Gavin Williamson

[Jacko51]

10 minutes ago, go4goal said:

Now to fire off a  plethora of furious replies -

as in all aspects of life certain facts remain and will never change !

1) OVF contributors, polticians, teachers are all human beings (?) and as such are not always right -

           but all think they are !

2) They have their own agenda -

          to be heard (controversially) for the good of all !

3) Some are better than others at what they do - most of us have come across at some point the bigots, the genuine and not so genuine, the effective and ineffective -

         the latter 2 occupations often try to blame it on others for their shortcomings, be it pandemics, badly parented pupils etc rather than their own lack of control skills or knowledge.

but teachers have a secret weapon - the Unions who will take on for them any right/left wing authority (which ever is the appropriate opposite of the one prevalent at that given polnt in time), often safeguarding in doing so the less competent of their members.

I have no doubt that Gavin Williamson believes he is acting in the best interests for the children, and I for one think it is better to U-turn and admit the mistakes rather than to just continue on and compound the error.  

I suggest a new section of OVF - 'the perfect ones'! ............ not many who would qualify for membership, but numerous ones who would claim to......!

So are we entitled to opinions or not?

[Joe B]

1 hour ago, go4goal said:

I have no doubt that Gavin Williamson believes he is acting in the best interests for the children, and I for one think it is better to U-turn and admit the mistakes rather than to just continue on and compound the error.  

The rest of your post reads like some avant-garde post-modern poetry, so I'll ignore that as I hated it at A-Level.

For this comment - surely it would be better to avoid the mistakes in the first place, especially when you received numerous warnings that things are amiss? Surely mistake-avoidance is expectation numero uno of any competent government?

The former Director-General of the Department of Education, Sir John Coles, wrote to Williamson a month before the results came out expressing some concern about the algorithm. Of course, Williamson did nothing, and this current fiasco was the progeny.

I struggle with people commending u-turns, as the existence of a u-turn surely suggests that at a previous juncture, the government ballsed up?

[Fosse69]

1 hour ago, go4goal said:

 

I have no doubt that Gavin Williamson believes he is acting in the best interests for the children, and I for one think it is better to U-turn and admit the mistakes rather than to just continue on and compound the error.  

 

Just because you believe you are doing a  good job  is not good enough,  more so if you are clueless on what that job entails. 

[Joe B]

3 minutes ago, Fosse69 said:

Just because you believe you are doing a  good job  is not good enough,  more so if you are clueless on what that job entails. 

I also think that 'wanting to do the right thing' is not really a commendable attribute for the man responsible for the nation's education.

If I'm being really greedy, competence and an understanding of the education system would be high on my desired attributes.

[go4goal]

1 hour ago, Jacko51 said:

So are we entitled to opinions or not?

Of course you are as we all are - but accept they are your opinions (not you in particular but all of us in general) and not necessarily the same as other peoples

[go4goal]

1 hour ago, Joe B said:

The rest of your post reads like some avant-garde post-modern poetry, so I'll ignore that as I hated it at A-Level.

For this comment - surely it would be better to avoid the mistakes in the first place, especially when you received numerous warnings that things are amiss? Surely mistake-avoidance is expectation numero uno of any competent government?

The former Director-General of the Department of Education, Sir John Coles, wrote to Williamson a month before the results came out expressing some concern about the algorithm. Of course, Williamson did nothing, and this current fiasco was the progeny.

I struggle with people commending u-turns, as the existence of a u-turn surely suggests that at a previous juncture, the government ballsed up?

Joe - have you never done a u-turn in life - or would this be too much to admit you were wrong in the first place? Or perhaps this action is one you can only perform in government?

PS - I  love the "numero uno" expression - very 'avant-garde' !!!

[go4goal]

1 hour ago, Fosse69 said:

Just because you believe you are doing a  good job  is not good enough,  more so if you are clueless on what that job entails. 

By whose judgment ? - based on whose info, facts or perhaps media 'speculation?

[Andyregs]

Oh **** , OVF is going postmodernism now. There is no truth!

[go4goal]

1 hour ago, Joe B said:

I also think that 'wanting to do the right thing' is not really a commendable attribute for the man responsible for the nation's education.

If I'm being really greedy, competence and an understanding of the education system would be high on my desired attributes.

-so the foreign secretary has to have visited every country in the world, the home secretary know everything about every UK city, town etc, the Justice secretary every law in the land .......?

[Fosse69]

-so the foreign secretary has to have visited every country in the world, the home secretary know everything about every UK city, town etc, the Justice secretary every law in the land .......?

It helps if you have been a junior minister in the aspect that you cover, even take an interest, enquire from your civil servants, or just apply dogma and plough blindly on.

[For Us All]

On 19/08/2020 at 17:24, Mario said:

Would there be a risk that teachers and headmasters in particular would be "lenient" on results knowing that Ofsted mark on results and they would like as high a position in the league table as possible ?

Brilliant achievement by all concerned,not a single pupil failed GCSE economics,physics or PE.

[Joe B]

39 minutes ago, go4goal said:

Joe - have you never done a u-turn in life - or would this be too much to admit you were wrong in the first place? Or perhaps this action is one you can only perform in government?

PS - I  love the "numero uno" expression - very 'avant-garde' !!!

I have, but I'm not a member of Her Majesty's Government or a member of the Privy Council.  

My point being is that this government continually 'u-turns', suggesting they keep making mistakes. 

[Joe B]

31 minutes ago, go4goal said:

-so the foreign secretary has to have visited every country in the world, the home secretary know everything about every UK city, town etc, the Justice secretary every law in the land .......?

No, but the Education Secretary should have known the Ofqual algorithm was flawed, after he was warned a month in advance

[Jacko51]

53 minutes ago, go4goal said:

Of course you are as we all are - but accept they are your opinions (not you in particular but all of us in general) and not necessarily the same as other peoples

So what’s your problem?

[Jacko51]

36 minutes ago, go4goal said:

-so the foreign secretary has to have visited every country in the world, the home secretary know everything about every UK city, town etc, the Justice secretary every law in the land .......?

They have civil servants to advise them on matters pertaining to their responsibilities. Williamson was advised that the algorithm would cause problems weeks before results day. He ignored the advice of people who were better informed than he was. That’s his problem. He thought he knew better - he was wrong.