The legacy of the last 14 years is that England has risen in terms of educational attainment in international league tables, whilst Scotland and Wales are struggling. 90% of schools are now rated good or outstanding compared to 68% in 2010. However, more than a million children are now in classes of more than 30, and there are challenges in recruiting teachers to teach physics, computing, and foreign languages. Forty thousand teachers leave the profession each year, and pay, workload and flexibility are cited as the reasons. Increasing numbers of children are not in the school system, a situation seemingly exacerbated by the Covid measures, with Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner in 2024 identifying some 10,000 children having disappeared out of the system "to destinations unknown to their local authorities."

Via the Children’s Well-being and Schools Bill, Labour’s intention is to introduce one national curriculum, a shared core, which all state schools including academies will have to follow. The new curriculum, they claim, will reflect the diversity of communities in the U.K., prepare students to overcome barriers they face and address the issues facing our society. Music, art, drama and sport will not be neglected. Reforms will set young people up for life and work and will drive high and rising standards.

Following the tragic suicide of a head teacher on receipt of an "inadequate" rating for her school, Ofsted ratings will move away from the current inspection regime of single-word overall grades, pronouncing schools Outstanding, Good, or Inadequate. Instead of the damning negative rating or unsubtle favourable ones, Ofsted will produce a scorecard report where different aspects of the school’s performance are detailed, although poorly performing schools will still be subject to intervention by the Dept for Education. Education Secretary Bridget Philipson said that the ratings were “low information for parents but high stakes for teachers”.

Will the new national curriculum provide consistency to ensure all students have a broad education and clarity for their parents on what they should be taught, or produce conformity where experimentation and innovation are driven out? Is the promise not to neglect the arts subjects a hollow one, elevating Stormzy over Mozart, graffiti over Van Gogh, and football matches over museum and theatre visits? Will scrapping the one-word Ofsted ratings mean opacity on school performance for parents and prospective teaching applicants, or will this improve teacher morale and sense of society respecting and valuing their profession and the challenges they face? 

To address the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, as well as the Ofsted changes, teachers will be allowed to work more flexibly and carry out more of their duties from home. Imposing VAT on private schools is intended to raise funds to recruit 6,500 more specialist teachers. However, the opportunity to address workload issues seem to have been avoided and the approach to pay appears to level all down to local authority level, rather than leave in place the position by which academy trusts can offer higher rates. And it’s not clear how the extra funding will produce the specialist teachers. The new requirement for all teachers to be working towards or QTS certified produces a further barrier to filling these vacancies.

The reforms also seek to ensure schools are more inclusive for pupils with Special Educational Needs. But that is arguably now more of the school population, with the cohort of primary children born during the Covid pandemic measures said to be experiencing speech and language delay in much higher numbers than normal. How should this be addressed?

In spite of improvements during the previous Conservative governments, there is a real and persistent educational attainment gap between the north and south of England, between Wales, Scotland and England, and between private and state school pupils. Free breakfast clubs and fewer required items of school uniforms might help those at the bottom of society attend and get more out of school. But is Labour’s approach going to be effective in addressing this gap? In Lionel Shriver’s 2024 satirical novel ‘Mania’, elites are so embarrassed by difference in intelligence that all tests, grades, assessment by ability, and any intelligence based insults, such as ‘dumb’, are banned. The dystopian US society of the novel descends into chaos as people actually become more stupid than they needed to be. Becky Francis, who is leading the Curriculum and Assessment Review, has called setting children by ability “symbolic violence” and condemned the obsession with academic achievement. Oxford educated Phillipson who attended Saturday drama lessons and learned to play the violin, has also scrapped £4million funding for a  Latin course taught to 5,000 non-selective state school pupils midway through the academic year, even though studying Latin advances the English reading age. in November, she told schools to focus on wellbeing and belonging, rather than exam results. So are Labour’s reforms good for education, or will we end up calling to make Mania fiction again?

Speakers

Dr Ruth Mieschbuehler - Ruth is a Senior Lecturer/Programme Leader for Education Studies at University of Derby and was an executive member for British Educational Studies Association (BESA) between 2016-2025. 

Other speaker tbc

Chair - Rosie Cuckston, Salon organiser

Reading

Children's Well-being and Schools Bill - Explanatory Notes Publications.Parliament.UK

"End school trips to middle-class museums and theatres" curriculum review told, Arts Professional, November 2024

The Observer view on Labour's plans to reform education, The Observer, December 2024

The problem with diversifying the curriculum, Kristina Murkett, The Spectator, January 2025