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Education
The Education Commission Work Programme 2006
This work programme sets out the key policy issues for consultation over the year ahead and identifies some of the topical issues and challenges facing the party in government. It provides an important framework for engaging party stakeholders on topical issues, as well as giving National Policy Forum (NPF) members a platform to engage with the party stakeholders they represent on the NPF.
Once agreed, the commission will implement this programme and report on progress to the 2006 Annual Conference.
1. Introduction
The Education and Skills Policy Commission has a wide policy remit, which includes schools, further and higher education, adult skills, childcare, looked after children and youth policy.
The commission has previously had a number of successes in terms of developing and influencing government policy. For example, it achieved a broad consensus on a wide range of issues including the need for schools to be opened up to the community beyond the school day and the need for the extension of childcare services.
The Education and Skills Policy Commission has discussed a wide range of issues in the last year including secondary school reforms, healthy schools, higher education, adult skills, vocational education and apprenticeships. This work programme is based on the issues, which have arisen in the Education and Skills Policy Commission upon which members have requested further discussion. The work programme includes issues, which are current, such as the Schools White Paper and the expansion of Academy schools, and more medium and long term-policy development areas such as healthy schools, adult skills and childcare.
2. Work programme
The Schools White Paper
The Schools White Paper published on 25 October 2005 contains a number of new reforms aimed at driving forward the transformation of our schools. The Education and Skills Policy Commission will need to spend a considerable proportion of its time over the next year discussing the main themes in the White Paper and considering the submissions that have come from party stakeholders.
There has been considerable progress in the education system since 1997. We now have the best ever GCSE and A level results and the best ever primary school results with 80,000 more youngsters attaining the basic standard in English and 90,000 in maths. Since 1998 primary schools in the areas of the highest poverty have improved at double the rate of schools in the most affluent areas. OfSTED data shows that there are 5,800 more good or excellent primary and secondary schools than in 1997. While we can be proud of that achievement, it cannot be right that despite the extensive progress we have seen that there are still children attending failing or coasting schools. As a Labour Government we have taken the education system from mediocre to mostly good - now we have to make it universally excellent.
The fact is that we are not currently where we need to be to ensure that everyone has the education they need and deserve. The Schools White Paper is the next phase in the continued drive to raise standards and ensure everyone has an excellent education. The White Paper is based on what works - more small group and one-on-one tuition alongside excellent everyday classroom teaching, parents fully engaged in their child's education, a strong individual ethos, a stronger strategic role for local authorities in turning around weak and failing schools and championing the interests of parents and pupils, the involvement of external partners, and greater freedoms for schools. The White Paper marks a significant gear change in spreading this to all schools. The existing Admissions Code made legally binding by the Schools Adjudicator acts as a guarantor of fair admissions - and the law bans any new selection by ability.
Nevertheless there have been concerns raised within the party about certain aspects of the Schools White Paper. These include the future role of local authorities, admission arrangements and safeguards surrounding the establishment of trust schools. The Commission will also want to look at the Every Child Matters agenda. The Labour Party has produced a consultation toolkit, which is being distributed to every constituency asking them to organise policy forums on the Schools White Paper. There have also been a number of policy forum events organised with ministers throughout England in order to give party members and other stakeholders the opportunity to discuss the policies within the White Paper. It is anticipated that the Education and Skills Policy Commission will receive a considerable number of submissions from local parties, councillors and party members. The commission will need to engage with those organisations making submissions and the wider party.
Academies
The next phase of the Academies programme will involve many new schools being established throughout the country. There are currently 17 City Academies and Labour will take the number to 200 by 2010. These Academies will be located in communities in which low aspirations and low performance have become entrenched.
Academies provide a radical option for raising educational standards and are helping to bring new sources of money and educational expertise into some of the poorest areas of England. Academies are state schools, which cater for local pupils of all abilities and are established by sponsors from business, faith or voluntary groups on a non-profit basis. Although it is still early days for the Academy programme, there have already been encouraging results in the ability of Academies to raise performance. An independent review of the Academy scheme published in June 2005 found that the existing Academies are popular with parents, making progress in raising standards with a positive impact being made by the sponsors.
