Northern schools ‘must be at top of Minister’s in-tray’
Call for businesses to boost young people’s prospects
IMPROVING SCHOOLS in the North should be “at the top of the in-tray” for the new Education Secretary, according to a major study published today.
A new report argues there is still a significant North-South divide in education, with too many young Northern people, especially those from disadvantaged homes, falling behind other parts of the UK.
Disadvantaged teenagers in the North score around a grade lower on average in their GCSEs compared to their betteroff peers, according to the study by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), which represents business and civic leaders.
It calls for action to boost the achievement and prospects of the region’s young people, including urging businesses to mentor at least as many Northern schoolchildren as they have employees in the region. This could benefit at least 900,000 young people aged from 11.
The report says the NPP was set up to increase the North’s contribution to the UK economy, rebalance the country and to provide opportunities for 16 million people in the region.
But it warns this will not be achieved without tackling the low educational performance of
To deliver a North that pulls its weight, we must sort out education. Lord O’Neill Northern Powerhouse Partnership vice-chair.
a significant proportion of children in the area, particularly at GCSE level, and dealing with a skills gap. Data shows the average GCSE score across eight subjects in 2016/17 among teenagers across the North – those living in the North-East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber – was 45.1, compared to a national average of 46.1 and 48.6 in London.
Separate figures for 2015/16 show that disadvantaged teenagers living in the North score about 13 points fewer across eight subjects than their better-off peers in the region, equivalent to poorer pupils scoring around a grade lower on average.
Lord Jim O’Neill, NPP vicechair, said new Education Secretary Damian Hinds should make boosting the performance of Northern schools a top priority. The little-known Mr Hinds replaced Rotherham-born Justine Greening, who lost her job just three weeks ago. Ms Greening told The Yorkshire Post this week that she was still committed to implementing the social mobility strategy she launched last month so everyone has a fair chance to get a better job than their parents.
“For the Northern Powerhouse to succeed and deliver a North that pulls its weight in economic terms the first things we have to sort out are education and skills,” said Lord O’Neill. “Sorting out schools in the Northern Powerhouse should be at the top of the new Education Secretary’s intray.”
The Department for Education said standards are rising thanks to reforms and the hard work of teachers, with 1.9m more children in good or outstanding schools since 2010.
TODAY’S LANDMARK report, Educating the North, is not only a vindication of the reforms that Justine Greening was introducing before she was sacked in the Cabinet reshuffle, but it also goes to the core of Rotherham-born politician’s social mobility agenda.
Produced by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership headed by George Osborne, the former Chancellor, it highlights the benefits of the Opportunity Areas set up by Ms Greening when Education Secretary to enhance school leadership.
Yet this issue is not unique to Doncaster, Bradford and Scarborough where pilot projects are up and running. It affects the whole of the North and too many pupils from this region are still denied the world-class education that should be their right. However, it is striking that the NPP’s key findings chime with Ms Greening’s comments to the The Yorkshire Post this week.
The NPP calls for major Government investment for worse-off families to narrow the NorthSouth attainment gap. Ms Greening is the architect of a forward-thinking social mobility agenda that wants to bring about “equality of opportunity of all”.
The NPP wants Northern employers to provide work experience for 900,000 young people every year. Ms Greening was beginning to integrate business leaders into the education policymaking process.
The NPP wants the North to be the world’s leading centre for degree apprenticeships. Ms Greening wants more youngsters from her home town to leave school with the skills that enable them to prosper at trailblazing developments like Rotherham’s Advanced Manufacturing Park.
Given that the former Education Secretary appears to have been dismissed because she wasn’t sufficiently committed to grammar schools or cutting tuition fees in the opinion of Theresa May’s discredited but still influential former advisor Nick Timothy, the timing of this report, and its suggestions, indicates that it is the Government’s priorities which are at fault on this crucial issue.
If the Prime Minister is serious about listening, and learning, she should implement its findings in full and demonstrate that the prospects of the North’s young people, this county’s future, do truly matter.