A letter to Sir Keir Starmer following a Labour win
Dear Sir Keir,
Firstly, congratulations on your historic victory. As you have said, now is the ‘time for change’, so I wanted to send you a short note on that subject.
The election coverage, manifestos and speeches focused little on one critical area – education. I’ve worked with educators and students across the UK for the last 30 years. Drawing on that experience, I’d suggest you focus on change in the five key areas that would make a substantial impact on the lives of young people and the future of our country.
Skills – Our children are educated through a subject-focused system, yet they will be emerging into a skills-focused world. Schools are told to focus too much on pass rates when employers focus on potential. The national curriculum, particularly in England, needs to change to reflect that. Please be bold enough, with Bridget Phillipson, to develop a new National Curriculum, that’s fit for the future, with integrated skills development.
Apprenticeships – Accelerate the development of modern apprenticeships to make them more widely available as an alternative to university. When done well, apprenticeships are a brilliant springboard for young people and employers, fuelling the talent pipeline for key sectors whilst addressing skills gaps.
Early Years – There is now overwhelming evidence of the critical importance of the earliest years in a child’s life as a foundation for their future. You have mentioned free breakfast clubs and more nurseries, which is important, but so much more can and needs to be done for children in their primary years if we are to give those with less advantage, the start they need to thrive. Please make this a priority.
Careers education – ALL education, ultimately, is careers education. Is it not time to bring real-world context and careers insights into all areas of learning as part of a wider curriculum change? To take bigger steps to broker links between employers and schools with all age groups?
Retain teachers – A commitment to recruit more teachers is one thing, but unless you can repair the leaky bucket that sees so many talented educators leave, then you will always be fighting an uphill battle. Reducing red-tape and lessening the pressures that cause an increasing mental health crisis within staffrooms would help to keep trained teachers in our classrooms.
Much of this requires clever thinking and bold actions BUT not lots of new money.
I wish you, Bridget Phillipson, and her team much luck – a lot is depending on your success.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Fawcett, CEO & Founder
Sir Keir Starmer’s first cabinet meeting, Source: X
