Miriam Cates is the former MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge.
There are many reasons for conservative-minded voters to feel dismayed about the actions of this Labour government. From the unfathomable decision to increase the cost of employing low wage workers to the monumental own-goal of refusing to explore North Sea oil, the only “milestone” the Prime Minister seems likely to achieve is universal national decline.
But of all the unforced errors being committed by the Government, the most painful element to watch – and perhaps the most irreversible – is the damage being inflicted by Labour on education.
Our current school system is far from perfect. But over the last 14 years, and as a result of Conservative reforms, English children have bucked the international trend. For example, between 2009 and 2022, the maths performance of pupils in England rose from 21st to seventh in the OECD Pisa school rankings.
When it comes to the current curriculum there is plenty to complain about, such as the progressive ideological takeover of ‘non-subjects’ such as PSHE and citizenship and the creeping trend to replace meatier works of literature with easier reads to cater for smartphone-induced reductions in children’s concentration span.
Nevertheless, the English national curriculum is still broadly factual, covering key historical, scientific and literary knowledge and taught using evidenced-based methods. Though rare, schools like Michaela and Mercia prove what extraordinary results (both social and educational) can be achieved by talented educationalists within the limitations of the system. English state education could get a lot worse.
Sadly, that is exactly what is about to happen under Bridget Phillipson, who is intent on not only reversing the Conservatives’ successful reforms but also undermining the very foundations of education.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which passed its Second Reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday, will dismantle all the freedoms given to academies and free schools that have enabled them to drive up standards. Schools will no longer be able to reward or attract good teachers with better pay or to employ experienced professionals – such as those from the IT sector – who don’t have qualified teacher status.
Phillipson has already committed to abolishing the one-word Ofsted judgements that give schools accountability, to be replaced at a future date with a less transparent ‘scorecard.’
Through this Bill, the Government is seeking to take almost total control of our schools, even including a clause that would give the Secretary of State authority to boss academies around on any matter where he or she believes the school is acting “unreasonably.” In an almost comical attempt at micromanagement, the Bill even introduces a legal limit on the number of branded items of uniform that a school may require its pupils to possess.
Given the intense dislike of progressives for schools that practise strict discipline – Phillipson couldn’t even bring herself to congratulate Katharine Birbalsingh for Michaela’s Eton-beating performance – it seems inevitable that, sooner or later, the demonstrably successful behaviour policies employed by many schools, particularly in deprived areas, will soon be banned.
The Schools Bill will inevitably drive down standards, especially for poor children in challenging schools. But the Government doesn’t just want control of school policies, it also intends to ‘reform’ the curriculum. And, thanks to another provision of the Schools Bill, no school – not even academies and free schools – will retain the freedom to depart from any aspect of the National Curriculum.
So what are these curriculum changes likely to involve? The review’s terms of reference include looking at how to make the curriculum more “relevant, flexible and inclusive,’ the watchwords of the progressive revolution. The expertise of the Review’s Chair, Professor Becky Francis, is in the field of “gender equity.” Francis criticised the education policy of the Tony Blair government for “an obsession with academic achievement”.
The unspoken but clear intention of Labour’s package of reforms is not to drive up standards but to complete the march of left-progressivism through our schools, “decolonising” the curriculum and removing all remaining elements of traditional education. The unnecessarily mean act of removing funding for Latin teaching in state schools mid-way through the school year is a sign of what’s to come.
I’m not by nature a pessimist, but it’s hard to escape the conclusion that our children’s futures will be poorer as a result of Labour’s educational vandalism. Our nation will be poorer too, not just financially, but culturally and morally.
At an individual level, education functions as a tool to equip children with the knowledge, skills and qualifications they need to get a job and to contribute to the economy and community. At a societal level, education is the primary vehicle through which we transfer our collective knowledge, history, and national culture from one generation to another.
Passing on knowledge is not like passing on material wealth: each generation has to learn it for themselves or it is likely to be lost forever. The passing on of knowledge and culture is the act of building civilisation. Instead of starting from scratch, each generation develops the achievements of the one before, enabling communities and nations to grow in prosperity and understanding.
Britain is, objectively, a remarkable country with an astonishing historical record when it comes to scientific discovery, literary influence. and many other areas of excellence. One of the causes of British excellence is education; for centuries we have been successfully passing the baton of knowledge and culture for the next generation to take on.
Both progressives and conservatives agree that the purpose of education is to transfer knowledge and ideas to children. The disagreement lies in the selection of what knowledge and which particular ideas should be included in the curriculum.
Why, ask progressives, should we teach ‘old’ knowledge and ideas and a classical canon of literature rather than modern ‘values’ and contemporary literature? Why should children learn about the Romans or Shakespeare when they can be taught about mindfulness and structural racism instead?
The conservative’s answer is that we must teach our children the knowledge and ideas that have stood the test of time. Every generation has its own ideological fads, poor quality literature, and pedagogical ideas that turn out to be foolish.
The knowledge and ideas that survive are those that become the enduring treasures we teach our children. The only sure-fire way to teach children things that become irrelevant in the future is to teach them only what is relevant now.
Of course the curriculum should be updated when new discoveries are made. But it is both absurd and arrogant to think that thought experiments carried out yesterday – such the idea that ‘diversity is our strength’ or that ‘gender is fluid’ or ‘white people have privilege’ or schools should employ ‘child-led learning’ – are more worthwhile than the founding ideas of western civilization and tried and tested methods of teaching science, maths and language.
Even before Labour’s reforms, we can see the result of progressive ideology in schools. Just nine per cent of young women have a positive view of Sir Winston Churchill; once important knowledge about our history, great works of literature, art and music have been lost from our school curriculum, and they may be lost forever.
Our state schools must brace themselves. But Labour will not be in power forever. Our task as conservatives must be to establish a bridgehead, a potentially small but resilient collection of schools that can hold out, and continue to make the case for rigorous education until such a time as the state sector may be restored once more.
Independent schools, free from state control, have the potential to be such a bridgehead, but Labour is seeking to force as many as possible to close through financial pressure.
There may be another way of preserving the best of English education for future generations. The Classical Schools Network, though still in its infancy, is setting up a network of affordable independent schools – first in Cardiff and Central London – that will educate children “through an ordered exploration of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful that is grounded in the liberal arts tradition and that forms students’ affections and the habits of lifelong learning.” The King Alfred School in Dudley has been established along similar lines and when I visited last year I was astounded at the knowledge and ability of the children.
These schools do not come with the sports pavilions, gourmet lunches and international trips that many independent schools now seem to think are a core part of the educational ‘experience’. But they are affordable, with fees broadly at the level of a standard private nursery rather than the current going rate for day school of £20,000 a year.
The classical schools movement is already well-established in the US, with over 1500 schools in its network. Were such an affordable independent classical education available here in towns and cities across England, I have no doubt that demand would be equally strong. So many parents are increasingly exasperated at the state system but few can stretch to private fees.
If the network is successful, perhaps we can preserve a model of good schooling from which, in time, our whole education system may be restored. .
As a mother and a former teacher it breaks my heart to see our children robbed of the opportunity to master the essential skills and to discover time honoured truths and the best of our culture. For some time to come, the left will have a firm grip on our schools. But the time will come to rebuild, and we must do whatever we can now to preserve the precious building blocks of good education.