Times are grim for the shadow cabinet. With the Tories seemingly running amok, it is clear from all sides of the Labour party that 2012 must see the revival of our party as one of alternative government. Leading that charge – with bold and radical approaches not unlike those found in Blair’s governments – is the shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg.
Today he unveiled a series of promises to bring Britain’s youth the very highest standard of education. Through Labour’s ‘School to Work’ review, Twigg pledges to work with universities, businesses and teachers to tackle Britain’s education problems. It is, as he suggested, time to realise the transition from ‘working class to world class’.
The shadow education secretary is right to say he will ‘never apologise’ for our remarkable impact on schools while in government. Like Lord Mandelson in The Purple Book, Twigg is not one to shy away from praising the electoral or policy success of the New Labour project. Heralding the investment in the ‘SureStart generation’, and citing the increase in the number of teachers, the thousands of new children’s centres and the ‘relentless’ literacy and numeracy tuition, Twigg suggests that when it comes to education policy, Labour now must be even more radical than our New Labour predecessors.
Perhaps the most striking example of this is Twigg’s desire for cooperation and integration between local businesses and schools. I can already hear the reactionary left grinding their teeth in anger. More importantly than what the left of the party think, though, is what the electorate think – and what more perfect commitment to community is there than a link between the worlds of work and education? Forget the ‘big society’: this is community-driven politics at its most progressive.
Twigg notes we still treat schools like ‘factories’. This era of ‘production line’ education is over; in the 21st century it is the Labour party who must lead the way in connecting the modern labour movement with a modern education community.
It is a broad and intensely bold suggestion to extend school hours – but it comes with a much-needed realism about the state of 2012 Britain. Acknowledging no doubt the negativity surrounding youth gang culture, particularly in a response to last year’s riots, Twigg sets out plans to make the school day longer to ‘take young kids off the streets’. Bizarre suggestion? Not really. To ready students for the world of work – after all, that is the challenge of any government in the near future – requires tough action. The electorate will be only too pleased to see it. Labour must, as both a movement and a party, offer youth the opportunity of a life better than their parents’. The coalition government is in danger of destroying that promise of aspiration.
Twigg knows that, which is why he suggests that this ‘Age of Austerity’ can be transformed into an ‘Age of Aspiration’, starting with our schools, the foundation of future society. It is about continuing the work laid down by the previous Labour government; improving exam results year after year, closing the gap between the poor and the wealthy and moving classes into buildings and out of the ‘portakabins’ the 1980s Tory party left them in.
Twigg’s impressive manoeuvre is vital to our chances of electoral success. Positioning himself on the side of parents as well as children (which child wouldn’t love to learn not in a standard classroom, but a ’21st century hub of innovation’?), the shadow education secretary has taken the mature and sensible approach to instilling optimism in the Labour ranks – and more importantly in the education system. Over to you, Mr Gove.
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Alex White is a member of Progress and tweets @iamalexwhite
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Central is to abolish the tiering of GCSEs in maths and science which leads to too many people taking foundation levels, killing off any aspiration in these key subjects because it stops them from doing any engineering or scientific study in the 6th form at least in most schools.
It is a throw-back to Keith Joseph’s gritted teeth acceptance of merging CSE and O-levels in the 1980s. Whether this was meant to keep the thickos in the comprehensives in their rightful place, was an oversight or was just plain stupidity I leave you to judge.
The Labour government in 13 years certainly promoted a lot of investment in schools which has had a lot of benefits, particularly at primary level, but tarred that brush by not removing this covert 13+. At least in the past, kids could take both CSE and O-levels – they can’t even do that with tiering as the exams are sat at the same time and the higher paper contains the foundation questions.
To make matters worse, it then used the point rewards on top which meant that schools would be rewarded for the 5 ‘good’ GCSEs which included foundation C’s.
This approach has particularly affected boys and is probably one of the main causes why only half the number of children study a science A level compared to Scotland where they have been a little slower in crippling their young people.
The solution is obvious and very cheap – set a total exam paper with all questions in it but those children who have not made the grade to the higher level are told not to answer certain sections. On the other hand, those in whom enlightenment has occur and have been given extra tuition or who have stopped smoking behind the bike sheds etc can attempt the questions if they want to.
We patronise children too much – they are not stupid at all but we need to help them aspire to the their ambitions. It Stephen Twigg is serious, this error must be acknowledged and corrected in the Labour policy.