One in four boys is labelled as having special educational needs as state schools rake in funds

Our thanks to Jeff for pointing us to this article about a long-running national scandal. An excerpt:

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, who has been a headteacher in the state and private sectors, said:

‘It’s become an industry that has grown over the past 20 years at a rate that is impossible to believe. In my view, a lot of it is to do with children not getting good teaching.

One of the criteria for classifying children as SEN is they can’t read when they get to seven or eight. That is often because of the way they have been taught. It also attracts extra funding, so it is a way of boosting a school’s budget.’

What did David Cameron do about the state education system, the increasing failures of which – decade after decade – have been obscured by exam ‘grade inflation’? He fired Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, one of the few conviction politicians in the cabinet. His replacement was the the Minister for Women and Equalities. Cameron chose to placate teachers, a large voter demographic, the majority of whom won’t vote Conservative anyway. The losers in all this? The pupils in the state education system. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again:

David Cameron is the least principled prime minister in living memory… even if you’re a centenarian.