General Election Spotlight: How does each party envision the future of education?
Surveying the political landscape
Education has fallen to an all-time low on the list of voters’ top priorities, crowded out by concerns around the cost of living, health, and ‘the economy in general’. However, it is fundamental to all the above and unless it is seen as an investment for the future, education will remain, in the wise words of Sir Peter Lampl, ‘fallen off a cliff in terms of its political saliency.’
A sense of urgency to instill hope in our young people is also at an all-time low. Over the last fifteen years, young people’s happiness and confidence in their mental health has seen a significant decline and they are no longer chasing their dream jobs because of financial pressures and the need to get going immediately. This demands immediate action, and just as our economy, health service and ability to succeed as a country are tied to this next generation of workers, our young people’s ability to connect, contribute, access the best opportunities and thrive are tied to society creating the right circumstances for them.
Creating fulfilling futures for all young people
A recent YouGov poll for The Times found that only 10% of people think schools prepare pupils well for life, while over 70% of parents think the education system puts too little emphasis on preparing young people for work.
Despite this, a widespread belief across the sector is that none of the parties are making careers guidance a key part of their vision.
The Conservative Party manifesto alludes to a greater emphasis on careers preparation through the Advanced British Standard qualifications reform and an increase in apprenticeships but mentions neither careers guidance nor work experience explicitly.
Labour have certainly prioritised it more, vowing to provide a national jobs and careers service, and following through on their previous commitment to reintroduce two weeks of work experience for all young people, as announced by leader Sir Keir Starmer in his 2021 conference speech.
They have also committed to improving careers advice for all young people, but it is disappointing that their long-talked about mission to hire 1,000 additional careers advisers in schools is completely absent here.
Careers guidance is somewhat central to the Liberal Democrat manifesto and the party has pledged to ‘fix the skills and recruitment crisis by investing in education and training, including increasing the availability of apprenticeships and career advice for young people’, as well as strengthening ‘links with employers in schools and colleges’, but there is a significant lack of detail.
Targeting disadvantaged pupils, broadening the curriculum and providing mental health support
There is an increasing disadvantage gap across the UK, whether between state and private schools, or different geographical areas, and social mobility is at its worst in fifty years according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Whilst every manifesto includes policies that seek to address this there is a glaring disparity in approach, emphasis and commitment of resources.
The Conservatives may have pledged to allocate almost £3 billion next year via the pupil premium to support disadvantaged children but Schools Week point out that the increase would have happened anyway due to rising numbers of pupils on free school meals.
Meanwhile, Labour wants to develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty by working with the voluntary sector, faith organisations, trade unions, business, devolved and local government, and communities but beyond free breakfast clubs, there is minimal sense of what that could mean.
Only the Liberal Democrats have a set of policies that target the specific disadvantage attainment gap, which is at its highest in ten years. They have pledged to introduce a tutoring guarantee for children from low-income families who need extra help and triple the early years pupil premium to £1,000 to front-load support.
Zeroing in on work experience
As alluded to throughout, many of the proposed educational policies lack a detailed plan of implementation, sustained funding and evaluation, based on effective consultation with stakeholders across the sector.
With Work Experience for All at the heart of our own organisational mission, it’s naturally gratifying to see it still on The Labour Party’s agenda.
However, a commitment of two weeks is not enough, and any universal work experience programme must be of high quality and impact, make the system easy for everyone, be entirely evidence-based and adopt a local approach that responds to local needs.
Without those considerations and if rushed hastily, the whole endeavour risks becoming a tick-box-exercise that regenerates social inequality and therefore hits the target but misses the point.
You just need to look at when mandatory work experience existed before 2012 to see that without a proper system in place, work experience placements often fail to create tangible and transferrable skills, and securing one can rest on where you live or who your parents know.
It is fundamental that we move forwards, not backwards, in re-introducing such a potentially impactful policy, particularly when the modern landscape of work is constantly evolving.
We hope that the new government brings together local authorities, employers, training providers and unions to meet the skills needs of the next decade nationally and across all regions.
The Labour manifesto’s iteration of that is their plan to establish Skills England, and their wider plan to bring people across society into work will join together Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service.
Whilst potentially transformational in whatever form such a plan takes, it will require the expertise of stakeholders across the sector and a detailed understanding of best practice to succeed.
Any sustained funding model will also need to consider the wider range of mechanisms at the government’s disposal than is included in Labour’s manifesto.
Work experience and careers advice for all young people is one of several policies to come from the £1.5 billion raised from applying VAT and business rates to private schools, but there are several additional avenues where it could be sourced, like for example reforming the apprenticeship levy or pupil premium funding.
Whoever the next government is, we will continue to campaign passionately for quality universal work experience, as well as policies that expand careers guidance throughout the school, level up state schools and close the increasing disadvantage gap with private schools.
Taking an overall view of how the major political parties envision the future of education, it is abundantly clear that focus, funding and policy substance are all thin.
Moreover, there appears to be a serious lack of urgency in trying to rebuild an education system beset on all sides by critical and compounding issues. We sincerely hope that the next government comes to realise that education is the cornerstone of so much when seeking to transform a society.