They contain little which is new but much that is potentially highly damaging
Sir Keir Starmer is into his fifth and final “national mission”, a deliberate counterpoint to Rishi Sunak’s five pledges. The Labour leader has so far outlined policies on the economy, energy, the NHS and crime that are intended to form the basis of the party’s election manifesto. At last, it was the turn of education to receive the mission statement treatment but, in truth, there was little new and much that is potentially highly damaging.
In particular, the reaffirmed plan to impose VAT on independent school fees threatens one of the sector’s great success stories. Just as Labour presided over the destruction of the grammar schools, so the party now wants to restrict the private sector to the children of the very wealthy. Is there any other country that would seek to undermine or even close its best schools?
Once again, it is Sir Tony Blair seeking to come up with new ideas, as he did this week with proposals to introduce NHS charges. His think tank suggests that all pupils should have a personal digital ID containing all educational information, including formal test results, attendance, week-by-week assessments, marked homework, records of non-academic achievement and more. Certainly, AI is going to change the nature of schooling and much else in the coming decades.
Sir Keir is like a throwback to the pre-Blair era, seemingly unaware of the improvements wrought in education through academies, benefiting the poorest most of all. What does he think of these? Does he support the one undoubted success of the past 10 years: the improvement in literacy brought about by the reimposition of phonics in the teeth of Left-wing hostility? What does he think about free schools, parental choice, vouchers or any of the other aspects of education that a would-be prime minister should be considering if the word “mission” is to be more than an empty slogan?