Tag Archives: Europe

Planes, trains, but not automobiles

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This is the second of my more light-hearted summer posts. The title comes from the 1987 movie directed by John Hughes and starring Steve Martin and John Candy. Appropriately enough, this post is being written while I am on a Boing 777 travelling over the Indian Ocean. Unlike in the film, my traveling companion is not a total stranger, but my twin brother, and our trip was planned several months ago. Our jeopardy was the result of Donald Trump’s war, as our route involved a stopover in Dubai.

Long-time readers of this blog may recall that in 2019, PC – pre-covid – together with my brother I wrote a travel book called Twin Tracks. The bok was about our interrail tour around Europe – Amazon may still have a few copies for sale. That journey was by rail. This trip has so far involved planes, a failed train trip, but with more rail adventures still to come, but no automobiles

The plane journeys, on an Emirates A380 and Boing 777 can pass with little comment, except to say that I find the A380 a much more pleasant, and quieter aeroplane than the 777, at least in business class.

So, on to the trains. One reason for stopping in Dubai was to try the UAE’s new railway line. When we booked our trip last November, before the war, we expected the railway to be fully open by summer 2026, including the Dubai station. Sadly, it is not. At present, the service runs non-stop from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, bypassing Dubai.

We could still have taken the train, but it would have required a two-hour bus ride to the departure point, and another two-hour ride back. Tickets were also extremely hard to come by, and booking online required a local mobile phone number. As a result, we had to rethink our plans.

While considering the options, I reflected that the passenger line in the UAE isn’t the only delayed rail project. In the UK, there is HS2, of which the less raid the better, although most people now overlook the fact that the now hugely successful Elizabeth Line in London was also not only late, but also over budget.

The less said about the California Hugh speed Rail project or the sa=tation rebuild in /Germany, the better.

Of more concern to me is the government’s failure to open the new railway from Oxford (where I live) to Milton Keynes, creating  a connection with the West Coast mainline. The line is currently one of the most expensive freight-only lines in England.

I won’t bother with an explanation here, but safe to say it is a good example of what was once called the British disease.

Anyway, back to Dubai and a decision to visit Fujairah by public transport, for a daytrip. Why, partly because it’s there, and partly after four visits to Dubai, I had never been to that Emirate. Research for the trip discovered a public bus – really a long distance coach – run by RTA the Dubai transport authority. Interestingly, traffic congestion in Dubai has led to the service being switch from the Bus Station at Union Square on the metro to the end of the Green Metro line at the oddly named E& station, whether the E700 now departs from the adjacent bus station. White elderly males are a rare sight on the Dubai metro and, I suspect an even rarer on the E700. Certainly, on our return trip we were the only Europeans we saw on either the metro or the bus.

The ride is through desert and the mountains that separate most of the UAE from the Gulf of Oman. There is a new bus station in Fujairah, and stands alone on the edge of the town, requiring a taxi ride to reach anywhere – so, we did use automobiles, even if not by desire, but like in the film, because of the force of circumstances.

Fortunately, taxis are cheap in the UAE, where petrol costs very little, so we asked our taxi driver to take us to a restaurant on the corniche coast road. An enjoyable fish lunch later, and we retraced our steps, avoiding spending any time out in the heat that reached over 110F while we were eating our lunch. Had I mentioned 110F some years ago, nobody would have has much notion of what such a temperature might feel like: not so now.

What happens if EU pupils disappear from schools post Brexit?

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Tomorrow marks one of the final acts of the 2017-18 school year, the publication of examination results and the opening on the university ‘clearing’ round. Next week will see the publication of the examinations normally taken at 16+. From that point onwards, the 2018-19 school year might be said to have commenced.

One of the interesting challenges for the next year will be how well the new National Funding Formula copes with the unexpected changes that will emerge and have not been pre-programmed into the formula. One such, is the extent to which some schools will be affected financially if the movement of EU citizens out of England continues.

There has always been an ebb and flow of such citizens, but the balance until recently has been on the positive side of the equation. Should the flow turn negative over the next few quarters, while Brexit is sorted out, it seems likely that some schools, and probably some primary schools in particular, could lose a proportion of their pupil population, not to mention a few teachers and support staff as well. Losing the staff may help reduce expenditure, if they don’t need to be replaced, although many will I suspect need replacing.

More concern will be over the financial effects by 2020 of any reduced pupil numbers and hence lower income for the school. Successful schools that are over-subscribed will just let it be known that there are now places in particular classes and, hey presto, applications will materialise, as if by magic. But what happens to schools either thought to be less attractive to parents or in areas where they may be the only school?

In the past, local authorities could cope with the unforeseen changes in pupil numbers. Indeed, multi-academy trust can still do so by viring cash between schools in the Trust. Stand-alone academy trusts, with a single school, and maintained schools don’t have the ability to take that route. Cash cannot be moved around these schools. This might be a reason for schools in a weak financial situation to join a MAT, if they think they will receive help and not later be closed s uneconomic anyway.

