it ain't just Osbo who is inumerate

Most of the Tory government is unable to function in the
jobs which they view as their birthright. Politics, that is.

The Torys decided to adopt the results of a gov study,
and raise fees for Uni students. In this way, uni students
are paying all the cost of their education. every last penny.
Most countries realise the benefit to the country of Uni,
and so students usually pay below 20% of the cost,
except in the UK and the US.

Weeehell. It turns out that they made two mathematical
errors in doing this dastardly plan , as if they cared.

Firstly, the money that they would be getting by deducting
tuition payments from tax would be astronomical for
somebody who was earning nearly £100K, which is
thankfully very rare.
(9% of income, per year)

Secondly, the gov have recognised the data that say
that kids just can't pay. The jobs market sucks,
thanks to UK gov austerity. So, the gov is not
getting as much money as it expected.
I guess their next move is to raise fees.

They have already tried to sell of the loan book
for the students to private vultures, which will
mean calls 24/7, bailiffs and court fees.

So , you can see how a country in decline feeds
on its young. That's the US and the UK.

Perfect. remind me. what was the purpose of
uni education, anyway?

checkit: Guardian

Tuition fees: former Tory adviser says government got its maths wrong

Nick Hillman, who worked for David Willetts on student loans regime, calls for action over looming university funding gap

    Rowena Mason, Shiv Malik, James Ball            

    Friday 21 March 2014 20.01 GMT            

    Jump to comments (553)

A former political adviser to the Tory universities minister, David Willetts, has called for a rethink of the tuition fees system and admitted the government "got its maths wrong" by overestimating the amount of student debt that will be repaid.

Nick Hillman, who worked for Willetts during the introduction of the policy, made the comments after it emerged that the rate of default on student loans is now so high that the £9,000-a-year tuition fees system could end up producing zero financial reward for the government.

Speaking to the Guardian, Hillman called for action to address the "big funding gap" looming in the universities sector caused by mistakes in the government's modelling and the fact that graduates are earning less than expected.

Last night, the Universities UK alliance of higher education institutions urged the coalition to open talks with Labour on the issue, saying it was vital to think more carefully about how universities can be paid for.

Under the current fees regime students start paying their loans back once they are earning over £21,000 at a rate of 9% of their salary above £15,000. Ministers originally thought in 2010 that 28% of student loans would never be repaid and have revised this upwards several times. The Guardian revealed Willetts' admission that the true figure is now more like 45% – fast approaching the 48% threshold at which experts say the benefits of raising fees to £9,000 are cancelled out.

Willetts has previously denied that the changing estimates are any kind of "deep defect in the system", saying changes to the numbers are purely a result of people temporarily earning less than expected. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said that the universities sector was well funded and the "estimates can and will continue to change".

But Hillman said there was no denying that "the government has got it wrong and therefore there is a big funding gap and something has to be done about it".

He said: "The thing that hasn't really entered the debate yet … is now we know how big the shortfall is, what do you do about it? How much would you need to change the loan system to actually solve the problem? I'm not defending the government. The government has got the maths wrong, plus the economy has changed. The £21,000 repayment threshold is in real terms much higher than the government expected."…

How easy is it for a Minister to sell off his ministry?

This is the incredible story of how the UK was allowing
an idiot minister to ruin one of the most important
functions of society, the education of children.

It's amazing that this discovery was left to a children's
author, but Michael Rosen kicks butt. He went after
the government to get the Minister to reveal what
he did. Still, Rosen cannot get anybody interested
in reversing this bullshit.

Public assets given away, with no titles. Gove stealing
schools under any pretense , from councils and  giving
them to his buddies.
 
I read this story and thought "this is willful class warfare."

checkit: Michael rosen

Gove nicked our schools and handed them to his mates

Further to the question of 'hey Gove, where have the title deeds of our state schools gone?' there is a post on the Guardian comment is free site, in response to the story about Gove's criticism of Etonians in the cabinet.

I offer it with no comment. People better informed than me can judge whether it's on the button or not...

