A Step Backwards for Education: The Dangers of Labour’s Schools Bill
This month, I want to talk about education.
The Government’s Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently going through Parliament will have a detrimental impact on schools, children and parents across North West Essex.
Whilst some of the wellbeing measures build on the previous Conservative Government's proposals, like a national register of children not in school, MPs across the house have serious concerns about this bill.
The proposed changes to education are a reversal of reforms, built on decades of cross-party agreement, that have made the English education system one of the best in the world. The OECD’s PISA tests show how England has surged ahead in recent years while Scotland and Wales, which pursued the kind of policies Labour now proposes, have stagnated or declined. Between 2009 and 2022, England rose from 21st to 7th in maths, from 19th to 9th in reading, and maintained a strong position in science.
This Labour Government seeks to dismantle the very system that drove this success, driven by a belief that ministers are best placed to make decisions on how schools operate, not the teachers and school leaders themselves. Following pressure from school leaders with support from Conservatives, the bill has already been amended to prevent an effective pay cut for 20,000 academy teachers. However, it still restricts academies like Joyce Frankland in Newport from hiring talented professionals from non-traditional backgrounds like the armed forces or professional sports. Worse, it imposes the same national curriculum on academies, stripping them of the freedoms that enabled innovation and responsiveness to local needs.
This is educational vandalism. Labour is undoing years of progress for ideological reasons, dragging us back to a rigid, one-size-fits-all system. Teachers, parents, and students will be the ones impacted by the consequences. As MP for North West Essex and Leader of the opposition I am working with colleagues to protect the hard-won achievements of our education system and ensure that every child has the opportunities they deserve.
Please continue to write to me on this and any other issue.
