Why is no one talking about education? | thearticle

We’re less than a month away from election day, and the two major parties are still yet to reveal their manifestos to the voting public. Brexit dominates and important matters of state are

sidelined. Education is foremost among these. The past decade has seen profound changes in primary and secondary schooling, and it is fascinating to consider what could be achieved in the

next decade. Here is my breakdown of what should be included in a great manifesto for British schools. Let me put my cards on the table — I don’t trust Corbyn with education. I’ve written

previously about his misguided views on scrapping SATs HERE, and the idea of scrapping and absorbing private schools is ideological pettiness. The unintended consequences would be enormous,

not just in this, but in many of his ideas. Take, for example, his line about investing in the arts so that every child is taught to play a musical instrument. It’s a noble goal and one that

we would all love to see become reality. But this romantic view of education reveals his naivety about what is actually going on in British schools. There are more fundamental issues that

merit attention. Too many schools have failed in teaching pupils basic reading skills, leading to a crisis in literacy that has plagued primary schools for decades. Phonics, the empirically

proven superior method of teaching basic reading, is still battling to be the de jure method of reading instruction at a time when a disturbing number of pupils are entering secondary school

still unable to read. Up to 20 per cent of pupils are leaving secondary school functionally illiterate. Too many schools fail to uphold good standards of behaviour, which can make teaching

impossible. Lessons where teachers can’t get pupils to stop talking, or put their phones away, or not bully each other on the corridors. The Department for Education has hired Tom Bennett as

its behaviour adviser — it is only the Conservatives have shown any willingness to tackle this issue. A good manifesto, like a good teacher, will concentrate on the basics before the

complex. “Offer everyone £1,000 if you win,” Dad would say, “and they’ll definitely vote for you.” And so it is with democracy. All parties want to spend more on housing, the living wage,

the police, and of course education. And yet, the Tories have overseen an 8 per cent reduction in spending per pupil since 2009, something that Johnson is eager to address. However, we

should remember that, when it comes to education, spending isn’t everything. Tony Blair, for example, doubled education investment from £40 billion to £80 billion in his time as prime

minister. But during that time, international comparisons of pupil attainment showed that, relative to other countries, British secondary school performance had flat-lined. Non-specific cash

injections of taxpayer money, appealing as they might sound, do not address structural errors in a system. I certainly wouldn’t shun more investment in schools, but I’d pause to question

where the money’s going. I have worked in secondary schools with brand new, multi-million-pound facilities, but which were riddled with behavioural issues and an unhealthily high turnover of

staff. Too many schools have wasted their money — they have used it to decorate mediocrity. If you must increase the burden on the taxpayer, then hire more teachers and pay them more. This

would reduce class sizes and incentivise more staff to join and stick around. And finally, allow experienced and innovative teachers to open more academies, especially free schools. Though

inevitably some fail to meet the mark, many, such as the Michaela Community School in Wembley, are performing transformational work in the education of disadvantaged children. This has only

been possible thanks to Michael Gove’s reforms of 2010. Unburdened from decades of decline, experienced under the thumb of local authorities, these schools have emphasised numeracy and

literacy. And if Corbyn gets in, he’ll just try to scrap them all.