Education was a prominent theme at last week’s Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Shadow Education Secretary, Angela Rayner, set out policies for the National Education Service, pledging to bring schools under a new regulatory framework with “community control at its heart and national rules applying to all schools with parents and communities given a meaningful say in decision making”.
The party’s priorities for education include:
- ending the forced academisation of schools
- compelling academies to expand in areas of demand
- allowing councils to take back failing academies
- establishing councils as the admissions authorities for all schools
- banning all related-party transactions
- setting out national pay rules and a cap on CEO salaries
- ending the free school programme and creating a new wave of co-operative schools for parents or communities wishing to launch or lead a school
The party also promised to create a new public service “offering free early education for all two to four year olds and reinventing state nurseries”, while announcing plans for a state-funded teacher supply service.
The Conservative Party Conference is this week taking place in Birmingham and we await key announcements on education policy.