It will be important for the Education and Skills Policy Commission to look at the progress that the established Academies are already making in terms of standards, attainment and behaviour. There are also some issues within the party about the practical implementation of the Academies programme such as workforce conditions and the type of external support provided to these schools. These concerns will need to be addressed by the Education and Skills Policy Commission over the coming year through a programme of consultation with the party and other stakeholders.
Childcare and early years
Labour's priority is to give every child the best possible start, with more choice over parental leave for mums and dads, more childcare for under-fives and after-school care for over-fives. Since 1997 we have undertaken a revolution in early years education and care. Labour has invested heavily in childcare and early years support, creating over 525,000 new childcare places in England since 1997 - the biggest expansion since 1945. We have also for the first time ensured a free nursery place for all three- and four-year- olds.
Labour has invested heavily in childcare and early years support, creating over 525,000 new childcare places in England since 1997 - the biggest expansion since 1945. We have also for the first time ensured a free nursery place for all three- and four-year olds. Labour has invested heavily in training and developing the childcare workforce to raise the levels of skills. We have established a new Children's Workforce Development Council for children's services to recruit the new childcare workers needed and to consult on a new qualification and career structure. The commission will particularly want to look at how the government can raise the skill level of the childcare workforce.
There are already over 500 Sure Start Children's Centres which are transforming the life chances of children and parents in some of the poorest communities. Sure Start Children's Centres are one-stop shops for parents and children, offering early education and childcare, family support, health services, employment advice and specialist support on a single site. Ante- and post-natal care will be linked to Children's Centres and each family will be supported by a team of midwives and health visitors linked to the centre. We are committed to extending the number of Sure Start Children's Centres to 3,500 by 2010. This will give support to parents and families in every community on issues such as childcare, education, health, employment and parenting support.
For parents of school-age children, by 2010, we will offer affordable, school-based childcare for children aged up to 14, on weekdays between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm, all year round. Schools will be encouraged to extend their provision either on their own or in partnership with the private or voluntary sector. Children will be provided with high quality services such as sport, art, music and other after-school clubs. These services will be fun for children and give parents greater flexibility to use childcare services when they need it. We are also increasing capital investment to ensure schools have the facilities they need to meet the needs of pupils. The Commission will want to look at the particular factors that are proving successful in schools that have already adopted the extended schools model.
The increase in the number of Sure Start Children's Centres and the creation of a national network of extended schools will provide a major delivery challenge to the Government.
Our reforms will place new duties on local authorities to ensure sufficient childcare places and access to an extended school for every child. There have already been concerns from members about Conservative controlled local authorities not fully implementing the Labour Government's programme.
The commission will therefore want to engage local parties in looking at where local authorities are successfully implementing these reforms and what more the government can do to ensure that every community benefits from government programmes. In addition, there is further work that the policy commission could undertake to look at the development of youth facilities as part of the Youth Green Paper.
Special educational needs
The issue of special educational needs had a high prominence in the general election campaign. Labour wants to ensure that every child with special educational needs (SEN) gets the education they need to fulfil their potential. Labour has provided extra resources to enable children with disabilities to have a mainstream education whilst recognising the continuing importance of special schools in meeting particular needs. Funding allocated for SEN has increased from £2,691 million in 1999-2000 to £3,774 million in 2004-05 - over £1 billion pounds extra in the last five years.
There are around the same number of children in maintained special schools as in 1997 and such schools have a vital continuing role to play. The number of special schools has declined slightly in recent years, but this is part of a long-term trend, which is largely the result of the pattern of provision changing and some small special schools merging. In 1989 there were 1,332 maintained special schools and by 1997 there were 1171 - a reduction of 141.
By 2004 there were 1,078 - a reduction of 93. This is a slowing down of the decrease. So, while there have been special school closures, these are usually associated with opportunities to update poor buildings, often by co-locating special and mainstream schools on the same site. This leads to the development of new, highly specialist facilities, in mainstream schools.
