The relevance of Blair’s words
Education is a national priority
THE FACT that one-third of pupils aged 11 to 16 years are taught in sub-standard schools needs to be seen in this context: it is nearly 20 years since one Tony Blair declared that his three priorities would be “education, education, education”. Yet, despite a relentless focus on academic standards over two decades and unprecedented sums of public money being made available for new buildings and other improvements, too many young people are leaving school with inadequate qualifications.
It is why Mr Blair’s agenda-setting words, on becoming Labour leader, are as relevant today as they were in the mid-1990s when the iniquitous number of children being taught in crumbling classrooms was a national scandal.
A sound education is fundamental to the life chances of every youngster and it is to the credit of recent governments that schools are held to account through the publication of performance data, even though there are continuing concerns that Ofsted’s criteria do not take proper account of those one-off factors which do skew attainment.
However the one constant has been the fact that Yorkshire LEAs have found themselves at the bottom of national league tables on an all-too-frequent basis, and Ofsted’s latest annual report is no exception. Until the reasons behind this are identified, and addressed, it is a depressing fact that the county’s children will struggle to fulfil their potential in adulthood.
It is why best practice needs to be shared at a local and regional level, not least with closer links between secondary and primary schools. If this requires extra resources or expertise, the Government should not hesitate to prioritise funding to those initiatives that have the potential of yielding the greatest improvements.
For one positive aspect of these latest results is the improved performance of pupils during their formative years. The challenge is maintaining this when they transfer to secondary school, so Yorkshire can record GCSE results in line with national expectations at the very least – and begin to fulfil Mr Blair’s prophecy at the outset of his leadership.