Start: "Since Gove took over - schools all over England failing, free schools being shut down, academy companies being stripped of control of schools

Absolute CHAOS - so why did Gove deliberately create such chaos

Each time a school becomes an academy the council must hand over the title deeds for the school if it has them (avg value £5m per school)

As over 2,000 schools have been forced to become academies that is £10 billion (min) state assets Michael Gove has demanded the title deeds be handed to him

I wrote an FOI request to Michael Gove's department and asked him where are the title deeds to England's schools

After 3 months he still refused to answer - I had to involve the information commissioner who wrote and demanded they answer within 10 days

And now we find out why Michael Gove did not want to answer the reply I got

The department of Education has absolutely no record of any of the title deeds for the school - not in paper format or electronic format

Now as councils held title deeds for state assets safely for decades - and Michael Gove used the Academies Bill to force councils to hand them to him - the Secretary of State For Education -

Where are all the title deeds for the schools Mr Gove

At the end they told me to write to a company the Tory Party Treasurer is on the board of - and ask the private company if they know what Michael Gove has done with the title deeds for state assets

Any good magician will tell you - create a distraction - to get away with the trick

And the trick here is - Michael Gove transferring £10 billion of state assets to private companies - where no payment was received for the state assets - and taxpayers forced to pay over £50,000,000 in legal fees alone to fund the trick

Thatcher sold state assets - Michael Gove gives them away - and some of the companies he gave them away to - just happen to have very prominent Tory party members on the boards - with us even paying all legal fees

Now I live in Scotland - but if it was my school that became an academy I would be writing to Michael Gove right now - and speaking to my councillors right now and demanding to know where are the title deeds for my school - because these schools are state assets (or they were until Michael Gove disposed of the title deeds with absolutely not a thing on record in the Dof E)

that's what you call magic

Now the reality is Michael Gove has set up Southern Cross For Education - where

Academy companies have the title deeds for schools - they can sell them - and then sign extortionate leases to rent them (and the money goes offshore to the Cayman Islands as "excess funds")

Now Gove changed the law to say Academy's don't have to publish their accounts publicly - unlike every other charity in the country

And Gove changed the law to say No Academy trustee can be held liable for any losses

And Gove is currently trying to change the Academies bill to say instead of the title deeds going to " the proprietor of the school" - to "someone associated with the school"

Now does that mean the Tory Party Treasurer, instead of putting your school's title deeds in Ark Schools name - he can instead put your school's title deeds in the Tory Party Treasurer's name

Now if that is not "cronyism" of the most absolutely shocking sort - I don't know what is

Serious investigations need to be asked as to how Michael Gove can have "lost" the title deeds for £10 billion of state assets without a trace - after councils kept them safe for decades!"

 

Proof that Gove messes with curriculum

Those of you in UK know that this country is very
London-centric, and when it comes to politics,
very cabinet-centric.
The UK cabinet gets its fingers stuck into the most
minute details of daily life. So, when we say
"the minister is ruining the ministry", we know
what we're talking about.
One of the best guys for following the Education
minister, Michael Gove, is Michael Rosen,
my "stable-mate" at

michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com

This is what has happened to History, English
and Science, which has stood up to Gove.

checkit: michaelrosenblog

Gove had to listen to the science educators
Today, at a conference of primary science specialists, I got an interesting insight into the uneven way in which education policy is being arrived at. As many people reading this will know, when it comes to the English and History curricula in schools, Gove's fingerprints are all over the curriculum and - more importantly - the tests which de facto determine the curriculum. This has caused advisers to resign, send letters of protest and professional associations have sent written submissions which have been almost entirely overlooked. Decades of experience have been overlooked.
 But what has happened with science.
It does seem as if Gove and gang have been forced to listen to what experienced teachers of science have told them. The draft curricula were rewritten. The science teachers and advisers seem to think that a truly awful document (the draft) has been thrown out and something much better has replaced it, though reservations were expressed about the fact that the notion of 'science' in primary schools was being weighted - perhaps too heavily - towards biology. A bit of a return to 'nature study' some felt....