Special schools are increasingly working more closely with their mainstream colleagues to help share best practice in supporting pupils with special needs. There will clearly be cases, particularly of severely challenging behaviour, where a mainstream place will not be appropriate.
Labour believes that SEN children are entitled to as good an education as everyone else, with proper support for their special needs. For some children that will be in mainstream school with appropriate support, for others in special schools. It is not for national government to dictate the proper pattern of provision from the centre, but it is essential that provision is adequate in each locality. The commission will want to look at the provision for children and young adults with special educational needs. It is important to recognise the importance of all school staff in terms of supporting pupils.
Healthy schools/school sport
The commission has previously been very interested in issues around sport and healthy schools. This continues to be important issue for parents and has a high media prominence. The Labour Government has already put in place a number of measures to promote healthy schools and has invested heavily in school sport. The commission will want to look at what further work can be undertaken in this area of government policy.
In terms of school meals, we previously announced that we were cutting sugar and salt in school meals. We established the School Food Trust to work with parents, head teachers and schools to raise the quality of school meals. In addition, we allocated £220 million to schools and local authorities to improve the quality of school meals and £60 million for schools and parents to get more support in encouraging children to make healthy choices. We are also investing in staff development and training, and in improving the physical state of school kitchens. There have also been concerns raised about new schools being built without suitable kitchen facilities and schools being tied into contracts to provide fizzy drinks machines on their premises.
Labour has also introduced a scheme to give all four- to six-year-old children in maintained infant, primary and special schools a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day. Nearly two million children are benefiting from this policy every school day. This is helping to ensure that children eat some healthy food as part of their diet, right at the start of their lives. The policy commission will need to help develop a forward offer which will look at what more we can do to promote healthy schools and healthy choices amongst young people.
We are committed to extending opportunities for children in school. We are investing over £1 billion to support physical education (PE) and school sport. An ambitious target has been set for three-quarters of five- to 16year-olds to spend at least two hours each week on PE and school sport by 2006. We are extending the range of opportunities for primary children by ensuring that every child has a real opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Our strategy also includes, by 2010, giving every primary pupil from the age of seven the opportunity to learn a foreign language. We are committed to giving students a wide range of in and out-of-school activities like dance, sport and drama.
And in 2012, London will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games for the first time since 1948. This is the greatest gift that sport can bestow on a nation, and over the next seven years, Britain has a once-in-a generation opportunity to use the power of sport and the inspiration and ambition that are unlocked by the Olympic ideals to drive up interest and participation in sport. The Education and Skills Policy Commission has previously expressed real interest in how the Olympics can be used as a way of boosting the number of young people participating in sport. In looking at this issue, the Education and Skills Policy Commission can do crosscutting work with the members of the Creating Sustainable Communities Policy Commission who are also looking at how communities will benefit from the London Olympics.
Staying on rates/skills
Labour is committed to creating genuine opportunity with a guaranteed place in training, sixth-form or an apprenticeship for every young person. The historic problems of our education system at 14-plus have been an academic track that has been too narrow and a vocational offer that is too weak. Our goal is that young people continue in education or training until the age of 18. To fulfil this goal, we are extending the opportunities for young people and offering more financial support.
We have announced a number of changes to vocational education in our 14-19 Education and Skills White Paper. Our reforms will provide vocational opportunities from 14 that give clear routes to higher education and/or employment, and a renewed focus at secondary level on the basics of maths and English for all. Our reforms will stretch the most able students and will end the disengagement that leads some pupils to leave education early. We have also introduced GCSEs in vocational subjects such as engineering and manufacturing.
Apprenticeships are a key to providing opportunity to young people and ensuring that our economy has highly skilled workers. Our apprenticeship programme will encourage progression from the work-based learning for 14-16-year-olds into vocational or apprentice-style learning leading to skilled employment. The number of apprenticeships has increased from 75,800 in 1997 to 255,000 today. We have pledged to increase the number of apprenticeships to the record level of 300,000.
