Deb

[Deb @Elephantastick]

Except... the research is flawed in very important ways that undermines its conclusions. A🧵:

[David James @drdavidajames]

An interesting and objective piece in today's @theipaper by @IsabelHardman

[CLMARMAC @ChloeMac20]

I have said this over and over and over. This is the issue. 38 state grammars in Kent, 19 in the m25, 20 in the south west, 0 in Nottinghamshire, 0 in South Yorkshire, 0 in hull, 0 in the the north east. The affluent parents in the south where the majority of high earners live have the best choice. The northern shire have cheaper housing and some can just about send their children to the local independent schools, which are not as good as the southern state grammars for results in many cases but Labour won’t recognise this or acknowledge what it is doing to education in the elite state deserts of northern England. They are not fit to govern

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved Why, which do you recommend?

[Deb @Elephantastick]

Except... the research is flawed in very important ways that undermines its conclusions. A🧵:

[David James @drdavidajames]

An interesting and objective piece in today's @theipaper by @IsabelHardman

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved @GuyEmma68700 @ChloeMac20 @katharinebarto6 @DanNeidle @Liberalscribble Thanks for the advice and for the opportunity to plug my pinned tweet!

A thread critically appraising the methodological & statistical validity of the latest Francis Green paper.

https://t.co/kDZNf9l88f

[Deb @Elephantastick]

Except... the research is flawed in very important ways that undermines its conclusions. A🧵:

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved Not really, no. But thanks for opportunity to plug my pinned tweet. A thread critically appraising the methodological & statistical validity of the latest Francis Green paper.

https://t.co/kDZNf9l88f

[Deb @Elephantastick]

Except... the research is flawed in very important ways that undermines its conclusions. A🧵:

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@AdamJ10812 @GuyEmma68700 @ChloeMac20 @katharinebarto6 @DanNeidle @Liberalscribble That name calling means they win. And that by not engaging, we lose.

Because i won't engage and keep untagging them, they keep retweeting me! Which means more traffic to my pinned thread critically appraising the latest Francis Green paper. 🤭

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved Thanks for linking to our thread & for the engagement. I'm sure your followers will find it very enlightening.

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@ChloeMac20 Sanctimonious, moralistic, hypocrites. Not all Londoners, obviously, just the ones that claim to be fighting social injustice & to be opposing two tier exceptionalism by punching down on a 12 year old in a Barnsley private sch, whilst boasting how exceptional London is.🥱

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@GuyEmma68700 @ChloeMac20 @WasOnceLoved @katharinebarto6 @DanNeidle @Liberalscribble It exposes their hypocrisy too. Imagine claiming to be opposed to two tier educational opportunity then tweeting about how London has the best state schools in England (because the gov invested in them, apparently... but nowhere else?) 🤣

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved @ChloeMac20 I assume that means they only invested in London schools? Which explains why the rest of has fallen behind?

I thought your ilk were opposed to two tier educational opportunity? Turns out there exceptions to your hatred of exceptionalism- when it aligns with your world view!

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved @ChloeMac20 @katharinebarto6 @GuyEmma68700 @DanNeidle @Liberalscribble Thanks for proving my point. 👍👍👍👍

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@Liberalscribble There is either extreme stereotyping going on here of the 'everyone i disagree with is a fascist' variety, or you're seeing what the algorithm wants you to see. You do realise that the LibDems are against VAT on sch fees? That the Conservatives are too?

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@WasOnceLoved @ChloeMac20 @katharinebarto6 @GuyEmma68700 @DanNeidle @Liberalscribble Londoners are the worst of all.

I guess I touched a nerve.

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@LargeWlarge63 I'm sorry, did you, of the 'state sch good-private sch bad' overly simplistic stereotypical binary ilk, really just suggest that its more complex than that?

[Deb @Elephantastick]

"If you want to attack social inequality, then ... attack the reason why 8/10 of the best LEAs are in London and 8/10 of the worst performing are in the north."

London-centric, Oxbridge policy wonks are a major part of this problem

🎯

[Chris @IrritableChris]

Their purpose is education, and they do provide it to everyone that can pay the fees.

Just like private hospitals provide their services to anyone that can afford them. They do not charge vat.

