Tabled by
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to
promote equality of opportunity in the education sector,
particularly in schools.
(Lab)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question tabled by the noble
Baroness, Lady Wilcox, who unfortunately is unwell.
The Minister of State, Department for Education ( of Malvern) (Lab)
My Lords, this Government are committed to promoting equal
opportunities and breaking the link between young people's
backgrounds and their future success. Breaking down barriers to
opportunity is one of our five missions, ensuring that every
child thrives in education and achieves their ambitions, no
matter their background. That is why, as first steps, we are
committed to delivering 6,500 additional teachers and rolling out
free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
(Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that response. She will be aware that
education provision all too often does not meet the needs of all
children, particularly those with special educational needs and
disabilities. The Government are committed to a community-wide
approach to school inclusivity, so does my noble friend agree
that there is a need for all state-funded schools to be required
to co-operate with their local authorities on school admissions,
SEND inclusion and place planning?
of Malvern (Lab)
My noble friend is absolutely right that children with special
educational needs and disabilities are not receiving the sort of
education that they need and deserve, despite the enormously hard
work of our teachers and others in supporting them. That is why
we are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in
mainstream schools, as well as ensuring that special schools
cater to those with the most complex needs. As announced in the
King's Speech, we intend to legislate to require schools to
co-operate with their local authority on admissions and place
planning.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that women and girls with
special educational needs have a history of being underidentified
because they tend to cope in the classroom by hiding and
disappearing, as opposed to disrupting? When do the Government
reckon they will have enough trained teachers to spot the girl
who has her head down and is desperately excluding herself from
the classroom by being quiet, as opposed to the boy causing
trouble at the back?
of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Lord makes an important point about early
identification of children with special educational needs or some
form of disability—he is absolutely right. In the early stages,
that needs well-qualified teachers, with the support of inclusive
practice and expertise developed throughout the school, to
recognise that. This Government are determined to improve that
provision in mainstream schools.
of Dulwich (CB)
My Lords, earlier this year, schoolteachers got a fully funded
5.5% pay increase, but no such award was made to college staff,
even though most pupil-premium students in the 16-plus age group
are in colleges. How do the Government propose to address the
impact of this unequal treatment on colleges, including the
haemorrhaging of skilled staff?
of Malvern (Lab)
The noble Baroness will understand that in FE there is no pay
review body in the same way as in schools. The Government were
pleased to be able to fund the 5.5% pay increase for
schoolteachers. The noble Baroness is right that, although we
recognise the enormous contribution of FE staff, we were not able
to match the pay for FE teachers on that occasion. This week, we
have for the first time extended the retention incentive to
teachers in the first years of their careers in FE. Applications
for that opened on Monday, and lots of FE teachers have already
applied for that. In our discussions on the spending review, we
are thinking about and arguing hard for the support that further
education needs and deserves, as the noble Baroness rightly
said.
(Con)
Could this mission to promote equal opportunity in schools
include much greater encouragement of teaching financial literacy
in schools, in line with several ideas put forward by Members of
your Lordships' House?
of Malvern (Lab)
Having spent 11 years teaching economics and business studies— I
am not sure my personal financial literacy quite matches up to
what might have been expected from that—I think the noble Lord
makes an important point. A whole range of schemes and important
initiatives already help in that area, and I am sure that
teachers and schools would be keen to support others, as well as
what they are able to deliver in the curriculum.
The Lord
My Lords, according to data published by the Education Policy
Institute, disadvantaged learners in Yorkshire and the Humber are
typically 21.4 months behind their more advantaged learners by
the end of secondary school. This is opposed to a disadvantage
gap of half that size, at just 10.4 months, in London. What steps
will the Government take to reduce such perniciously stubborn
regional inequalities in educational outcomes?
of Malvern (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate is absolutely right that regional
inequalities at key stage 2, GCSE and A-level are not just
persistent but, certainly in some of those cases, have become
worse. That is why the Government and the Department for
Education are absolutely committed to ensuring that, wherever you
live in England and whatever your background, you will have
access to the highest-quality teachers and the best possible
curriculum. This is the reason for our launching the curriculum
and assessment review. That is absolutely at the heart of the
Government's opportunity mission.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, the latest figures show that 65% of Asian girls and 61%
of black girls on free school meals go to university. That is
fantastic, and a credit to them and their parents. But the
comparable figure for white working-class boys on free school
meals is just 15%. Getting on for 70% of young people from some
wealthy London boroughs go to university, but the figure is less
than 20% in places such as Barrow, Blackpool, the south Wales
valleys and Grimsby, for example. What will the Government do to
deal with this massive problem of educational inequality?
of Malvern (Lab)
My noble friend is right that white working-class boys are among
the lowest-attaining groups in our schools. That links to the
point about regional inequality made previously. It is why the
opportunity mission is absolutely clear that we need to break the
link between background and success. That means more highly
qualified teachers in front of our students. It means making sure
that children, whatever their background, get to school, are
well-fed and are able to learn, which is the reason for our
rolling out breakfast clubs in primary schools. It also means
that this Government are absolutely focused on raising standards
in all our schools for all our children.
(Con)
The Minister talked about regional inequality. Of course, the
region, or country, with a severely underperforming educational
system is Labour-run Wales, which has seen standards decline and
where the OECD has described the education system as having “lost
its soul”. That is in contrast to England, where we have seen
international rankings improve in reading, maths and sciences.
What will this Government do differently from Wales to make sure
that we do not see the same decline here?
of Malvern (Lab)
I am surprised, given the efforts that the noble Baroness made
when she was a Minister in the Department for Education, that she
is quite as complacent about performance in England as she
appeared to be in that question. We are still in a situation, in
2024, where at key stage 2 the gap between the highest-performing
and the lowest-performing regions remains the same, at 10
percentage points, and where at GCSE, the distinction between the
best-performing and worst-performing regions has grown by 0.7
percentage points. So not only are all standards not high enough
but we have ongoing, persistent inequality in our system between
regions and between people, dependent on their background. With
respect to England, this Government will not rest on their
laurels in the way in which the noble Baroness seemed to suggest
the previous Government would have done. That is why, as I have
outlined, whether it comes to teachers in classrooms, getting
children into our schools or making sure that we have a
curriculum fit for them, we will take action, which the last
Government failed to do.
