Labour turns to education
After a day where the focus was on Iraq, Labour today is attempting to return the election campaign to its core message of education.
Speaking this morning, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said education was Labour’s “number one priority”.
Mr Blair said: “Education was the number one priority in 1997 and 2001. It is the number one priority now. The reality is if you want good schools, you have to vote for them.”
The Prime Minister said education was the “root to future economic success” and with the growth of China and India it was more important than ever that Britain made “the most of the greatest natural resource of all, the brain power of people.”
“A small country, we are the fourth largest economy in the world. An extraordinary achievement. We have to understand that only by maintaining and improving standards in education for all will we be able to maintain and improve our strength in the world economy.”
He told a press conference at a school in Kennington, South London, that a re-elected Labour government would continue to reform and invest in education – and Mr Blair said the Tories’ plans for a pupil’s passport would take investment out of the state sector.
Ruth Kelly said that one of the keys to educational success was new buildings, which “transform the feel of our schools” and “make parents proud to send their children to school”.
She highlighted the Budget’s promise of a mass refurbishment and rebuilding programme for the nation’s schools with a 15-year programme of rebuilding or refurbishing 50 per cent of all primary schools and all of the secondary school estate.
But the Conservatives are not being silent on education either. Controversial former head of Ofsted Chris Woodhouse is campaigning with Conservative candidates today, and Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins said that truancy was out of control.
According to Conservative figures, obtained from the DfES, 28,000 teaching hours were lost to truancy last year – an 11 per cent increase on the year before.
Mr Collins said: “Labour promised to cut truancy by a third. All talk. After countless initiatives and millions of pounds spent, the number of pupils truanting is actually up by a third.
“We will not turn a blind eye to this problem. The next Conservative government will give head teachers and their professional colleagues the responsibility and resources to draw up challenging lessons and courses that will engage children of all ages and abilities.
“We will also tackle the underlying problem of bullying. By giving head teachers full control over school discipline we will end the climate of fear that often scares children away from their classrooms.”
