Election 2019: Education leaders praise Labour's vow to reverse school cuts
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Education leaders have welcomed the Labour Party’s pledge to reverse cuts to the education system and offer free training to school leavers.
Launching the party’s election manifesto in Birmingham, Jeremy Corbyn promised to introduce a National Education System that would reinstate Sure Start centres, reduce class sizes and create 15,000 extra early years jobs.
The Labour leader vowed to provide 30 hours free childcare for all 2-4-year-olds, offer free training for early years workers, scrap primary school SATs and abolish Ofsted.
Free schools meals would be offered for all primary school pupils in a bid to tackle food poverty while school leavers would be entitled to free education up to Level 3 and six years’ free education to Level 4 - 6.
The Schools Cuts Coalition, made up of representatives from The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the National Education Union (NEU), welcomed the promise of investment in education.
The group praised the manifesto’s commitment to “dealing with the crisis in special needs provision and 16-19 education, as well as reversing the cuts to the pupil premium which provides schools with money to support disadvantaged children.”
Geoff Barton, ASCL general secretary said Labour’s funding commitment had the potential to be a “game-changer” for education.
“Not only does it reverse the cuts which have caused so much damage to our schools and colleges, but it recognises that funding has to be increased to a level which matches the basic expectations on schools.
“We have analysed what it costs to ensure that every school is able to deliver a core curriculum in a building that is safe and well maintained, put a qualified teacher in front of every class, and meet necessary pastoral, safeguarding and special educational needs requirements. This is what the public expects and children deserve, and we are delighted that Labour has incorporated this modelling into its funding plans,” Barton said.
NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney branded the manifesto “exciting” for parents and teachers.
“There are almost a million children in classes over 30. Many lessons are not led by qualified teachers. There are schools that are only open four and a half days a week. There is a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention.
“We don’t tell people who to vote for, but we do ask people to think about education when casting their vote,” he added.
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary said teachers and leaders had “seen first-hand the heart-breaking impact the cuts have had on individual children”.
“When teachers, leaders and parents go into the polling booth on December 12, education will be at the front of their minds,” he added.
Speaking separately, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes praised Labour’s “commitment to raising the base rate for 16-19 funding, offering a boost for adult and life-long learning, and the reintroduction of an education maintenance allowance”.
“Colleges transform the lives of 2.2 million people each year, in every part of the country, and Labour’s further education offer would help them to do even more,” he said.
Highlighting Labour’s plan to provide free training for post-16’s, Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe said: “AELP’s wish to see the needs of the ‘forgotten 50 per cent’ of school leavers with few or no qualifications has been answered by Labour’s commitment to a free entitlement for training up to level 3 and we welcome it very much.
“We are really pleased to see a promise to reform careers advice because in England there are fragmented and duplicated initiatives which frankly waste a great deal of taxpayers’ money.”