Read on Twitter
If you are based in Scotland, and interested in education policy across the UK, going on Twitter is currently like being in a well-known film.
There is such a good comparative paper to be written about all this at some point. Friday = govt hunkers down and a Labour petition.
There is such a good comparative paper to be written about all this at some point. Friday = govt hunkers down and a Labour petition.
Except in Wales, where a Labour petition would clearly be odder.
Friday also = demonstration day. https://twitter.com/ExpressandStar/status/1294273499025022982?s=20
The comparative study someone some day should write should note differences in demos. In Scotland, they looked more organic (no printed posters) and focussed absolutely on the students (I don’t think there were calls from demonstrators for sacking at that point, just a solution).
This might be where the study starts to consider the different political trajectories. In Scotland the government in charge is strongly supported in the affected age group, in England the opposite is true, and that starts to come through in what goes on posters and in slogans.
In England this plays into a larger feeling among young people that the govt is failing them, while in Scotland the stronger narrative is that the govt values young people, against which this jars. (Please don’t @ me about policy content, my interest here is just attitudes.)
So even leaving aside parliamentary arithmetic, and more imminent election here, the pressures on governments are different. SG is trying to avoid bad damage to a successful relationship with young people, UKG has little left to lose with that group (but more with their parents?)
So while events so far look very similar, to the day, the conditions for a policy reversal were more favourable here (Discuss.) and how far events in England go the same way from here on is unpredictable. And I’m sorry I’ve left out Wales, which is also the same, and different.
The problem with this analysis is that it’s 4 days early. It may yet prove to be correct about the difference in response, but the proper cyclical comparison today would be with the position in Scotland last Saturday. Pieces like this work from Tuesday. https://twitter.com/AngusRobertson/status/1294532604444782592?s=20
I don’t think SG did a “myth-busting blog”, though that is something they have done with other policies facing a lot of criticism. https://twitter.com/educationgovuk/status/1294305114195472385?s=20
The comparative study will also need to consider that the impact on university entry was more acutely concentrated in England, while in Scotland it was spread more over two years (and may affect 2021 as much as 2020). https://twitter.com/AileenMcHarg/status/1294627246620192772?s=20
Other emerging divergences: problems over appeals advice issued by the body overseeing exams in England; a reported split in its board (nothing like this emerged from SQA); door-stepping of education cabinet minister by media. https://twitter.com/JamWaterhouse/status/1295047340877914113?s=20
Calls for resignation paralleled. Government backbench unease wasn't reported here. It's more salient with a majority government, but not clear if it's on a sufficicent scale to have any impact. Equivalent here was criticism from all opposition parties. https://twitter.com/Sathnam/status/1295116966160670721?s=20
Not really meant to be here but as it's lunchtime and the parallels/differences here are so compelling ... Monday was also the day in Scotland that the possibility of some sort of reversal started to be hinted at (though a bit more directly than this). https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1295315376310452224?s=20
In Scotland, we saw a minority government being challenged by all the opposition parties; in England, with majority govt, govt backbenchers playing more visible role. Political dynamics different again in Wales - a coalition, with education brief held by minor party (LibDems)?
It would be quite something if three different administrations, covering 4 parties, all facing the same criticism for trying the same solution to the same problem made the same U-turn at exactly the same point in the story (also known as the Monday after) https://twitter.com/whazell/status/1295317385080115201?s=20
The political power of a weekend ...
I'd really like to hear from a Scottish university admissions person about why there's been less angst here about the effects on that aspect. The reasons I've seen suggested from people south of border don't feel quite right.
I'd really like to hear from a Scottish university admissions person about why there's been less angst here about the effects on that aspect. The reasons I've seen suggested from people south of border don't feel quite right.
Seen suggested smaller system here (but instns are just as variable in size?), we're losing overseas students (but no more than Eng?); we export to rUK (but not many in fact; we're a substantial net importer of UK students); lots of Highers ppl won't enter till 2021(most likely?)
Best technical explanation looks likely to be that many Scottish student admissions were already in bag from last year's Highers & this is bringing out is how much more the English system works on a knife edge between exams and start of term. (May be a small p political one too.)
Are Scottish HEIs more inclined to take a can-do line because the relationship with govt is different? Specifically in this case they are relying on govt finding extra cash for extra admissions, while extra fee subsidy via loan will materialise automatically down south.
So it looks like England will have conceded a day sooner than Scotland (which waited till the Tuesday) but having had the early warning from north of border the week before and (I think) a larger, and so more acute, problem with university admissions. https://twitter.com/RosieDBennett/status/1295336587597840386?s=20
I'd call that a score draw, in terms of government handling, with own goals on both sides.
