Is the British education system still unequal?

The British education system is still stratified and unequal, despite efforts to break the link between poverty and performance.

According to the Ofsted annual report from last academic year, in fact, private schools have achieved better results than state schools.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has answered to the inspectors of schools in England by saying:

“We have looked at those schools that have been inspected under a new, tighter inspection regime and teachers in state schools are more qualified than ever before.

“The reason why we are changing the education system by taking independent, fee-paying schools and making them state schools is because we need to make our society more equal”.

The same report has also highlighted that schools located in particular regions of the country, like rural and coastal areas, are under-achieving.

According to Ofsted inspectors, those schools are not doing well because of a lack of challenge from teachers, head teachers, governing boards and local authority in those specific areas.

“The unlucky child goes to a school with low expectations, where governance is poor and local authority does not know its school particularly well,” said Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in England also declared:

“I won’t accept and our Country should not accept leaders of our schools, governing bodies and leaders of our schools  to have low expectations on children just because they are poor or come from a particular culture. That is wrong”.

“We got to particularly focused upon the achievement levels of white British children from low income backgrounds who are doing poorest of all. What we have got to do is to highlight those areas which are stuck and are not improving at a rate that others are. (...) Ofsted itself will ensure that we focus on those areas more than we’ve ever done,” he added.

Education has been one of the busiest ministries of the last four years, introducing free schools, reforming the exam system and the curriculum. 

The great challenge now, is to ensure that the good leadership is spread more widely throughout our country.

We are all very sorry for the passport delays

There are currently 480,000 outstanding passport applications, Passport Office Chief Executive Paul Pugh admitted on Tuesday.

The number compares with only 280,000 this time a year ago, a whopping increase of 200,000, which has caused thousands of wannabe travellers to postpone or even cancel their holidays.

Questioned by MP Keith Vaz, Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr Pugh apologised for the delays and distress experienced by tens of thousands of people applying for a passport, by saying:

“I absolutely recognise the anger and distress that some people have suffered and I would like to put on record that in every case where we have not met  our service standards, we are sorry for that”.

Mr Pugh has explained that forecasting models normally manage to predict within 2-3 per cent accuracy how many people will apply for a passport in any one year.

This year, instead, the forecast has gone totally wrong, partly because of the improving economy, partly because of the favorable exchange rate.

However, “only 10 per cent are receiving the passport outside the three week target period”, Paul Pugh clarified.

He added that people will get compensation if they have suffered financially because of the delays from the passport agency.

MPs asked the Head of the Passport Office whether he thought of resigning and Mr Pough said that he had considered it, but decided that in the end it was not in the interest of people who were waiting for their passport.

Meanwhile Mike Jones, who is the industrial officer of the Public and Commercial Services Union, warned the Passport Office is losing control, because of the staff shortage. In fact, more than 500 roles  have been lost in the agency over the past four years.

Home Secretary Theresa May has been accused of having been warned about rise in complaints months ago and doing nothing about it.

She said: “Our Passport Office is dealing with the highest demand for passport in 12 years. As a result, a number of people are waiting too long for their passport applications to be processed and I would like to say to anybody who is unable to travel because of the delay in processing their applications, that I am sorry and the Government is sorry for the inconvenience they have suffered and we are doing all we can to put things right”.

She also declared that people who need to travel abroad urgently can get their passport applications fast-tracked, by paying an extra-fee.

Those who have already waited for more than three weeks to get their passport, can receive it within 24 hours, without paying the extra amount.

The congestion charge has gone up

London’s daily congestion charge has risen to £11.50 yesterday, as previously announced by Transport for London (TFL) in May.

The fee, which does not apply after 6pm or at weekends, is charged on most vehicles entering central London and the rate for those on the auto-pay system and for fleet customers will be £10.50 a day.

The tax was first introduced in 2003 in order to tackle pollution, reduce congestion and raise investment funds for London’s transport system.

After the running costs, the scheme has so far brought in more than £1.2billion, all reinvested in transport.

Ken Livingstone, who was the Mayor of London when the congestion charge came into force, has more recently declared:

“I did not do it because I wanted to. When I was elected big business came to me and said: “If you don’t tackle congestion in London, we are going to see firms leaving the city”. When we did polling there was always a narrow majority in favour. People realised how bad congestion was getting”.

Current Mayor Boris Johnson reduced the size of the zone, scrapping the Western extension in 2010. He said:

“The central London congestion charging zone has been a success in delivering some reductions in congestion. That has been a benefit to Londoners and that is why I was always determined to keep it”.

However, data from TFL reveal that the congestion charge has failed to deliver on a key promise, which is reducing the journey times. Even though 60thousand fewer vehicles now enter the zone every day, congestion has not improved. Before 2003, journeys within the London Inner Ring Road were delayed by 3.4 min/km. It did get better initially but latest figures show it is now worst, at 3.6min/km, blamed on road works.

Talking about the recent £ 1.50 increase, TfL's chief operating officer for surface transport, Garrett Emmerson, said that these changes will ensure the congestion charge remains effective in managing the traffic jam in the central part of the British capital.

London was the first major city in the world to introduce a congestion charge and drivers were initially scared away due to the new scheme.  There were also protests, as the fee suppressed job creation and expansion, according to some businesses. Cities like Manchester and New York turned down similar schemes.

How the plan will work in the future is still unclear, but pollution could play a big part.

For more details about the charging zone map, discounts, exemptions and penalties, visit: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge