Labour announces plans for a National Education Service
The Labour Party says it will build an education service “fit for the new millennium” if it wins a majority at the forthcoming General Election.
Labour said it would create a ‘National Education Service’ which would be modelled to have the same “transformative” impact on schools as the introduction of the NHS had on healthcare.
Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner joined party leader Jeremy Corbyn for a campaign event in Leeds yesterday to announce the plans which would deliver “hope and prosperity for the many, not the few”.
Labour has also pledged to invest an additional £5bn per year to 2022 in schools that would be funded by an increase in corporation tax from 19% to 26%.
A draft manifesto was leaked today and Schools Week listed published a full list of schools policies in the copy.
If elected, Labour promises to:
1. Reduce class sizes to under 30 for 5, 6 and 7 year olds
2. Introduce free school meals for all primary school children. This would be paid for by removing VAT exemption on private school fees
3. Abandon baseline tests and review SATs
5. End the public sector pay cap, which affects teachers
6. Give teachers “more direct involvement” in the curriculum
7. Reduce “monitoring and bureaucracy”
8. Consult on teacher sabbaticals
9. Reintroduce national pay bargaining
10. Undo requirement for schools to pay the apprenticeship levy
11. Extend school-based counselling to all schools
12. Deliver a “SEND strategy based on inclusivity” and increase SEND teacher training
Once published, SCHOOLS NorthEast will be reporting on education pledges made in the main political parties’ 2017 General Election manifestos.