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All of the traditional professions are under siege from pressures ... police, doctors, teachers, and the cracks are showing, either in service levels, audits or personal strains. Of the latter, the constant changes of strategy, methods, measurements and budgets are making the education professionals subject to a greater degree than before a set of finance-pawns who are also expected to fill a gap in social mores left by some parents, maybe a minority, who fail to direct or elevate their children and whose self-created vacuum have led to the need for the Scarborough Pledge programme. As we reveal this week, the national budgeting process for education is about to undergo major surgery - the figures might not turn out to be as severe as currently projected but they are part of a deliberate shift in budget priorities and types of education, as the Education Secretary alluded to on her recent visit.