Education

 

None of the parties articulate concerns about different social groups who experience social inequality in relation to education, other than in broad terms like ‘disadvantaged pupils’. Only the Green Party and Plaid Cymru centre ‘fairness’ as a primary concern for education.

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None of the manifestos include any awareness of inequalities based on region, family composition or ethnicity in relation to education. The only specific dimensions of inequality mentioned are socio- economic, care-leavers, and occasional mention of Special Educational Needs provision.

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These manifestos centre, understandably, on the headline issues of child poverty, the physical integrity of schools in relation to the RAAC scandal, the teaching staff crisis, early years provision and the student loan system. These are certainly the most urgent issues affecting education in the UK. But it does not give confidence that these parties understand how to support an education system that supports people into flourishing lives in a range of different capacities, in the context of the climate crisis.

 

How the parties deal with Ofsted reform is a case in point. The tragic case of Ruth Perry’s suicide in the wake of a particularly poor but not unrepresentative school inspection has highlighted the punitive role Ofsted plays in the school system. Yet the Conservative manifesto promises only to ‘back Ofsted’s judgements’, and the Labour Party promises to ‘enhance the inspection regime with a new report card system’. Only the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party seek to respectively ‘reform’ and ‘abolish’ Ofsted.

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Costings are mostly speculative, even those backed by some form of data and Treasury statistics. For example, the Conservative manifesto claims it will fund its 100,000 new apprenticeship places by ‘closing down university courses with the worst outcomes for their students’. It doesn’t specify how many courses this refers to, how many students would be affected and what the cost saving would therefore be. However, the Labour and Conservative manifestos are the most thoroughly costed and evidenced. 

 

Comparing parties on specific issues highlights radical differences in how each party understands the challenges affecting education and therefore the solutions they propose. Broadly speaking, the Conservatives intend to maintain the academy trust, free school and private school as different types of school outside the control of local authority, while the Greens and Liberal Democrats would increase the funding and powers available to local authorities. Notably, of course, Labour (as well as the Greens, and Plaid Cymru) would apply VAT to private school fees to fund some of their investments. So whatever the challenge, it seems that the Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Plaid Cymru and the Labour Party intend to cooperate with the relevant sector and local authorities, while the Conservatives intend to launch specific initiatives and erode local authority control (Reform UK doesn’t mention local authorities at all). The capacity to deliver education for a flourishing life is a profoundly local endeavour, and undermining local authority powers over educational provision seems unlikely to work towards equity.

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In regards to higher education, policies are either alarmingly vague or vaguely alarming. The Conservatives plan to close down ‘underperforming’ university courses and use this to fund 100,000 new apprenticeships. For a government to ‘close down’ courses represents a substantial intervention into institutional autonomy, even if it is done at arm’s length through the Office for Students. Reform want to cut funding to ‘universities that undermine free speech’, but don’t specify what would constitute such ‘undermining’ or what funding stream would be cut or by how much, which is deeply alarming. However, they also intend to cancel interest on student loans but extend capital repayment from 30 to 45 years, two very specific proposals which could effectively cancel each other out. The Liberal Democrats and Labour are equally vague, promising respectively to ‘review higher education finance’ and deliver ‘a secure future for HE’, but at least promise to work with universities and the rest of the sector. Finally, the Green Party promises to scrap tuition fees, cancel graduate debt and restore the Education Maintenance Allowance, which sounds promising for equity of access but doesn’t come with a plan to establish alternative funding streams for universities. The funding system certainly needs reform to work towards equity and contribute to people’s abilities to lead flourishing lives, but it needs comprehensive reform in consultation with the sector, not the imposition of a couple of arbitrary interventions.

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