Blair still passionate about education
In a speech in London, the Prime Minister has said that he is still passionate about improving education.
Speaking to the Fabian Society ahead of the publication of the five-year education plan on Thursday, Tony Blair set the scene for the plan by asserting that education remains his passion and his personal priority for this Government.
He said: “Education goes to the heart of all we stand for as a party, and everything we are doing – and need still to do – to make a Britain a fairer and more equal society.”
“Low aspiration and failure at school was one of Britain’s great social blights of the late 20th century. Under Labour it is being systematically overcome.
“We have delivered – and are continuing to deliver – our pledge to raise standards.”
Despite the achievements – and he cited better numeracy and literacy standards as well as exam improvements – Mr Blair said the Government is not satisfied with the status quo.
Going forward he said the party needed to be “bold and radical” and needed to understand that excellence and equity were not in conflict. “In terms of practical policy it is the most socially egalitarian position any Labour government has ever espoused” he said.
Mr Blair contested the view amongst some on the right wing that “more means worse”, describing this as a cap on aspiration. And he pledged not to extend selection or subsidise parents who wanted to send their children to private school.
He also pledged to help good schools to become better and paid tribute to the success of specialist schools, describing them as the “single most dynamic force for change in our secondary schools.”
Mr Blair said it was time to move beyond the phase of comprehensive education – not through selection – but by providing an education system that offered choice and opportunity for personalisation.
He refused to back away from controversial aspects of his education policies, like tuition fees, saying: “Progressive governments only succeed if they are up to the tough challenges.”
“It is our readiness to take on the difficult challenges – not duck them – which underscores our resolute determination to extend good education to every community, particularly those failed or badly served in the past.”
Labour, he said, would not accept the “entrenched three-tierism of the past: excellence for a minority, mediocrity for the majority, outright failure at the bottom. But to make success the norm: every school funded and empowered to succeed, so that every young person has the personalised learning to develop their talents to the fullest extent.”
Contrasting Labour with the Conservatives, he said: “We will not extend selection by ability, either at five or eleven. We want parents to choose schools, not schools choose parents.
“We will not subsidise or pay the fees of those who choose to be educated privately. Every penny of our education spending will be devoted to the state system, so that there are more good schools among which all parents can choose – including academies and other new schools run by independent sponsors in the state system on the basis of all-ability admissions and fair funding.”
Mr Blair said that all schools will be guaranteed three year budgets and there will be proposals to expand the number of places at popular schools. There would be a continuing role for Local Education Authorities, despite greater independence for schools. LEAs would continue to have critical responsibilities in holding schools to account for performance, and he urged them to be bold about making change.
David Hart, general secretary of the NAHT, welcomed Mr Blair’s comments. He said: “NAHT strongly supports more freedom for head teachers to run their schools free from local control. Three-year budgets, with no money syphoned off to fund needless bureaucracy, will be music to the ears of head teachers who want to plan the future of their schools on a much firmer basis than at present.
“I back the Prime Minister’s vision for the Education Service of the future. It stands a much better chance of raising standards for all pupils than the half-baked plans for parental choice and selection, which are pedalled by those who want to see the return of an elite system, that will be so damaging to the very pupils and parents it seeks to benefit.”