On top of our work on raising the quality and status of vocational education, the Government has also extended the financial levels of support to young people. We introduced Education Maintenance Allowances in 2004 in order to increase the number of young people staying on in education after 16. This allowance pays young people from less well-off families up to £30 each week while they study and is conditional on good attendance. There are now over 270,000 young people receiving the benefit.
Despite the positive work we have undertaken we still have one of the lowest staying on rates in post 16 education or training of any Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country. This is a major challenge to the Labour Government and impacts upon our commitment to ensuring that more young people from deprived backgrounds get the opportunity to go to university. The commission will want to look at the issues which affect young people staying on in post16 education or training and examine what further policy development work the Labour Government needs to take in this area. The commission will have the opportunity to consult with local parties and other stakeholders about this issue and will want to support the work of the voluntary party in going out and speaking to young people about the kind of issues which determine whether or not they continue in post-16 education or training.
Adult skills and life long learning Investment in the skills and talents of people is at the heart of Labour's social and economic vision. Labour's aim is to compete in the world as a high-skill economy. Past underinvestment and lack of access to training and education has left Britain with millions of adults with either low or no skills.
Since 2001, 2.4 million adults across England have taken up a massive 4.8 million courses in literacy, language and numeracy skills. Over 750,000 of these learners have gone on to achieve nationally recognised qualifications. We are committed to improving the literacy and numeracy skills of 2.25 million adults by 2010, with an interim target of 1.5 million by 2007. The commission will wish to play a real role in providing the government with ideas of how it can encourage people to take up the opportunities that are being provided.
Labour is building on the support given to basic skills by giving every adult an entitlement to get a full level 2 qualification (the equivalent of five good GCSEs). The provision of free tuition to any adult wishing to gain level 2 qualifications will be available nationwide by 2006/07.
Other areas of the governments work include the National Employer Training Programme. This is a guarantee that where employers are prepared to offer their low-skilled employees paid time to train up to level 2, the costs of training will be fully subsidised. Independent brokers will also be in place to assess training needs and source high-quality training provision that can be delivered flexibly in the curriculum.
Ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to acquire and improve his or her skills is key to the delivery of social justice. We want to narrow the gap between people's choices and aspirations. This means that we need to look at what provision is available to people who need to reskill or who wish to change career. Access to lifelong learning is also important in building the confidence of those who have not benefited from learning in the past.
A key part of Labour's work includes harnessing the power of trade unions to help promote skills in the workplace. Union Learning Reps have brought learning opportunities to the most difficult to reach and to those with literacy and numeracy problems who would often otherwise miss out on learning opportunities.
The Education and Skills Policy Commission will want to look at the roll out of the level 2 entitlement, the development of the National Employer Training Programme and the work of the Sector Skills Councils. In addition, the commission will need to work with the trade union movement in addressing what more can be done to improve skills and establish a ladder of opportunity for people wanting to move into more highly skilled jobs.
It will be important for the Education and Skills Policy Commission to work with the Prosperity and Work Policy Commission in advancing the future work required on adult skills and life long learning.
3. Next steps
Annual Conference 2005 agreed new proposals improving Partnership In Power. The improvements give policy commissions a crucial leadership role in ensuring the success of the next PiP cycle by, for example, providing better engagement on topical Issues, building an ongoing relationship with party stakeholders who have made policy submissions, as well as looking at innovative ways policy commissions can work to help with their thinking on future policy development.
This work plan outlines the policy challenges and the topical issues facing the Education and Skills Policy Commission in the year ahead. They provide a focus for the commission's work and help party members understand the current work of the National Policy Forum.
The policy commission will consider how to manage the engagement on these issues with party stakeholders, which will include prioritising the policy areas, putting forward a timeframe and proposing the best method of engagement depending on the policy issue under consideration.
THIS DOCUMENT DOES NOT REPRESENT LABOUR PARTY OR GOVERNMENT POLICY.