Blair ‘will not rest’ on school reform
Labour has corrected the “deepest failures” in the education system but more needs to be done, Tony Blair said today.
The prime minister said there was now a “once in a generation opportunity” to change the schools system to ensure every child was given the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
Mr Blair was speaking in his Sedgefield constituency as part of a concerted effort by the government – education secretary Ruth Kelly spoke to head teachers yesterday – to persuade critics of the merits of its school reform agenda.
The education white paper published earlier this month has already met with fierce opposition from teachers and Labour backbenchers, but today the prime minister insisted he would not be deterred from doing what he thought was right.
He said he was “restless for change”, not because he did not recognise the progress already made, nor because “I want to pick another fight for the sake of it”, but because 17,000 children were still leaving school without any qualifications.
“While that situation remains I cannot rest, and I will not rest,” he said.
In a new global economy “based on knowledge”, it was vital that Britain educate all its citizens properly, Mr Blair said. In addition, a proper education provided youngsters with the self-confidence and skills they needed to fulfil their potential.
The white paper would extend the principles tried out in specialist schools and city academies across the education system, giving all schools the opportunity to become self-governing trusts, operating in conjunction with local private or voluntary groups.
“We know what works, we can learn the lessons of it. The key is now to apply those lessons and push them right through the education system until children growing up now get the chance to make the most of their God-given potential,” he said.
Mr Blair denied that the new plans meant abandoning Labour’s key values. He applauded the intentions of the comprehensive system in breaking down the barriers raised by the 11-plus, but said it had introduced “deadening uniformity”.
The goal should be bringing “high quality education to all” – particularly those children from lower income families who were currently performing the worst.
Teachers and parents across the country had ambition and wanted to “play their part” in education, the prime minister said, adding: “The schools white paper is quite simply about releasing that energy inside and outside the schools system.”
He reiterated Ms Kelly’s insistence that giving schools the freedom to operate independently would not lead to a return of selection, saying the code of practice would remain and would be enforced by the schools adjudicator as it was now.
Speaking about the new ‘strategic’ role of local education authorities, he said it was a “great opportunity [for them] to reinvent themselves as champions of pupils and parents”.
The key to giving schools more independence from councils was removing the power of government, whether local or central, to block change.
Looking to the parliamentary battles that lay ahead, Mr Blair said that none of the reforms since 1997 had been easy – efforts to introduce literacy and numeracy hours, specialist schools and tough action on failing schools had all been opposed.
“But in each case the reforms are working,” he said, adding that this was the “only vision that, in my view, will work in the 21st century”.
