Should parental considerations dominant political ones? That was clearly the dilemma faced by Cabinet Minister Ruth Kelly in choosing to send her dyslexic child to a £15,000 a year boarding school as there was so suitable local authority alternative.
If true, this admits a serious failing of educational provisions for children with special needs – and as a former Education Secretary, she would be aware of this more than anyone else. And did she give her local authority a chance to resolve the problem and find somewhere suitable, which is their statutory duty?
I am surprised we knew nothing about Ruth Kelly’s dyslexic child when she was Education Secretary, that she did not use her personal experiences to champion special needs schools.
Ruth Kelly would have been aware of the political backlash her decision was likely to cause, the double standards row that would erupt over Labour Ministers and private education. She cannot be the only parent who feels let down by the Government’s lack of special needs provision. Only they can’t afford private education. They want the best educational provision for their child too, but something closer to home, not a boarding school.
I wonder what Kate Griggs makes of this, she is a dyslexic who challenged Ruth Kelly during the last general election to raise awareness about the condition.
Do you feel Ruth Kelly made the right choice? It is certainly an embarrassment for the Government and does not show any confidence in their special needs policy.
Btw, famous dyslexics include Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Richard Branson and Albert Einstein.
Update: Croydonian has the info from Ruth Kelly’s local authority.
private schools will always be superior to state schools. ruth kelly recognises that and wants the best for her child. I see nothing wrong with this.
Interesting timing of this story given the potential row that was opened up this weekend between Camp Brown and Camp Blair…
Ellee, I smell a rat as she has been “outed” by a Sunday newspaper rather than voluntarily disclosed the information.
Would she want her other children to attend private schools if it wasn’t for her political background. As the beneficiary of a private edcuation herself, I’m sure she would love her other children to attend private schools!
It’s hypocritical that she opposed the Conservative “Pupil passport” policy that would have funded other parents whose children had “learning difficulties”!
Snafu,
Last thing I heard, the Conservatives were opposed to the Conservative “pupil passport” policy, too.
Tim, good point! But that’s only because they don’t want ‘riff raff’ going to private schools!;)
[…] Meanwhile, over at Ellee’s, an interesting article on the Ruth Kelly story. Worth checking out. […]
I am surprised we knew nothing about Ruth Kelly’s dyslexic child when she was Education Secretary, that she did not use her personal experiences to champion special needs schools.
That is what surprises me too Ellee. She was in a unique position to do something about it. Every parent wants to give their child the best education. If she feels that she can get the best possible education privately, then she is entitled to do so. I just wish she had done something about the rest of the country when she was Education Secretary
Andrew, Ruth Kelly was in a privileged position to help other parents struggling to find the best educational needs for their dyspraxic child and she let them down. She could have used her own personal experiences to improve what was on offer, especially at a time when parents were protesting about closures of special needs schools. She failed them big time.
Tim and Elle we have no idea what the Conservatives are doing on education as their policies are being drafted under David Willets . I have out some points up on Dale and I know these isshhoooz are of concern to teachers and I also happen to know that are not un-looked at by David Willets .
On Labour hypocrites well its all been said so often …how can they? How can they ?
Dislexic is a well known description of a stupid child and until I see proof otherwise I will assume that this was the problem.Shame I actually quite liked la Kelly in some ways
Hi Ellee
Hope you are well .
I am sorry but there are more needy children out there that require SEN places than one suffering from dyslexia. Many children suffer from physical and mental health issues, they would benefit from a state funded place in a private school. Dyslexia can be supported in mainstream education with the help of support staff, something that many parents have to fight hard to get for their children as they do not have the resources to send them to private schools.
A bit of a tricky one this. I understand RK’s point of view on wanting the best educational needs for her child.
However, given that she was education sec and nu-lab have systematically reduced and closed a number of SEN schools, it does smack of hypocrisy given her government and party’s position. For that reason, I believe she should go, but not for wanting the best for her child. A lot of parents want this but aren’t afforded with the same opportunities as RK.
Had she of highlighted the issue sooner and made a positive stance and in-roads into resolving the SEN situation then that’s another story. Money talks!
Teri, All parents the best education for their kids. And yes, money talks, but so does power and influence and she had both of those when she was Education Secretary. She could have made her mark her. I find it quite extraordinary that it has never been mentioned before that she has a dyslexic child, I wonder if she discovered this common ground with Kate Giggs who felt compelled to stand as an election candidate to raise the plight of dylexics.
