Children will study creative subjects to boost their confidence as public speakers under a Labour schools shake-up to “tear down barriers”.
Leader Keir Starmer promised major reforms to the school curriculum yesterday and vowed to “shatter the class ceiling” holding ordinary kids back.
In a highly personal speech, Mr Starmer told how seeing his toolmaker dad feel “looked down upon” and “disrespected” because of his job had pushed him to end the academic/vocational divide.
He vowed to break the link between young people’s success and their parents’ earnings with an overhaul of the curriculum and a boost for skills reform.
Pupils would be encouraged to study sport, art, music and drama throughout their schooling to help boost confidence and communication skills, and ensure disadvantaged kids do not miss out.
State schools would also teach pupils how to speak fluently and clearly to help them get ahead and end the “short sighted” focus on writing and reading, Mr Starmer said in Gillingham, Kent.
He said primary schools would teach digital skills to prepare kids for the future. But he argued it was not a binary choice between learning out-of-date IT and forcing every child to be a coder.
The plan to boost opportunity is the last of the Labour leader’s five “missions” for government.
It is also a “personal cause” for Mr Starmer, who was the first in his family to go to university.
He said when growing up in a working class family in the 1970s: “There was a sense that enterprise, hard work and imagination would be rewarded, that – even in tough times – this would see us through, and that things would get better for families like ours.
“The question is, do we still believe it? Do you look around our country today and believe – with the certainty you deserve – that Britain will be better for you or your children? Because you should.”
He added: “I promise you this: whatever the obstacles to opportunity, wherever the barriers to hope, my Labour Government will tear them down. And as with all our missions, we’ll do so spurred on by clear and measurable goals that we will change Britain, and break the link between where you start in life and where you end up.
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“We can measure that. The earnings of our children should not be determined by those of their parents.”
Labour will draw up a new national skills blueprint and replace the unpopular apprenticeship levy, which businesses complain does not work.
Mr Starmer also promised to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis in schools with £2,400 bonuses for newly qualified teachers to stop the exodus from the classroom.
Labour would recruit more than 6,500 teachers to ease staffing shortages - and ensure pupils are taught by specialists in key subjects.
The party is expected to fund recruitment and retention plans though cash clawed back by axing taxing breaks for private schools, which Labour believes will raise at least £1billion.
It will also use these funds to invest in interventions to improve speaking skills among children.
Mr Starmer accused the Tory Government of not caring about school standards, which are “the most fundamental front line in the battle for more opportunity”.
Mr Starmer said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had “given up on education reform” by abandoning Covid catch up plans and leaving struggling schools to battle with staff shortages and crumbling buildings. Mr Sunak has repeatedly spoken of his dream to see children study mathematics until they are 18, but the bitter pay dispute with teaching unions has overshadowed wider schools policy.
Mr Starmer refused to commit to a 6.5% pay rise for struggling teachers, who are taking their seventh day of nationwide industrial action in England today.
He said “we’ll have to wait and see” what the independent pay review body proposes for teachers, which is believed to be a 6.5% wage hike.
However the Government has refused to publish the findings and has signalled that it could offer lower pay increases than recommended.
Mr Starmer was also asked why none of his five missions focus explicitly on stamping out child poverty.
He insisted Labour was as “laser focused on poverty” as when Tony Blair was in charge, saying: “Getting rid of poverty is the foundation in which these missions sit. The resolve to deal with poverty is just as great for an incoming Labour government as it was in the last Labour government.”
The speech was cautiously welcomed by unions, who said clarity on investment in education was vital after years of Tory cuts.
NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “Teachers will be looking to a future government that can demonstrate it understands the deep systemic challenges within the education system and is committed to taking action to end the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.”
NAHT leader Paul Whiteman said there was “much here we would welcome” but warned that “a world class education system requires sufficient funding and resources”.
Free school meals still not on the menu
Keir Starmer has resisted calls to offer free school meals for all primary school children.
The Labour leader said there was a “healthy debate” raging over expanding school lunch provision in England, as splits emerge in his own party.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and metro mayors Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan support the move, while a recent poll found 89% of Labour members want primary pupils to get free school meals regardless of income.
Labour wants to offer breakfast clubs instead but there is a growing clamour from MPs and trade unions to put free school meals in the manifesto.
Mr Starmer refused to back the idea yesterday due to cost, saying Labour was “constrained” by the economic havoc wreaked by the Tories. Quizzed on the issue by the Mirror at a Q&A session in Gillingham, Kent, Mr Starmer said: “This is a healthy debate in the country and in the Labour Party. Obviously a number of councils, and in Wales, and mayors have committed to it.
“We’ve taken a different route, which is to go down the route of breakfast clubs and other structured support rather than go down that route.
“Of course, we want to move forward but we are constrained by the economics and we are constrained also by this question about whether this is the best targeting of the resources that we’ve got.”
The Mirror and the National Education Union are campaigning for universal provision in primary schools.
At present, children qualify for free lunches after the end of Year 2 if their families receive certain benefits. Around 800,000 children living in poverty miss out due to the harsh criteria.