How much of a concern might this issue of a potential pupil exodus be? A recent answer at the July meeting of Oxfordshire County Council revealed 11 maintained primary schools with more than 10% of current pupil numbers with non GBR EU citizenship. Now, some may either have parents with dual nationality or be unconcerned by Brexit, but a school of 250 losing just two percent might see a budget reduction of more than £20,000 in a full year: a not insubstantial sum to lose from a tight budget.

Should the DfE publish a full list of areas mostly at risk of losing pupils if there is an outflow of EU workers from England? No doubt the devolved administrations are also taking note of this issue and its implications for their schools?

Hopefully, there won’t be an issue, but, if there is, should schools muddle through or expect some anticipation of the problem and a solution within the National Funding Formula?

BREXIT and education

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Apart from the issues regarding students in higher education recruited from the EU and the matter of research funding for our universities, there are also the matter of recruiting teachers and of whether our exit should affect the school curriculum to consider after today’s speech by the Prime Minister.

If we are to become a world-class trading nation, do we need to up our game over the teaching of languages? If so, does the balance between European languages and say Mandarin need to alter? Despite the former administration’s apparent love for the Chinese language, progress has been patchy, with some schools embracing the teaching of Mandarin and others not being so interested.

With most of South America, apart from Brazil, speaking a form of Spanish, should we increase the teaching of that language and reduce say, German. Should Russian return to the group of languages more widely taught in schools? Then there are the languages of the Indian Sub-continent and of anglophile Africa. Do we need to increase speakers of those tongues or rely upon them learning English to allow us to export to them?

Perhaps more importantly do we need to take another look at the EBacc? The creative arts, design and technology and even business studies have seemingly ranked way down the DfE’s list of concerns ever since Mr Gove entered Sanctuary Buildings. Do we need to reassess the importance of certain subjects? Music, in all its forms, has been a key export industry. Do we need to give it a boost in schools or just rely on television talent shows to increase interest in the subject and a desire to practice it in public? If manufacturing is going to be important, should the government pay more attention to design and technology and assess how the subject can be staffed in our schools. In TeachVac we have seen few advertisements for vacancies in either music or design and technology compared with many other subjects both at the end of 2016 and in the first fortnight of 2017. This may suggest schools are not investing in the teaching of these subjects at present.

STEM subjects as a whole are also important, especially where they help develop new technologies. However, developing a spirit of entrepreneurship in our schools may be equally important. In a post some time ago, I noted that more innovators came from independent schools than from state schools. Clearly, post BREXIT, we need a generation of exporters educated in all our schools and this might mean re-evaluating the staffing of business studies. At present, this a subject the DfE largely ignores, despite the past two years of TeachVac data showing how under-staffed it is becoming.

Finally, what happens if we cannot maintain a common travel area with the Irish republic? Although not as great a source of teachers as some would imagine, teachers from Ireland do help swell the ranks of the teaching profession in times of shortage. Will they need visas, along with their Spanish and other EU compatriots, in a few years’ time? On that front, schools must be wondering when the Migration Advisory Committee will report on the tier 2 visa rules for 2017-18.

 

 

 

 

A new future

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Waking up to the news that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the EU is a disappointment. Oxford, along with cities such as Cambridge and Bristol, was one of the few places outside London to vote strongly in favour of remaining. However, I am not surprised by the overall result. My previous post, on the speech by The Chief Inspector about the failure of our education system to provide an education for all, recognised the deep gulf that has opened up in England and parts of Wales between those that have gained the most across the board from the past half century and those that feel impoverished by the direction of travel the country has taken. This feeling of impoverishment and associated alienation has nothing to do with any economic benefits the region where they live may have received.

The irony is that those voting to leave the EU could in some measure be dependent upon those that voted to remain if the economic miracle those advocating leave believe can happen is now to come about. The entrepreneurial success of parts of the country must be broadened and deepened. To that extent the aim of a northern powerhouse is a good move, but 20 years too late.

On the more narrow focus that is of direct interest to me, I wonder what the outcome of the referendum will mean for the staffing of our schools. One scenario has lots of young graduates, the group that voted mostly strongly to remain in the EU, looking for teaching posts overseas. At the same time, the unknown number of EU trained teachers working in schools across England may re-consider their position here and also look either to return home or seek another post overseas. On the other hand, those from EU countries where unemployment is still high and where teaching pays less than it does here may wish to remain, if allowed to do so. In any teacher shortage that might develop it must not be the least advantaged that suffer the most, for access to a high quality education remains a universal right regardless of the political grouping to which we belong as a country.

A fall in sterling will be good news for independent boarding schools offering an education to those from across the globe, as it will become cheaper to study in Britain. For the same reason, universities may find attracting students from overseas slightly easier, although presumably once Britain leaves the EU all students from overseas will pay the same in fees.

Personally, I will continue to fight to ensure that Britain continues as an outward looking, tolerant and liberal society where Human Rights remain important. Education plays a large part in achieving this goal and it must be protected in any of the possible hard times ahead. I do not want to become a member of a vassal state of either the USA or China, instead of a full-member of the EU, should these superpowers use any period of economic uncertainty to harvest UK assets at a bargain price.