Education strategy will fail if it is not locally led, says Powerhouse
GOVERNMENT PLANS to improve educational standards in disadvantaged parts of Yorkshire will fail unless they are locally led, the vice-chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has warned.
The Government has outlined plans to set up 55 ‘Education Investment Areas’ across the country as part of its levelling-up strategy; with the selected locations becoming home to ‘elite’ sixth-form free schools, teachers offered retention bonuses and pilot programmes launched to improve pupil attendance.
Among the chosen places are Bradford, Doncaster, Kirklees, Leeds, North Yorkshire, Rotherham and Wakefield.
The idea builds upon the existing Opportunity Area programme set out by former Education Secretary Justine Greening and already includes Bradford, Doncaster and the North Yorkshire Coast.
Recent Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) research found there have been “strong signs of initial progress” in the 12 Opportunity Areas – in part because of the way they are run.
Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chairman of the NPP, said of the new plans: “It is good to see Government recognise that there are many areas in need of specialist help in order to improve education outcomes.
“However, Opportunity Areas have worked in places like Blackpool and Bradford because they have been locally led; this policy cannot be run command and control from Whitehall.
“We won’t close the education disadvantage gap without simultaneously addressing placebased challenges such as health and housing.
“Education is just one part of the puzzle – ‘smart’ opportunity areas led by metro mayors could tackle local issues in tandem, with far more effective results.
“The original premise of the Opportunity Area programme set out by Justine Greening back in 2016 was based on bespoke, local solutions – we’re at risk of doing the total opposite.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that “many of the areas now targeted for support have been among the hardest hit by education cuts over the last decade – on the Government’s own watch, and entirely of its own making”.
“The sums being promised will not make up for what has been cut. If the Government was serious about levelling up education, then it would restore all the money it has cut from these schools,” he added.
Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said: “Targeted investment for those areas of the country with high levels of educational inequality will be key to the Government’s efforts – we know from our research that very large education gaps are deeply entrenched in parts of the North and Midlands, and pupils in these areas have also seen far greater levels of learning loss following the pandemic.
“It will be important to closely scrutinise the criteria used by the Government for selecting its ‘Education Investment Areas’, and how it intends to deliver ‘intensive’ support over so many areas.
“The adoption of our recommendation for retention payments for teachers in challenging areas is encouraging. One of the greatest challenges in education is ensuring that highly qualified teachers are available to schools in deprived parts of the country. Severe teacher shortages remain in subjects such as maths and physics, with teachers in these areas far less likely to have a degree in the subject that they teach.”
This policy cannot be run command and control from Whitehall. Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.