We should be developing schools more suited to the education needs of all kids which includes things like trade or vocational tech colleges for skills like carpentry, plumbing, building and electricians etc. We also need to be changing the perception that vocational trade skills are worth less than degrees or a PhD when in fact these are skilled trades in great demand (how can we build the social housing we need without them)
The truth is that if we bring up every school to the same standard you eliminate the situation of expensive catchment areas and a need for private schools. Doing that is a long term strategy that doesn't tie in with the 'now' politics used by parties to win elections.
Personally I would like to see education, social care and the NHS taken away from govt and run by a council of experienced non political (i.e not MPs) people. These services are needed by everyone and it baffles me why different counties have different policies or approaches for what should be a national service.
Agree with the above, and it's why I suggested the mechanisms I did upthread. Note, though, that the NHS, etc, *are now* largely run by bodies that aren't National Government. The snag is that they are hog-tied by the dogmas of 'outsourcings', 'pfi', etc, and both starved of money and vampired dry of what they get. This also explains why the details vary from place to place.
Analogy here with 'Social Housing'. Nominally local, but dominated by - largely out of sight - behaviour by National Government. e.g. who here has noticed that the National body that loans Government money for councils to borrow to build social housing has just more than doubled its interest rate? Thus throwing a spanner into plans by local councils to build more social homes for rent. There are parallels across funding areas with the way Thatcher required council homes to be sold off cheap, but then blocked councils even using the money towards build replacements. In effect, she took the credit, and the councils (and later people neeing a home) took the hit. Now look at, say, FE as a sector, and the hikes in charges by the OU, say, and see the same pattern.
Which comes back to my central point. That those with the most wealth and influence tend to buy their own way out, whilst supporting governments who cut taxes needed to pay for their education, health, etc. Until we tackle that root, the weeds will continue to grow, and just change their appearance to hide from view.
N.B. Should declare that many years/decades ago my better half did 'do time' on Health Councils / Boards and got to see what went on. She finally gave up trying to get them to change. FWIW I've just been mentioning this in outline on my 'biog' pages. I'd be surprised if it were much better even now, because this is all out of the sight of most people because they don't know how the game is played.