Northern Ireland and Wales still to play out. https://twitter.com/speyquine/status/1295340150004887555?s=20
Such a good comparative study to write here, on how sensitivities round end of school exams have played out so similarly (but not identically) in different political contexts. It's called something like "Ten Days in August" for zing, but also needs to cover the months before.
And then a sequel on the aftermath, and why we didn't hear this about the same decision in Scotland last week, and what different conversations may or may not have been going on with universities behind the scenes in each nation. https://twitter.com/richardmorrisuk/status/1295337876075536385?s=20
And something about how each govt's (identical) decision was treated: balance of credit-for-changing-mind-let's-move-on/right-decision-should-still-pay-for-it/terrible-decision coverage/reaction. Feels at moment like SG will get more of 1st, bit less of 2nd(?), much less of 3rd.
If that's proved right (it's no more than how it feels just now), there will also be something interesting to write about why identical decisions in near-identical circumstances were received differently. Political halo effects (and their opposite)? Differences in party support?
Very hard for Northern Ireland not to move also. https://twitter.com/fergusboden/status/1295352431254147073?s=20
Another way of looking at it, but I think it's fair to allow the people hacking their way through this first a couple of days' advance start. https://twitter.com/fergusboden/status/1295347085894651905?s=20
When this thread started, looked far from certain that there'd be a reversal in England or Wales (and same was true in Scotland a week before). Some Scottish govt people thought it so unlikely that they risked articles and tweets which have been overtaken in 3 days./
Worth recording that, before "it was always inevitable" takes hold. Pressures here have been unprecedented, processes flawed (not least through lack of openness), what the public (at least the bits engaging with this) would most want misjudged. But govts looked pretty dug in./
I think it mattered that this erupted first in Scotland, with a govt more sensitive to the youth vote (from 16, here, remember), an imminent election, a larger social class gap in the results and a stronger domestic political narrative that we care about those things.
But everyone was caught off-guard by how much they had failed to listen to early warnings from within the education system about what was planned and (my view) failing to identify an emergency where openness and building cross-party consensus might help.
Right now, I'd say it's likely we're going to have more of those in the next year or two, and one thing governments might take from this week is that there is only so much you can safely do from within a bunker in such exceptional circumstances.
Can anyone working in university admissions in Scotland explain why we didn't (appear to) see concerns like this in Scotland last week? Same effect should have been possible. https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1295377047452364800?s=20
The gulf in levels of distress being expressed over the effect on university admissions of the exam policy reversal is looking like one of the most remarkable differences in two otherwise similar stories.
Except for viewers in Scotland? I am really puzzled why we weren't getting this a week ago. Someone who follows me must know. https://twitter.com/AndyYouell/status/1295378205969453057?s=20
Could be this, except that Scots/EU students are separately capped. But I guess Edinburgh (say) could physically fit in more Scots as long as SG funded, and admit fewer rUK later through clearing (but at a price, rUKs bring more £s). https://twitter.com/ChrisEKennedy/status/1295384923184955393?s=20
Has UKG been less willing to let institutions just sort it out and take people? I wonder if govt fear about some universities scooping recruits from others is having an impact on universities' freedom to act, as much as space constraints? Feels possible. https://twitter.com/3pSteve/status/1295384954440949764?s=20
Did this just not happen to anyone in Scotland last week? I've not seen a story like this here.
Are per-course physical (or staffing) space constraints greater in England? Would be surprising, given more generous £s/student in England in recent years. Scottish HEIs ate up spaces they had been holding for rUKs in clearing?
I'm very interested in how far the lack of room for manoeuvre is down to space/staffing, and how far to the re-introduction of caps this year, and how (in?)flexible the UKG has been round that.
Also if Edinburgh et al have dealt with physical/staffing constraints by taking lots of extra Scots and reducing places in clearing for rUKs, we ought to start getting more stories about people losing places at Scottish HEIs like the Durham one above. Not seeing those yet.
When the SG last week more or less said it was putting out extra places, this wasn't the reaction. It's superficially explained by block grant for teaching here - but you still need to fill your places. It clearly wasn't seen as a risk of a free for all. https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1295362387869077504?s=20
So somehow or other, cap here was loosened *enough* without freaking out people frightened they'd lose out on necessary recruitment in clearing. Really worth unpicking how and why that difference occurred, its relationship to funding models and to more post-qual admissions here.
