Why do public service bosses operate in a different world to those they command?
So the call is out to sack incompetent teachers...fine but what is the definition of an incompetent teacher? Just heard a very worrying story from a friend teaching down south who told me that a colleague had his salary docked because his exam results weren't good enough. My initial thoughts were what comparators were used to make this decision...something called the Fischer Family Index was used to assess the results. However the statistics used were fatally flawed as the students who failed to turn up to the exam were included in the equation.
This now begs the question is a good teacher one who teaches kids to pass exams and therefore an incompetent one someone who tries to ensure kids achieve their best whilst encouraging transferable skills they can use in later life? If so then I am incompetent.
Obsession with league tables does no good for students, teachers or parents alike and it has lead to endless form filling and box ticking which have very little effect on the quality of teaching.
At the same time the demand to sack incompetent teachers is around we hear that incompetent public service bosses who fail miserably and very publicly get huge pay offs. WHY? WHY? WHY?
Why do taxpayers have to pay these failures more money. If I fail and get sacked I am out. No one is going to pay me huge wadge and neither am I likely to get further highly paid employment by another public service.
Why can Adam Crozier get an equivalent 26% pay rise whilst he criticises his employees for striking over proposed changes to their pay and conditions (they eventually got 2.9%). Scottish Enterprise (currently £34million in the red) awarded Lena Wilson a 27% rise. Here is a quote from The Scotsman:
But a spokesman for Scottish Enterprise said: "It is important to strike a balance between being able to attract and retain high-calibre individuals - many of whom have come from the private sector - and ensuring value for the public purse.
"We also aim to encourage a culture of reward for strong performance at all levels."
Surely this criterion should apply across the board in the public sector. The public need the best people to teach their children and look after them when sick. To do this their needs to be equality. If the bosses get 26% so should the grunts...this is obviously unrealistic so if the grunts get 2.5% strung out over 2 years so should the bosses...yeah I know I need to wake up but utopia is a great concept.
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