Teachers will be given time off under Labour
Sir Keir Starmer’s next manifesto set to include sabbaticals as Tory minister backs AI for marking work
‘AI could transform a teacher’s day-to-day work. It could take much of the heavy lifting out of compiling lesson plans and marking’
TEACHERS are set to be given more time off for training under plans to overhaul Britain’s education system to be unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer.
The Labour leader is poised to announce a policy blitz that may include proposals for secondary school tutors to be given sabbaticals every five years. He is also looking at reducing the reliance on examinations to grade students and revamping the curriculum to “provide a modernised syllabus”.
Sir Keir is expected to set out his grand vision for the country’s education system and “breaking down the barriers to opportunity” in the coming weeks. Labour wants to drive higher standards of teaching in schools, including by making sure that more tutors are experts in the subjects they lead.
Lord Blunkett, who served as education secretary under Sir Tony Blair, has drawn up a series of proposals expected to feature in the party’s next manifesto. They include plans to improve training opportunities for teaching staff and encourage more of them to stay in the profession. The blueprint says that Labour should commit to “the gradual introduction of sabbaticals for teachers for every five years of service”.
It would see those who teach Key Stage 4 – those pupils aged 14 and above – offered one term of paid time off for training for every five years that they serve. This could include carrying out “other work placements, research opportunities or overseas exchange programmes”, the policy report says.
“Funding for travel and temporary residence outside the immediate area would also be available,” it adds.
The dossier, which was submitted to Sir Keir last autumn, says the change should only be introduced when there is “sufficient capacity” in the school system. It includes more than two dozen proposals, including ensuring children have greater access to music, drama and sport through breakfast and after-school clubs.
The report says a Labour government should introduce more module assessments “so young people’s progress is no longer measured solely through written exams”. It also recommended setting up a National Curriculum Authority to give a “modernised syllabus which is free from party political interference”.
The news came as Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, said artificial intelligence could take much of the “heavy lifting” out of teaching by marking and making lesson plans. She said new technology would transform teachers’ dayto-day work, giving them more scope to focus on “close up and personal” time with students.
In an address to the Education World Forum in London she urged teachers to embrace AI, just like other past innovations like computing, to improve education. But she acknowledged that the use of AI within education settings was a subject that divided opinion.
“I know in some countries there is a knee-jerk reaction to AI. It’s going to be the end of mankind as we know it, some cry,” she said. “AI could have the power to transform a teacher’s day-to-day work. For example, it could take much of the heavy lifting out of compiling lesson plans and marking. This would enable teachers to do the one thing that AI cannot and that’s teach – up close and personal – at the front of a classroom.”