Hi
The problem is that the Gov insists that all money that was kept back for
advisory services goes into schools' budgets. Therefore the only way an LEA
can keep specialists is for schools to want to buy them in - if there is not
enough schools wanting to do that then they are unfortunately redeployed,
pensioned off or worse.
In other words my salary is in the hands of the Hampshire teachers and
schools and I survive by also bidding for external funding to do work, the 14
- 19 and vocational thrust is keeping me occupied and specialist schools etc,
so we limp along year by year. Like the curriculum on-line gripe schools
look for NC subjects or the latest DfES initiative for support and we have
never been in the picture however I guess as schools take the plunge and free
up of the KS4 curriculum other advisors who may have thought they were secure
may start to get worried. With the thrust of Enterprise Education etc it may
refocus business but in my experience once something is lost it rarely
returns so someone with a remote interest or bit of knowledge will probably
grab it to keep themselves in a job!
However those of us left still meet regularly so the National Association of
Advisors and Inspectors in Business and Economics Education (NAAIBEE) still
limps by each year. You may also be interested to know that Ofsted has gone
back to having specialist HMI and David Butler is HMI for Business and
Economics. Of all the current HMI we have 17 that have a business or
economics background and were connected to Bus/Econ in the good old days of
HMI. So there is hope shining through there. Also David Bell CHMI gave a
speech to Nth Eng Businesses in which business/econ and related areas was
high on the agenda.
So hang on in there the Phoenix may arise from the ashes.
Pam
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