Conservative response to Labour’s education reforms

Wednesday, 21 November 2018 07:01

Responding Anne Milton MP, said: “Labour’s proposals would do nothing to help our young people gain the skills they need to get on in life, or the skills that employers need and trust. “Labour let standards drop in education, letting young people down offering qualifications that didn’t give them the necessary skills they needed. Labour also halved the number of pupils taking the core academic subjects at GCSE. “Under the Conservatives last year over 71% of...Request free trial

Responding Anne Milton MP, said: “Labour’s proposals would do nothing to help our young people gain the skills they need to get on in life, or the skills that employers need and trust.

“Labour let standards drop in education, letting young people down offering qualifications that didn’t give them the necessary skills they needed. Labour also halved the number of pupils taking the core academic subjects at GCSE.

“Under the Conservatives last year over 71% of 19 year olds held a level 2 qualification in both maths and English - that’s the highest on record. Only the Conservatives will make sure that every young person has the best start in life to build a successful career. “

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Labour presided over unprecedented grade-inflation and employers lost confidence in Britain’s exams. During Labour’s 13 years in power the number of pupils getting A*- and A-grade GCSEs increased by 60 per cent. The Confederation of British Industry and other business organisations expressed concern that the value of a GCSE had declined and that the qualification was not preparing young people for the professional world (Alan Smithers, ‘GCSE 2011’, University of Buckingham Centre for Education and Employment Research, link; CBI Press Release, 11 June 2012, link).

We’re developing technical qualifications, backed by £500 million, as rigorous and respected as A-Levels, so that technical education provides a credible alternative to university. T-Levels are being developed in partnership with industry professionals such as EDF and Rolls Royce to ensure they have real value in the jobs market (DfE, 6 July 2017, link;TES, 11 October 2017, link).

Youth unemployment rose by 45 per cent under Labour – meaning young people were not getting the skills they need to get on in life. In February to April 1997 there were 652,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year olds. By February to April 2010, this had risen by 287,000 to 939,000 (ONS, Labour Market Statistics, 18 March 2015, link).

We have halved youth unemployment since 2010, meaning more young people are getting on in life. The number of young people without a job is down 50 per cent since 2010 (ONS,Labour Market Statistics, 16 October April 2018, link).

Labour failed our young people as we plummeted down the international league tables for school performance. Between 2000 and 2009 England fell from 7th to 25th in reading, 8th to 28th in maths, and 4th to 16th in science in the PISA league tables (PISA study, DfE Press Release, 7 December 2010, link).

Under Labour adults in England were among the worst performers in literacy and numeracy. In 2011 the OECD found: ‘There are particularly large proportions of adults in England and Northern Ireland with poor literacy and numeracy skills’ (OECD, Survey of Adult skills: England and Northern Ireland, 2012, link).