Commenting on the Northern Powerhouse Partnership report
Educating the North: Driving ambition through the
Powerhouse, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary
of the National Education Union, said:
We welcome the recognition from that more investment in
education is sorely needed. There is much rejoicing in heaven
over a sinner that repenteth.
Regional inequality and growing levels of deprivation and
poverty are huge problems this Government is failing to tackle.
Just last week the End Child Poverty coalition released
statistics of growing levels of child poverty in areas that were
already some of the most deprived. Brutal cuts to services and
the Governments benefit reforms have driven this. The cuts to
Sure Start and to schools exacerbate these problems and the
regional divide.
The improvement in London schools came alongside a
significant investment in teacher salaries in the capital with
the introduction of a significant uplift in London payments in
the early 2000s and the London Challenge a city-wide school
improvement effort that was based on collaboration. That
sort of investment and approach needs to be replicated elsewhere.
Unfortunately this Government has cut back hard on school funding
since 2015 with more than £2 billion taken out in real terms,
while its predecessor Coalition Government closed down the London
Challenge and daughter projects when it took office in
2010.
It is right to call for greater investment in early years
and it is also important that vocational education and
apprenticeships are connected to high quality jobs. However huge
real terms cuts to school and local authority budgets across the
country have left many head teachers struggling to find the money
or resources to support students most in need. The Education
Secretary must address this issue with urgency.
For many children and young people this is their only
chance to gain an education and to move into the world with the
qualifications and confidence they need to realise their
ambitions. Schools must be given the tools with which they
can make every childs education the best possible.