The reason is that whilst vat is a consumption tax, it is applied at the goods and services level, not based on who provides or sells the service.

If you pay for an optional school trip at state school, say an end of year celebratory trip out, this is a choice. Yet no VAT will be added.

That same trip from a private school will attract vat. Why the difference?

Your assertion that they exist for privilege and social inequality is probably quite telling of your prejudices toward these schools as they are nothing of the sort. In the area I live in the northern shires, theh serve as a choice for people who are willing and able to pay to receive the same level of results and education that millions who live in the south get for "free".

My "choice" as a parent for my children was:

1. Use the local state school with results 30% below national average, persistent truancy well above average.

2. Move home to the catchment area of a good school at the cost of about half a million quid on the mortgage

3. Pay for independent school at less than half the cost of moving home.

Am I fortunate to have options 2 and 3 compared to other parents in this area? Yes I am.

But that was my choice, and as a father I did what I felt was best for my children.

To then suggest by tsking this action im contributing to privilege or social inequality is just plain offensive.

If you want to attack social inequality, then attack the reasons why I even had to make a choice in the first place.

Attack the reason why 8/10 of the best LEAs are in London and 8/10 of the worst performing are in the north.

The inequality in the state education is far more drastic than anything the independent sector contributes. Its somehow ok for @bphillipsonMP to send her children to a very nice state school in London then hold her nose and point to the private schools as causing inequality.

If private schools disappeared tomorrow, the fact is there would be more inequality in education than there is today.

All the wealthy would buy in the right areas, and we would be in the same old situation of good schools only being in wealthy neighbourhoods, just like people such as the Sutton trust were writing about 20 years ago.

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@oldishbird1 @RemoaningW @TheScholar44 @vickygrayson_ @rwoolfy29 These numbers demonstrate- beyond doubt - that large numbers of families in private schs were operating at the margin of affordability, not buying education as a lifestyle accessory to accompany their yacht and designer watches.

3/3

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@oldishbird1 @RemoaningW @TheScholar44 @vickygrayson_ @rwoolfy29 The rhetoric of a "luxury commodity" used by a tiny elite is equally misleading & the DfE's own numbers now undermine that claim. If private ed were merely a discretionary purchase for plutocrats, tens of thousands of pupils would not have left the sector after a tax change. 2/3

[Deb @Elephantastick]

@TheScholar44 @AdamJ10812 It is the progressive, left wing retirees way. Its the 'only 6%' that gets me, it is utter bollocks & statistical nonsense.

She's lashing out & hardening her postion because she has been proven wrong. She was in the 'they so rich, no one will leave' camp.

[Jon Silk @JonSilk2]

@EducationNotTax @CWilksy_78 @educationgovuk Maybe @jamesmurray_ldn would like to comment on the difference between the projections and current experience

[Deb @Elephantastick]

I cant like this post multiple times, but if I could I would. This is exactly the problem with the simplistic binary of state v private. 'Privilege' & 'inequality' is not just about household income but also household location- where you live is as important as how much you earn.

[CLMARMAC @ChloeMac20]

Why is this so difficult to get across?? Why are lower middle class families being tarred with the same brush as Eton and co, for using northern day schools and cheaper mortgages in their elite state education deserts and wealthy parents in Keir’s kids schools in their £2m pound houses somehow the virtuous ones? What is the matter with left wing minds? They are going to make state inequity worse, worse opportunities in the north. 34 grammars in Kent, 19 in the m25, 0 in Nottinghamshire, 0 in hull, 0 in the north east, 0 in South Yorkshire?!!

[Mr Pål Christiansen @TheNorskaPaul]

State teacher numbers have plummeted despite @bphillipsonMP vindictive tax raid on private schools to pay for 6,500 more. 

New ONS statistics show there were 466,372 teachers in 2025, a decrease of 1,900 on 2024 when Labour came to power & shows falls at both primary/secondary level – with only special needs teacher numbers growing.

The Govt said the reductions were due to a fall in pupil numbers caused by the declining birth rate & that primary schools were not included in the recruitment target.🤔😏

Labour said in their manifesto the VAT raid was necessary to pay for an extra 6,500 teachers for state education by the end of this Parliament - but has simply resulted in pupils facing the disruption of school closures & mid-year transfers - in what everyone knew was just ideological nastiness.👨‍🎓