Dan Harrison, History at Worcester College
Education, Education, Education 52
Tony Blair was right to argue in 1997 that Labour’s three priorities for government should be the three referred to in the title of this article. Although the former West German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, said that those who have a vision need to see a doctor, I believe we suffer from a poverty of ambition in politics.
Politicians on the right seek power to neutralise threats, to stabilise nations and to safeguard continuity and conservatism against the sweeping winds of change. For the left this is not enough. Change, renewal, progress - they must be continually flowing, building momentum and tearing down barriers and walls. This is why Keir Starmer must put reforming our education system at the heart of his agenda for government in 2024. It is only through an education system fit for the twenty first century that we will build a fairer, more equal and more just society.
The Labour Party has a strong record on education, one to defend and be proud of. Our party created the modern comprehensive school system, The Open University and in 1997 rescued crumbling schools from degradation. At the time, education spending was at a historic low and Labour set out to improve the capacity and quality of the education system. There was a significant programme of modernisation of the entire school building stock and, critically, funding was redistributed towards schools in disadvantaged areas. Education spending increased by 78% from 1997 to 2010 and for all those who ceaselessly bemoan that ‘Labour crashed the economy’ with its profligate spending, this was money well targeted and well spent. A report by the LSE in 2013 found that "attainment (in England’s schools) overall increased and socio-economic gaps were reduced on every measure". As well as this, The Financial Times analysed GCSE results between 2006-2010 and found that poorer children had closed the educational attainment gap on children from wealthier backgrounds. In response to this study, Professor Simon Burgess, a Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol, said that, “declining social mobility is not an immutable force, but can be changed. Indeed, it seems that it was changed by the education policies of the previous (Labour) government."
So Starmer has a record to build on, but Labour has unfinished business when it comes to investing in and reforming our education system. Inequality is still deeply rooted in our schools. The proportion of students achieving AAA or higher at A-Level is nearly twice as high in the South East of England as it is in the North East. Even before that, by the time they sit their GCSEs, the average pupil on free school meals is academically two years behind the average pupil who is not. Admittedly, when Labour was last in government, it did not do enough to tackle some of the underlying causes of inequality in educational attainment, such as income inequality. Whilst the NHS and social care system have deservedly been showered with praise for their pandemic response, it has felt at
