education maintenance allowance

[kronas]

the EMA has been drawn up to encourage pupils to stay in school and obtain qualifications, those who miss a single lesson in a week will lose there 'allocation' of funds for that week, its helping 16 - 19 year olds stay in education and its hoped the scheme will be extended to many more youngsters.

source: BBC news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3517026.stm

so gone are the days where education was a must, its apart of life, simply to profiteer from these new 'incentives' schemes to increase the chances of pupils staying in education........

bribery to stay in education ?

[Maggy J]

Oh Nuts! they force university students to run up enormous debts then throw money at 16 year olds.They are crazy!!!

IF they are willing to do this WHY are they not willing to go back to a grants system?

Incog.RANT,rant,rant.............

[Xaccers]

Why not spend this money wisely in schools to improve things so kids don't feel let down by education?

[kronas]

its there to 'encourage' people to stay in education to achieve some qualifications until its too late.......the basic gist of it is that they want people to take there GCSE's A-levels to come out with something atleast.......

[Paul M]

I wonder how much of this £30 week will go to the local boozers and drug dealers ...

Infant & Junior schools (or primary) are crying out for money and they go and waste it on this - madness.

[kronas]

Originally Posted by Pem

I wonder how much of this £30 week will go to the local boozers and drug dealers ...

lets not tar everyone with the same brush here

Originally Posted by Pem

Infant & Junior schools (or primary) are crying out for money and they go and waste it on this - madness.

the funds have already been agreed by the treasury

[neel2k]

Yay, I get free money!

[Xaccers]

In London, the means tested weekly allowances are between £5 and £30

So if your middle class but don't fancy staying on in education you get no incentive.
But if you're from a low income family, want to go on to college anyway, you get up to £30 a week.
And this is fair how?
Or is the goverment stating that only low income pupils drop out of education?

As Incog rightly pointed out, why give incentives for college education but not university?

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by kronas

lets not tar everyone with the same brush here

I didn't - but interesting that you assumed that .....

Originally Posted by kronas

the funds have already been agreed by the treasury

LOL - and pathetic they are too. FYI Kronas I am a governor at two local infant and junior schools and they are desperate for money

Originally Posted by kronas

its there to 'encourage' people to stay in education to achieve some qualifications until its too late.......the basic gist of it is that they want people to take there GCSE's A-levels to come out with something atleast.......

why is it that vocational training is not being considered as an option - 2 years at school/college doing A-levels is not addressing the skills shortage we have in this country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3643949.stm

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Pem

I wonder how much of this £30 week will go to the local boozers and drug dealers ...

Infant & Junior schools (or primary) are crying out for money and they go and waste it on this - madness.

Bloody good point - tried to rep you but I gotta spread it around a bit...

[Chris]

When will the liberal clique that has a stranglehold on our education system admit that 'progressive educationalism' has been a complete, unmitigated disaster from beginning to end and allow us to get back to a system that teaches responsibilities as well as rights, and tells pupils the things they need to know in order to function in both society and the workplace?

Over the last 30 years or more the classroom has been turned into a place where teachers 'facilitate' the educational journey of the pupil rather than actually standing up and telling them things. All the signals this system sends out tell the kids that if they don't want to bother, they don't have to. It's hardly surprising that large numbers of them get to the age of 16 and find that they really can't be bothered at all. And what are we doing about it now? Instead of addressing the root of the problem by investing in a decent education system for young children, we're bribing teenagers to stay in college. Great. We can't afford to provide free university eductaion, but we can afford to pay kids to turn up just long enough to get an attendance mark, before heading off to the local precinct to score some weed.

[downquark1]

I understand your points but I think you've got it the wrong way round.

Weed, booze etc. isn't something you do with spare cash, it's a lifestyle, if they didn't have this money it's likely they would work full time to get the money (or steal) - in which case the education will suffer if not make it impossible.

The parents will be unwilling to pay for this lifestyle and instead of sacrificing it until they've completed education they will leave and get a job.

In the more optimistic view: poorer parents maybe unwilling to keep them until they 'pull their weight'.

The population has the 'have now, pay later attitude' which explains the amount of debt these days.

[Maggy J]

Hmm! You do realise that mothers continue to get child benefit IF their child stays on at sixthform college don't you?So will the £30 per week be added to the £60 odd per child that arrives once a month?

Incog.

[downquark1]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Hmm! You do realise that mothers continue to get child benefit IF their child stays on at sixthform college don't you?So will the £30 per week be added to the £60 odd per child that arrives once a month?

Incog.

I forgot about that.