Buster George, You are absolutely right about children with other special needs. My personal knowledge/experience is that local authorities avoid making a diagnosis that confirms anything they have to act on because it costs them money,it means they have to acknowledge a child has a difficulty which they prefer to ignore. This is particularly the case with children who are considered border line, so their condition most likely worsens.
Elle, I’m not so sure that she did discover her common ground wit Kate Giggs. Surely she would have made an impact as you say with her power and influence. Sadly not.
Buster, I don’t agree that a child suffering with dyslexia is less deserving than a child with mental health or behavioral issues of a place in a SEN school. All children dealing with Learning Disabilities should have the opportunity of a well run, well provided for and teacher experienced SEN School.
This would also benefit children in mainstream schools and probably reduce class size.
We don’t have teachers who are really equipped to deal with SEN children of any disability in mainstream. Add the fact of having to deal with Benchmarks and SLA’s coupled with further excessive red tape and paperwork, is it any wonder the education system is in a mess?
Teri, Thank you for raising the difficulties faced by teachers. It is a terrible failing for our young people with special educational. All disabilities need to be addressed too. I’m sure teachers wish the situation was different, they already have tremendous pressures, as you have pointed out, it’s the structure that is wrong.
Ellee, what you say is true of local authorities being reluctant to make choices that could cost them money.
Teri, it is an unfortunate truth that due to increased paperwork demanded of teaching staff, schools are required to allocate more staff time to completing paperwork and personal assesments. this requires many schools to hire support staff to cover the time spent by teachers doing paperwork. meaning less funding to actualy use in teaching pupils, coupled with the closure of many SEN schools, this means that we must make difficult choices. Not an Ideal way of doing things I agree but this is what we have been left with under the Labour government.
It is interesting to note from the ofsted report for Ruth Kelly’s constituency that SEN schools showed no areas of weakness.
Elle
Have a look at this site. It gives details about how diagnosis of dyslexia can made at what type of age. I roughly estimate RK’s son to be about 9 years old.
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00224.html
So why did it take so long? Poor education? Sub standard parenting? My question is why didn’t the education sec of 18 months and parent to her son of nine years miss his learning difficulties? New labour as
we say up here in the North – MY Arrrrse!
Buster – thanks for the link.
So why wasn’t the school good enough? I mean Ofsted claim there’s not an issue with the SEN teaching in the Bolton LEA. So why fork out 15k on a private school when a mainstream school is good enough?
I wonder how many other Ofsted reports proport to the same findings in other labour lead constituencies. Could there be Ofsted hotspots as well as NHS hotspots? Can of worms I feel.
Sorry – I meant purport. Dam Anmeisa.
I have sympathies for Ruth Kelly, but what would be her opinion of private schools had her child not had this problem?
It’s a case of “Do I sacrifice my child for my principles or my principles for my child?”. To me, the answer is clear. If you are a socialist you should fight for the state provision to be improved, not remove your child from it. If the articulate and informed parents just remove their children from the system, what hope is there?
Pathetic. What little faith she has in her own beliefs. Tony Benn would turn in his grave.
She oversaw the cutting of the number of specilaist schools. The hypocrisy is incredible.
Imagine DC not sending his kids to Eton!
I don’t understand those who think that State schools would somehow be better if attended by the children of people who can afford private education.
They have paid, through tax, for many places in State schools and have then generously donated them to people who can’t afford anything else.
They are benefactors and the only correct response to them is “thank you.” Reflect calmly and I think you will find that anything else you want to say to them is merely driven by envy.
Thank you Ruth, in your capacity as a parent. As for your performance as a Minister, I am afraid that’s a different matter.
Ellee, isn’t it somewhat ironic that both Sir Winston Churchill and Sir Richard Branson attended private schools!?!
cityunslicker – what grave is tony benn in?
The point for me is not that a Labour minister (we expect it of Tories) has sent one of her children to private school but that she can actually afford the fees.
For a long time the majority of the Labour Left have accepted that you cannot ban private education and Ruth Kelly certainly hasn’t advocated banning it, so she is not a hypocrite.
State schooling is still not good enough but that doesn’t mean that Labour haven’t improved it. Labour have improved it and it is still improving, no mattter where politicians send their children.