Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to get marks which could open the way to sixth form or college
Charging VAT on private school fees from January will help pay for teachers in state schools, the schools standards minister has said.
Catherine McKinnell told Times Radio:
We’ve been very clear about this policy for quite some time.
We know how difficult the fiscal situation is in this country but, as I’ve said, this is an absolute priority for us. We cannot allow the situation where we just don’t have enough teachers in our schools. The teachers that are teaching are overstretched and feel undervalued, and so we need to put that investment into our state sector.
I think there’s been a lot of quite right discussion about the curriculum.
We know that times move on and young people need to develop not only a knowledge that sets them up for life but the skills as well, and we know that there are so many important skills that young people need today that perhaps in my day were not quite the priority – critical thinking, problem solving, being adaptable to what comes next whatever their future holds.
