In case the Education Secretary has missed it, there will be no exams this summer, nor next year! and what a free-for-all that will produce.

Yet another opportunity for the inequalities to widen as those who push will get the best grades, as allocated by the school of mum and dad!

With 18 being the realistic age when pupils should be assessed, perhaps yesterday was the time to look at our model of education and thinking about new ones.

Home schooling, the invasion of IT and the reduction in memory tests should all be brought to play in how we want youngsters to be moulded.

I am sorry to say that any real change is unlikely with this exam-obsessed government and its current leaders. They have not worked out that things cannot return to as they were: everything has changed.

Robert Pixton

Abney Moor

Liden

Cancel culture

We live in an age of cancel culture where anyone can lose their job and reputation without even committing a crime

This happened to Noel Clarke at the end of April during the week when his new hit police thriller Viewpoint was running on ITV.

Episode 5 of Viewpoint was cancelled on Friday leaving millions of viewers never knowing the end of the story and who did the murder.

Although it was shown on the catch-up service, access to the catch-up service was jammed because of high demand.

This crazy left wing cancel culture has angered millions of ordinary TV viewers who will now never know "Who done it?".

Steve Halden

Beaufort Green

Swindon