, Leader of the Labour Party, has pledged to create an
education fit for the future.
Labour would refocus the curriculum, deliver new opportunities
for digital skills, practical work and life skills, sport and the
arts, and give every child access to a professional careers
adviser, to make sure every child leaves school ready for work
and ready for life.
Labour’s plan would deliver the following:
-
Reform the ‘citizenship’ statutory programme within the
national curriculum to include practical life skills,
such as such as pension planning, understanding credit scores,
applying for a mortgage and understanding employment and rental
contracts.
-
Set out a long-term aspiration to make sure no young
person leaves compulsory education without the qualifications
they need for the modern economy. This will start with
providing £250 million to local authorities to re-engage the
65,000 16-17 year olds who are not known to be in Education,
Employment or Training (i.e. NEETs).
-
Introduce two weeks’ worth of compulsory work
experience, to connect young people with local
employers and build the skills needed for work.
-
Give every child access to quality careers advice in
their school by giving schools access to a
professional careers advisor one day a week.
-
Ensure all children leave school with the level of
functional computer skills needed to succeed in the
workplace by:
o Guaranteeing every child has access to a device at home, by
establishing a device renewal fund, out of which Local
Authorities can fund renewing the 1.3million devices delivered
during the pandemic as a permanent scheme for children without
adequate access to a device.
o Specifying mandatory skills which must be embedded across the
curriculum, to ensure a whole school approach to developing
digital skills in every lesson, and including basic digital
skills development in the computing curriculum, not just computer
science.
-
Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan and 10 by 10
Pledge, providing that as we recover from the
pandemic, every primary and secondary child should have access
to weekly extracurricular activities and after school clubs.
This could include the Duke of Edinburgh award, highly valued
by employers, sports clubs, drama and music, debating or book
clubs.
MP, Leader of the Labour Party said:
"Every child should leave education ready for work and ready for
life.
“Employers all around the country, in every sector, have told me
how much they need well-rounded young people with relevant
skills, literate in technology, equipped for life. And young
people have told me how ambitious they are for their own futures.
“That's why Labour would create an education system that would
give every child the skills for the future.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- To pay for this Labour will end the charitable status of
England’s private schools, ending the VAT and business rate
exemptions that they currently benefit from, raising £1.7
billion.
o The business rate exemption is worth about £104.4 million
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jun/11/private-schools-tax-charitable-status-eton-dulwich-college
o The VAT exemption is worth about £1.6 billion https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2020/11/Unhealthy-finances.pdf
